Loss of a Brit Pioneer: Sox Hosegood

[heli1]

Sorry to pass on that Sox Hosegood finally passed on at 15.30 today.
One of the original Brit trainees and probably the last survivor of those who went to the US during the war to convert onto the Sikorsky R4 ,he became the Navy helicopter test pilot at the joint Airborne Forces Experimental Establishment at Beaulieu and later joined the Bristol Aeroplane Company and became their CTP ,flying the Sycamore and the Type 173 and Belvedere tandem rotor helicopters .
When Westland took over the Bristol Helicopter Division Sox moved on and set up the helicopter operation For SWEB,now Western Power Distribution. He was fully still compos mentis right to the end and passed on at home with his family around him.
I will try and post details of his funeral in due course but his wife Jane says no flowers...instead donations to the Great Western Air Ambulance please.

[paco]

Sox was very helpful to me when I was Chief Pilot down there - RIP.

phil

[Democritus]

Sad to see that Sox Hosegood died age 93 on Monday. One of the first UK service pilots to convert to helicopters, as a Fleet Air Arm pilot he flew the Sikorsky R4 back in 1944. He was Chief Test Pilot at Bristol Aeroplane Co. in the late 1940's and was involved with the development of the Sycamore and the Bristol Type 173 and Type 172 - the Belvedere. He then formed the South Western Electricity Board Helicopter Unit in 1963 and that took him through to retirement. Not many of the pioneers left now.

From today's Daily Telegraph:

HOSEGOOD
C.T.D. (Sox) F.R.Ae.S. on 17th February aged 93. Very dear husband of Jane. Much loved father of Nigel and Ian and grandad Sox to Anna, Sam and Kate. Thanksgiving Service, Christ Church, Redhill, North Somerset, Friday 28th February at.— 1 p.m. Family flowers only, donations, if desired, to Christ Church and The Great Western Air Ambulance, c/o Keith C Britton & Son, Funeral Directors, 10 High Street, Yatton, North Somerset BS49 4JA.

[tigerfish]

One of Life's real gentlemen! I remember him when he first came to Yeovil as chief Test pilot for Westlands.
A true Aviator.

tigerfish

[Fantome]

From far away on the other side of the globe, the nature of Sox was apparent in all those FLIGHT coverages of Farnborough, along with potted profiles of the top test pilots.

Hope someone can post a copy of whatever eulogies are delivered.

(Been to many a funeral service where brilliant eulogies were heard, but sadly too many are lost to posterity.)

[heli1]

Yes..Sox flew at every Farnborough AirShow from 1949 to 1961 and on every day of each show too....must be a record. He set up a few of those too.....first to fly a twin engined tandem rotor, a London-Paris-London speed record and the first to land a twin tandem rotor on a ship at sea.

[treadigraph]

Rather belated obituary in the Daily Telegraph (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/military-obituaries/naval-obituaries/10808924/Lt-Charles-Sox-Hosegood-obituary.html) today...

[heli1]

.......And now John Morton has passed on too. Copilot on the Rotodyne and another ex FAA helicopter pilot ,who pioneered small ship helo ops, first with the Fairey Ultra Light in the English Channel in the late 1950s and later with the Wasp in rolling deck trials and lead pilot on Navy Lynx at Westland. He later retired to New Zealand and passed away in early May, aged 89.

Fortuitously The Helicopter Museum recorded interviews with both Sox and John earlier this year ,discussing the highlights of their test flying.