Geoffrey de Havilland Jr.
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Geoffrey Roald de Havilland Jr., OBE (1910 - 27 September 1946) was a British test pilot and the son of the English aviation pioneer and aircraft designer of the same name, Geoffrey de Havilland.
De Havilland was born in the Kingsclere, Hampshire in 1910.[1].
Geoffrey de Havilland Jr. became de Havilland's Chief Test Pilot and made the maiden flights of both the de Havilland Mosquito and the de Havilland Vampire.
De Havilland was awarded the OBE in the King's birthday honours in 1945.[2]
He died on the evening of 27 September 1946 whilst carrying-out high speed tests in the de Havilland DH.108 TG306 over the Thames estuary, the remains of the aircraft being discovered the following day in the mud of Egypt Bay, Gravesend, Kent. The David Lean film The Sound Barrier is based upon this event.
[edit] References
- ^ General Register Office of England and Wales - Birth Register for April Quarter of 1910, Kingsclere Registration District, reference 2c 263, listed as Geoffrey R. DE HAVILLAND
- ^ London Gazette 8 June 1945
- Birtles, Philip. "Beyond the Barrier." Aeroplane Monthly August 1973.
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