Desmond 'Dizzy' de Villiers

Desmond ‘Dizzy’ de Villiers
Born (1922-11-07)7 November 1922
Died 19 June 1976(1976-06-19) (aged 53)
Allegiance  United Kingdom
Service/branch  Royal Air Force
Years of service World War II
Rank Squadron Leader
Awards AFC
Other work Chief Test Pilot

Desmond ‘Dizzy' de Villiers AFC (7 November 1922 – 19 June 1976)[1] was chief test pilot at de Havilland,[2] the world’s first open cockpit pilot to reach supersonic speed (albeit inadvertently, the cockpit canopy flew off mid-flight),[3] the second British pilot to exceed mach 2, chief experimental test pilot on the English Electric Lightning programme (making more than 1,000 flights)[4][5] and who, during his test career, flew more than 6,000 hours in 130 different aircraft.[6]

Life

Desmond de Villiers was born on 7 November 1922[1] and educated at Bedford Modern School.[7] During World War II he was a Squadron Leader in the Royal Air Force[8] (with No. 68 Squadron RAF) and awarded the AFC.[7] He principally flew Beaufighters in RAF Fighter Command and RAF Coastal Command.[9]

In 1943, de Villiers was seconded to de Havilland where he became chief test pilot,[2] the world’s first open cockpit pilot to reach supersonic speed (albeit inadvertently, the cockpit canopy flew off mid-flight),[3] the second British pilot to exceed mach 2, chief experimental test pilot on the English Electric Lightning programme (making more than 1,000 flights)[4][5] and who, during his test career, flew more than 6,000 hours in 130 different aircraft.[6] In 1951, de Villiers flew the Mamba Marathon at the Farnborough Airshow.[9]

De Villiers retired from test flying in 1967.[9] He died on 19 June 1976.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 England & Wales, Birth & Death Indexes
  2. 1 2 "1976 - 1160 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  3. 1 2 Damien Burke. "Thunder & Lightnings - English Electric Lightning - History". thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  4. 1 2 "1967 - 0001 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 "english electric - 1955 - 0378 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 "Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers". thetartanterror.blogspot.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  7. 1 2 "The Aeroplane; Directory of British Aviation". google.co.uk. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "air cdt - air staff - aux - 1954 - 0041 - Flight Archive". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 19 January 2015.
  9. 1 2 3 "Test & Research Pilots, Flight Test Engineers".
  10. ↑ "Ancestry™ - Genealogy, Family Trees & Family History Records".

External links

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