Desmond 'Dizzy' de Villiers
Desmond ‘Dizzy’ de Villiers | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 7 November 1922 |
| Died | 19 June 1976 (aged 53) |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |  Royal Air Force |
| Years of service | World War II |
| Rank | Squadron Leader |
| Awards | AFC |
| Other work | Chief Test Pilot |
Desmond ‘Dizzy' de Villiers AFC (7 November 1922 – 19 June 1976)[1] was chief test pilot at de Havilland,[2] the world's first open cockpit pilot to reach supersonic speed (albeit inadvertently, the cockpit canopy flew off mid-flight),[3] the second British pilot to exceed mach 2, chief experimental test pilot on the English Electric Lightning programme (making more than 1,000 flights),[4][5] and during his test career flew more than 6,000 hours in 130 different aircraft.[6]
Life[edit]
Desmond de Villiers was born on 7 November 1922[1] and educated at Bedford Modern School.[7] During World War II he was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force[8] (with No. 68 Squadron RAF) and awarded the AFC.[7] He principally flew Beaufighters in RAF Fighter Command and RAF Coastal Command.[9]
In 1943, de Villiers was seconded to de Havilland where he became chief test pilot,[2] the world's first open cockpit pilot to reach supersonic speed (albeit inadvertently, the cockpit canopy flew off mid-flight and landed in the garden of a house in Blundellsands near Southport),[10][3] the second British pilot to exceed mach 2, chief experimental test pilot on the English Electric Lightning programme (making more than 1,000 flights)[4][5] and who, during his test career, flew more than 6,000 hours in 130 different aircraft.[6] In 1951, de Villiers flew the Mamba Marathon at the Farnborough Airshow.[9]
De Villiers retired from test flying in 1967.[9] He died on 19 June 1976.[11]
References[edit]
- ^ a b England & Wales, Birth & Death Indexes
- ^ a b "1976 - 1160 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b Damien Burke. "Thunder & Lightnings - English Electric Lightning - History". thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b "1967 - 0001 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b "english electric - 1955 - 0378 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b "Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers". thetartanterror.blogspot.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b "The Aeroplane; Directory of British Aviation". google.co.uk. 1966. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ "air cdt - air staff - aux - 1954 - 0041 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
- ^ a b c "Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers".
- ^ Supersonic Pilot Loses Cockpit Canopy, The Times, 6 March 1956, p.7
- ^ "Ancestry™ - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records".
External links[edit]
- "Desmond 'Dizzy' DeVilliers 1924-1976" at Test & Research Pilots. Blogspot. Retrieved 5 September 2016.