PPRuNe Forums - Last Flight of John Desmond Penrose

The Society (SETP) was saddened to learn of the “Last Flight” of John Desmond Penrose (HF) on 13 May 2025. He was 95 years old.
In 1947 he joined the Nottingham University Air Squadron and was taught to fly on Tiger Moths from the grass airfield at RAF Newton. Desmond described himself as not being a very good pupil but his instructor, a 15 stone, rugby playing ex bomber pilot, Charlie Dalziel, persisted and, after encouraging him to improve his slow rolls, Desmond was sent off on his first solo on 14 April 1948.
Desmond’s interest blossomed as he excelled at aerobatics. In his professional career when exploring their capabilities he admitted he pushed aeroplanes to their accepted limits, and often beyond.
In the University Air Squadron he was awarded the Jonathan Cash Trophy for best cadet in 1947-1948 and determined to follow a career in the Royal Air Force.

Having graduated with an Honours Degree from Loughborough in 1951, Desmond was awarded an RAF Direct Entry permanent commission and, due to his University Air Squadron experience, was streamed onto a short course flying Harvards at Cottesmore. Converting onto jets through Meteors at Full Sutton, he was rated by his instructors as ‘above average’ before attending the Operational Conversion Unit at Stradishall.
In November 1952, at the age of 22, Desmond was posted to 208 Squadron flying Meteor FR9s based at Abu Sueir in Egypt. The squadron’s primary task was fighter-reconnaissance, operating at high speed at low level, mostly between 70ft and 100ft. Desmond’s love of aerobatics caused him to suggest that the squadron establish a formation team which they did, often practicing at night.

Desmond reveled in the life of an operational squadron pilot and in later years, conscious of the changes that were inevitable, expressed dismay at the state of the air force. “Not the Air Force I joined,” he would say.
He became Vice President of the 208 Squadron Association and was much involved in organization of the annual reunions to which he insisted that all squadron personnel, especially the ground crew, should be fully represented.
At the end of his Egyptian Tour in June 1955 he was disappointed to have to leave the squadron for a posting to the Central Flying School at Little Rissington for training as an instructor on Vampires. Perhaps it should be no surprise that whilst at CFS he won the prestigious Christopher Clarkson Trophy for the best freestyle sequence flown in the annual aerobatic competition.

Posted as a Qualified Flying Instructor to the Royal Air Force College at Cranwell, by early 1956 Desmond had established an aerobatic team there flying Vampire FB9s, the college’s first jet team, who performed their inaugural display on his 26th birthday.
At the end of that tour in 1958 Desmond was invited to Farnborough to participate in a three-day selection process as a candidate for the Empire Test Pilots School. His flying assessment was on the Hawker Sea Hawk which he enjoyed, describing the aeroplane as a higher-powered Vampire. Following his assessment when he was again categorized as ‘above average’, he was selected to join ETPS No 17 Course and, following graduation, was offered a position as a test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment.

The Establishment was busy, and he was flying up to 13 different types a month with particular emphasis on low frequency navigation trials on the Comet 2E and fly-by-wire development with the Avro 707c.
Towards the end of his RAE Tour in 1961, John Cunningham, de Havilland’s Chief Test Pilot, invited Desmond to resign his RAF commission and join the team at Hatfield. Desmond had always believed that, assuming he had not been killed by the time he was 42, he would retire from the RAF having achieved an appropriate rank. He took a long time to consider the move but eventually accepted the offer and joined Hatfield as Project Pilot for the DH.110 Sea Vixen FAW2.

During recovery of a Sea Vixen that had developed a serious fault, the aircraft suffered a heavy landing, and the medicos reported that Desmond had broken his back.
Desmond was enrolled into the team developing Firestreak and Red Top missiles for which a pair of pre-production English Electric Lightnings were based at Hatfield. Live firings were conducted over Cardigan Bay requiring meticulous fuel planning and conservation as under normal circumstances the test area was already at the aircraft’s limited radius of action.
With the rundown of military work, the de Havilland company concentrated on civil projects and Desmond’s interests were focused on the Trident and 125. In addition to test flying, he toured the world as a company demonstration pilot, flying at all the major international air shows, delivering new aeroplanes and training customer’s crews.

In 1962 John Cunningham invited Desmond to become custodian of Hatfield’s 1925 Cirrus Moth, a task in which he immersed himself until his retirement from the company in 1974 when he established his own business ventures.
Aware of his abilities in demonstrating the Moth, Desmond was approached by Air Commodore Allen Wheeler, enquiring whether he would be interested in displaying some of the Shuttleworth Collection’s unique aeroplanes. Of course, the answer was YES. Eventually he flew every aircraft in the Collection and was a regular performer at their summer air displays.

Fending off many years of continued nagging, Desmond resolutely refused to write or record his memoirs. Only during recent years, and on very rare occasions, did Desmond agree to speak publicly about his flying experiences. For a Moth Club Forum at Henlow he provided a large selection of photographs of specific aeroplanes which contributed to his story. He ruefully contemplated that several of them were now preserved as museum exhibits.
“At Farnborough”, he recalled, “I was summoned from lunch to conduct an urgent air test on this Varsity. I was flying solo. On take off one engine caught fire. As I turned downwind and prepared to land, the other engine caught fire.”

Desmond recognized that no aeroplanes, new or vintage, could possibly continue to operate without skilled and appropriate engineering support. As a result, for many years he quietly and unobtrusively provided financial support towards the advancement of young engineers working at the Shuttleworth Collection.

Mindful of the springboard offered by Loughborough, Desmond was a generous supporter of activities organized by the University to encourage young people into STEM industries and to inspire them to consider science, technology, engineering and mathematics subjects and careers.
To acknowledge his philanthropy, in 2012 the Desmond Penrose Atrium was opened in Loughborough University’s Stewart Miller building; he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Technology degree in 2015 and in 2022 a road near the Atrium was unveiled as Penrose Way.

He owned and flew two special aeroplanes of his own: the Percival Mew Gull and the Arrow Active, both historically associated with one of his own flying heroes, Alex Henshaw.
He assembled a major collection of scale models of aircraft he had flown, each authentically marked and suitably modified to be a totally accurate representation.

Desmond logged almost 11,000 hours in 362 different types from Mach 2 fighters to the Bristol Boxkite with a speed range up to 35mph and flew more than 600 public displays.

His last flight as pilot in command was in an old friend, a familiar Tiger Moth, when he flew solo for half an hour and completed two circuits at Henlow Airfield on 12 August 2018. He had decided it was time. His logbook was full.
Desmond was a patriot, a man of principal, exceptional manners and courtesy, an officer and a gentleman.
When asked to summarize his flying career Desmond’s reply was succinct: “It has been,” he said, “PURE JOY.”
A Memorial Service will be held at St Helens Church, Wheathampstead, Hertfordshire AL4 8AA on Monday 16 June at 1.00pm.

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