Neville Duke

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Neville Frederick Duke
War Cross
(Czechoslovakia)
Other workTest pilot

Neville Frederick Duke,

air speed record when he flew a Hawker Hunter at 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h) over Littlehampton
.

Early life

Duke was born in

St Mary and The Judd School in Tonbridge. One of the four houses at Judd was named after him, following the reinstating of a house system to the school in 2008, until the changing of the House system in 2017, with the New Headmaster Jon Wood. He started working as an auctioneer and estate agent before attempting to join the Fleet Air Arm
on his 18th birthday. He was rejected and joined the RAF instead as a cadet in June 1940.

Second World War

Initial combat

Duke underwent pilot training and was commissioned at No. 58 Operational Training Unit,

Adolph "Sailor" Malan. By August 1941, Duke had claimed two Messerschmitt Bf 109s shot down. When the unit was withdrawn for a rest in October 1941, Duke was posted to North Africa to fly with No. 112 Squadron on the Curtiss Tomahawk
.

Desert operations

Duke (left) during WWII

Duke found flying the P-40 less agreeable than the Spitfire, and on a familiarisation flight crashed AM390.[1]

On 30 November 1941, Duke was shot down by the high scoring German ace

Fiat CR.42 and a Bf 109 on 20 and 21 December.[1] He completed his first tour of operations the next month and then spent six months instructing at the fighter school in the Canal Zone
.

In November 1942, Duke rejoined 92 Squadron, which has been transferred to North Africa flying the tropicalised Spitfire Mark V.[Note 1] He became a flight commander in February 1943 and received a Distinguished Service Order in March. By the end of his second tour in June, Duke had amassed a further 14 victories to his total and was awarded a bar to his DFC.

Promoted to

Italian partisans
until U.S. troops arrived.

Downing two

Schlachtgeschwader 4 in May, Duke scored his final kills on 7 September 1944, becoming the Mediterranean Theatre's top Allied fighter ace at the age of 22. In 486 sorties and some 712 operational hours, he claimed 27 outright victories and two shared, one probable, six damaged and two shared destroyed on the ground.[3]

Test pilot

Duke returned to the UK and took up a position as test pilot for

Czech War Cross
for his wartime service.

Duke was awarded the

Boscombe Down, where he flew research flights to explore aircraft performance at high Mach numbers and high altitudes. Duke resigned from the RAF in August 1948, joining the Royal Auxiliary Air Force, flying Spitfires and Meteors from Biggin Hill. He was CO of No. 615 Squadron in 1950 and 1951, whose honorary air commodore was Winston Churchill
.

Duke joined Hawker as an assistant chief test pilot in 1948, and became Hawker's chief test pilot in 1951, following the death of

a prototype de Havilland DH 110, piloted by his friend John Derry
, had broken up in flight, killing Derry and his observer Tony Richards, along with 28 spectators. "My dear Duke", the Prime Minister wrote to him the next day, "it was characteristic of you to go up yesterday after the shocking accident. Accept my salute. Yours, in grief, Winston Churchill."

Duke was appointed an

Me 163 BV18),[5] also gaining for himself the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club. He was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air for saving his aircraft after an engine failure in August 1955. Two days later, Duke fractured his spine following a forced landing in a Hunter at Thorney Island
. Another heavy landing in May 1956 caused further spinal injuries; he was forced to resign in October 1956 after being immobilised for several months.

Later life

Duke married Gwendoline Fellows in 1947.

Duke took up freelance aviation consultancy work until 1960, when he formed Duke Aviation Limited. He was Sir George Dowty's personal pilot for most of the 1960s and 1970s. He sold the company in 1982. He also became a test pilot for Edgley Aircraft and later Brooklands Aircraft on the Edgley Optica and Brooklands Firemaster 65.

Duke wrote several books based on his experiences. His autobiography, Test Pilot, was published in 1953 and reprinted in 1992. His other books include The Sound Barrier (1953), The Crowded Sky (1959) and The War Diaries of Neville Duke (1995). He was awarded the

Guild of Air Pilots and Navigators
for "his unique and incomparable record".

Duke became one of the vice presidents of the

Eagle magazine, in 1950, and many schoolboys from that era came to know of Duke through this association. It is speculated that "Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future" may have been inspired by Duke's achievements.[6]

Duke was honorary president of Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, where his record-breaking Hunter is displayed.

After three burglaries, Duke sold his war medals in 2006 when the costs of insuring them became prohibitive. He denied press reports that he needed the money to pay for a hip operation for his wife Gwen. On 7 April 2007, the couple were flying their private aircraft when Duke became ill. He landed safely at Popham Airfield, but collapsed as he left the aircraft. He was taken by ambulance to hospital in Basingstoke where he was diagnosed as suffering from an aneurysm. He was transferred to St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, and died later that same evening after an operation, at the age of 85.

Notes

  1. Supermarine Spitfire variants

References

  1. ^ a b Thomas 2005, p. 15.
  2. ^ Thomas 2005, pp. 18–19.
  3. ^ Shores and Williams 1994, p. 234.
  4. ^ ""Air Speed Records."". Archived from the original on 13 October 2007. Retrieved 10 March 2011.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) Outright Records via web.archive.org. Retrieved: 10 March 2011.
  5. ^ Käsemann 1999, pp. 47, 122, 128 World records.
  6. ^ "Squadron Leader Neville Duke, Obituary: Fighter ace and record-breaking test pilot who played a key role in the development of the Hawker Hunter." Guardian News & Media 2008 via Buzzle.com, 13 April 2007. Retrieved: 6 September 2009.

Bibliography

External links
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