Peter Twiss

Peter Twiss
Peter Twiss
	Second World War Malta Convoys; Operation Torch;
Rank	Lieutenant Commander

Lionel Peter Twiss

OBE, DSC & Bar (23 July 1921 – 31 August 2011) was a British test pilot who held the World Air Speed Record

in 1956.

Early life

He was born in Lindfield, Sussex and lived with his grandmother while his parents were in India and Burma. He was the grandson of an admiral and the son of Colonel Dudley Cyril Twiss an army officer.^[1] Twiss went to school at Haywards Heath and later at Sherborne School. In 1938, he was employed as an apprentice tea-taster by Brooke Bond in London, before returning to the family farm near Salisbury.^[1]^[2]

Aviation career

Military

Rejected as a pilot by the

Second World War. After training at 14 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School, Castle Bromwich, he went on to fly Fairey Battles and Hawker Harts. He underwent operational training at RNAS Yeovilton flying Blackburn Rocs, Blackburn Skuas and Gloster Gladiators.^[2] His next posting was at the School of Army Co-operation at Andover, flying Bristol Blenheims as a twin conversion. He was then posted to 771 Squadron in the Orkney Islands, flying a variety of naval aircraft on various duties, including met observations at 12000 ft in winter in the open cockpit of a Fairey Swordfish, and target-towing duties.^[2]

He then served with the

Fiat CR.42 on 14 May 1942) and damaged another.^[3]

He then flew long-range intruder operations over Germany from

Fighter Interception Unit. Ford also acted as an operational research unit and so Twiss flew missions over occupied Europe, in Bristol Beaufighters and de Havilland Mosquitos, so putting the unit's theory into practice. He claimed two Junkers Ju 88s

shot down during 1944.

Later in 1944, he was sent to the British Air Commission Washington DC, where he tested various prototype aircraft and evaluated airborne radar equipment.

Boscombe Down

.

Civil

In 1946, Twiss joined

F-100 Super Sabre, and became the first jet aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph in level flight.^[6]

Later career

In 1960, Fairey Aviation was sold to

Fairey Marine in 1960 and was responsible for the development and sales of day-cruisers. He appeared in the film From Russia with Love, driving one of the company's speedboats.^[1]^[7] His work as a marine consultant led to directorships of Fairey Marine (1968–78) and Hamble Point Marina (1978–88).^[1]

In 1969, driving the

Sink the Bismarck, in which he flew a Fairey Swordfish.^[8]

Twiss was for several years a member of Lasham Gliding Society. His autobiography Faster Than the Sun was published in 1963, and revised in 2005.

Personal life

Twiss was married five times. His first three marriages, to Constance Tomkinson, Vera Maguire and

Cherry Huggins, ended in divorce. His fourth wife, Heather Danby, predeceased him in 1988. When Twiss died on 31 August 2011, he was survived by his fifth wife, Jane de Lucey. Twiss had a son, three daughters and several stepchildren.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c ^d ^e "Peter Twiss Obituary". The Guardian. 2 September 2011. Online version
^ ^a ^b ^c Brief autobiography
^ ^a ^b "Obituary: Lieutenant-Commander Peter Twiss". The Daily Telegraph. 2 September 2011. Online version
^ The Empire Test Pilots' School — Twenty Five Years, 1968, p. 68
^ "No. 40413". The London Gazette (Supplement). 18 February 1955. p. 1094.
^ "Getting the Record". Flight Magazine. Flight Global. 23 March 1956. Archived from the original on 2 November 2012.
^ "Obituary". The Times. 2 September 2011.
^ "First 1,000 mph air speed record pilot dies". BBC News. 1 September 2011. Retrieved 1 September 2011.