Information on British TP's required
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2005
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From: scotland
Information on British TP's required
Hi all,
I am trying to fill in some missing information ie year of passing and also looking for any copies of obituaries for the following British Test Pilots/Nav's
Geoffrey Haig-Pike (de Havilland)
Ron Clear xxxx - 2005
Tom Brooke-Smith (Shorts) 1918-xxxx
Geoffrey Tyson (Saunders-Roe) 1907-xxxx
Sqn Ldr Jack.B.Wales (AvRoe) xxxx-1956
Peter Moneypenny (BAC) xxxx-xxxx
Joseph 'Joe' Smith (Supermarine Aircraft Designer) 1897-xxxx
Any help in filling in some missing dates or copies of obituaries/information on them woul be most helpful
Regds
Neil
I am trying to fill in some missing information ie year of passing and also looking for any copies of obituaries for the following British Test Pilots/Nav's
Geoffrey Haig-Pike (de Havilland)
Ron Clear xxxx - 2005
Tom Brooke-Smith (Shorts) 1918-xxxx
Geoffrey Tyson (Saunders-Roe) 1907-xxxx
Sqn Ldr Jack.B.Wales (AvRoe) xxxx-1956
Peter Moneypenny (BAC) xxxx-xxxx
Joseph 'Joe' Smith (Supermarine Aircraft Designer) 1897-xxxx
Any help in filling in some missing dates or copies of obituaries/information on them woul be most helpful
Regds
Neil
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,300
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From: Canberra Australia
Tom Brooke-Smith
The book on ETPS "Learn to Test, Test to Learn" has following.
Despite the interruptions, No 6 Course (1947) managed successfully to complete by the end of the year.
The one civilian test pilot on the Course was Tom Brooke-Smith, who had come from Short's at Rochester where he had been busy testing the flying-boats. He went back there as Chief Test Pilot, going on for years and testing the VTO testbeds built by Short as research aircraft in the sixties. From there he went to Flight Refuelling Ltd, at Tarrant Rushton.
Unable to find any of the others in my listing of ETPS graduates.
The book on ETPS "Learn to Test, Test to Learn" has following.
Despite the interruptions, No 6 Course (1947) managed successfully to complete by the end of the year.
The one civilian test pilot on the Course was Tom Brooke-Smith, who had come from Short's at Rochester where he had been busy testing the flying-boats. He went back there as Chief Test Pilot, going on for years and testing the VTO testbeds built by Short as research aircraft in the sixties. From there he went to Flight Refuelling Ltd, at Tarrant Rushton.
Unable to find any of the others in my listing of ETPS graduates.
Joined: Mar 2006
Posts: 1,771
Likes: 0
From: West Sussex
Ron Clear
Yes,
Ron Clear was at Airspeed, as far as I remember from my friend ( her Dad was fellow TP to Ron, Robin Milne ) they worked on the Ambassador, Oxford, Horsa etc, Fleet Shadower ( ! ) then with DH the Dove and the Comet. George Errington was also there, though his interest with stalling ( and trying it in a Trident ) eventually proved unfortunate for him & more importantly his crew - see 'Test Pilots' by Don Middleton.
There's an interesting account mentioning Ron Clear in a book on the Mosquito - both Robin Milne & Ron had to pick up Mosquito's from somewhere & bring them back to Airspeed, Portsmouth, for work.
Robin found his merlins overheating on the ground, so cut short his checks & took off - the upper escape hatch promptly blew away, unsecured.
He thought he'd better check the handling, & found the only effect was at the approach of stall a suction would develop, tugging his helmet at it's chinstraps.
He thought 'fair enough' & not much of it, but on attempting to get into Portsmouth, a short strip with a low wall on the approach, he found conventional methods weren't doing it - after a go-round he used the 'helmet suction technique' to come in just above the stall.
Ron Clear took several goes & still landed a lot further on than Robin - when Ron asked " how the **** did you do that ?" Robin just replied, " Oh, sorts the men from the boys !"
It was years before Robin came clean...
I got the feeling from those who knew him that Ron Clear was a much admired guy in every way ( Robin Milne too ).
Ron Clear was at Airspeed, as far as I remember from my friend ( her Dad was fellow TP to Ron, Robin Milne ) they worked on the Ambassador, Oxford, Horsa etc, Fleet Shadower ( ! ) then with DH the Dove and the Comet. George Errington was also there, though his interest with stalling ( and trying it in a Trident ) eventually proved unfortunate for him & more importantly his crew - see 'Test Pilots' by Don Middleton.
There's an interesting account mentioning Ron Clear in a book on the Mosquito - both Robin Milne & Ron had to pick up Mosquito's from somewhere & bring them back to Airspeed, Portsmouth, for work.
Robin found his merlins overheating on the ground, so cut short his checks & took off - the upper escape hatch promptly blew away, unsecured.
He thought he'd better check the handling, & found the only effect was at the approach of stall a suction would develop, tugging his helmet at it's chinstraps.
He thought 'fair enough' & not much of it, but on attempting to get into Portsmouth, a short strip with a low wall on the approach, he found conventional methods weren't doing it - after a go-round he used the 'helmet suction technique' to come in just above the stall.
Ron Clear took several goes & still landed a lot further on than Robin - when Ron asked " how the **** did you do that ?" Robin just replied, " Oh, sorts the men from the boys !"
It was years before Robin came clean...
I got the feeling from those who knew him that Ron Clear was a much admired guy in every way ( Robin Milne too ).
