I found this about the E28/39 test flights
from – http://www.enginehistory.org/r-r_w2b.htm
The Rover W2B/#101 engine was re-fitted to W4046/G for further flights, but on July 30, when passing 37,000 feet in a ceiling climb, test-pilot Sqdn. Ldr. Davie, found the ailerons had frozen (by ice) and W4046/G entered an inverted spin. Davie was thrown from the cockpit at 33,000 feet, becoming the first jet pilot to abandon his aircraft in flight! He lost his goggles, a glove and his oxygen mask and only survived by sticking the tube of his emergency oxygen supply into his mouth. He suffered severe frostbite, taking twenty-seven minutes to descend by parachute, landing safely at nearby town of Guildford.
Doesn’t say he lost his life though. :confused:
TNZ
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