Prince Phillip, single pilot?
 

Just been watching The Crown. It shows Prince Phillip flying a DH Devon single pilot, with a young Prince Charles as a passenger. Would this have happened?

he certainly flew them from time to time
https://www.gettyimages.co.uk/detail...re-id867467224

Being who he is, he probably put his foot down and insisted if he wanted to fly single-pilot, then he would. However, I don't think "the powers" would have allowed the heir to the throne be aboard.

He was certainly flying solo on this occasion, though I doubt he had Charles secreted aboard...

Picture shows a Queens Flight Heron, not a Devon.
I remember reading somewhere that the D of E soloed in Chipmunks but thereafter, being Royal Consort, was not allowed to fly without another qualified pilot on board so if he ever flew even a Devon (which I find doubtful), there would have been another pilot hiding in the cabin. As far as I'm aware, this was also true for TQF helicopters.
I read this as part of a story about him visiting Lasham where there was some sort of 'event' in the early '60s which included an Air Cadet Sedburgh. He was given a few launches in it but not permitted to fly solo for the above reasons and being Philip, he made no secret of the fact this pi$$ed him off..

I remember seeing a picture of him and Derek Piggott in a Slingsby Eagle.


Found it - in Derek Piggot's book "Gliding - A Handbook on Soaring Flight":

https://i.imgur.com/sEr2j4F.png

Is that Ann Welch in the background?

Definitely Ann Welch.
Although Charles (and I think Andy) flew Sedburghs solo, when Charles came to 'solo' in the Chipmunk, it wasn't allowed, I understand there was always a 'safety pilot' with him.

Would it seem a reasonable guess that such restrictions were 'suggested' by HM?

As far as I'm aware, the Prince of Wales did a full RAF Wings course on the JP. I wouldn't think there was a safety pilot there all the time. He also did a parachute jump from an Andover. No "safety pilot" there.

Re the photo at Lasham, Ann Welch is holding the canopy and her second husband Lorne Welch beside her. He was in Colditz and involved in the construction of the Colditz Cock escape glider (which never flew of course, although a replica did and currently resides at Lasham)

Two real aviators; one poseur.

Lorne Welch was the first pilot to fly a glider both ways over the English Channel IIRC. I knew Anne quite well for the last 10 years ago before her death, and she was full of stories about that and many other things that he had done - although sadly his end was slow and unhappy. Anne, happier, simply sat down one day and never got up.

G

Prince Phillip soloed on the Harvard in 1953 or so.


Pathe film is easily found on youtube.

I believe they both worked at Farnborough but I never met them there. I met Anne much later in her days of 'championing' microlights when she did a talk for the Guild of Air Traffic Controllers (GATCO) at West Drayton (late '80s?).

Prince Phillip Flying Solo over Windsor Castle - 1953


http://i145.photobucket.com/albums/r...ghSolo1953.jpg

Warmtoast,

Great picture. When I was earning my PPL at White Wailtham and before I had learned “spatial awareness “, I was told to aim for Windsor Castle on the downwind leg!

Caz,

Could you expand?

I have heard Prince Philip called many things (some quite justifiably) but a poseur? Never.

(Or were you referring to one of the other blokes in the pic?)

I respect your right to, Cazalet. But why?

In my experience he was always meticulous in his preparations when flying; hardly a poseur.

Probably as accurate as the portrayal, in the very first scene in the first episode of "The Crown", of Prince Philip wearing wings on his sleeve when receiving the Garter the day before his wedding in November 1947.....

Jack