Johnny Squier

[jindabyne]

Sad to tell that Johnny Squier, ex-RAF BoB Spitfire pilot and long-time test pilot passed away on Monday, 30th January, aged 85. Of all Johnny's many exploits, he was perhaps best known for being involuntarily ejected from his prototype Lightning over the North Sea following failure of the fin at 40000feet in October 1959. After manually separating from his ejection seat, he then spent two days paddling about in his dinghy before being safely washed up on the West coast of Scotland.

RIP

[Conan the Librarian]

Remember the tale (no pun) well, though it was the Irish Sea and not the North Sea where he parted company with his steed. (Wasn't it the T.4 prototype?)

Condolences to friends and family.

Conan

[jindabyne]

Sorry, 'twas of course the Irish - he would've had a wry grin over that. And yes, it was the T4. A couple of years back we began to construct, in his local snug, a book about his life; sadly the tapes only run until the end of WW2. The hary bits were to come - shame.

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

Sad news indeed. I recall that name from my childhood visits to the Farnborough Air Show. The commentator (Oliver Stewart) would always announce the name of the pilot and build the displays up to huge proportions. Johnny was one who blew my eardrums away from just a few feet.

God Bless you Johnny