Michael John Lithgow, OBE (30 August 1920 – 22 October 1963) was a British aviator and chief test pilot for

Vickers Supermarine Vickers was a British engineering company that existed from 1828 until 1999. It was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by Edward Vickers and his father-in-law, and soon became famous for casting church bells. The company went public in 18 ...

who became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a

Supermarine Swift The Supermarine Swift is a British single-seat jet fighter aircraft that was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was developed and manufactured by Supermarine during the 1940s and 1950s. The Swift featured many of the new jet age innova ...

. He died when the prototype

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (or BAC-111/BAC 1-11) was an early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Originally conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-se ...

airliner crashed in 1963.

Early life

Mike Lithgow was born on 30 August 1920 and educated at

Cheltenham College ("Work Conquers All") , established = , closed = , type = Public schoolIndependent School Day and Boarding School , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Head , head = Nicola Huggett ...

Second World War

Joined

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

March 1939 – December 1945
As a

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding rank i ...

on the HMS ''Ark Royal'' he flew Swordfish torpedo bombers, and was one of the pilots attacking the Bismarckfamily history

Test Pilot

He retired from the Navy and moved to

as a test pilot in January 1946 and became the company's chief test pilot two years later. In September 1946 he took part in the

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Lympne ...

high speed air race, flying a Supermarine Seafang, competing against

Bill Humble William Humble MBE (14 April 1911 – 1 March 1992) was a well-known pre- Second World War aviator, known as an air racer and for his aerobatic displays. He was also an officer in the Royal Air Force Special Reserve, and the Auxiliary Air Force ...

in a

Hawker Fury The Hawker Fury is a British biplane fighter aircraft used by the Royal Air Force in the 1930s. It was a fast, agile aircraft, and the first interceptor in RAF service capable of speed higher than 200 mph (321 kmh). It was the fighter cou ...

Geoffrey de Havilland Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built,D ...

in a D.H. Vampire and G.H Pike in a D.H. Hornet On 26 September 1953 flying the

F.4 prototype, WK198, Lithgow broke the World Air Speed Record near Tripoli in Libya, reaching a speed of 735.7 mph (1184 km/h). He was awarded the Gold Medal of th
Royal Aero Club
and the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy in 1953 He did extensive test flying on the Supermarine Attacker, Swift, Scimitar and later the Vickers Vanguard and BAC 1-11. Lithgow died test flying the prototype

''G-ASHG'' from

Wisley airfield Wisley Airfield is a former wartime airfield located in the Parish of Ockham near Wisley in Surrey, England. Originally a grass airstrip, the runway was converted to tarmac in 1952 and used to test aircraft built at Weybridge by Vickers. Flying ...

on 22 October 1963 when during stall tests the aircraft entered a

deep stall In fluid dynamics, a stall is a reduction in the lift coefficient generated by a foil as angle of attack increases.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', p. 486. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. This occurs when t ...

and

crashed "Crashed" is the third U.S. rock Single (music), single, (the fifth overall), from the band Daughtry (band), Daughtry's debut album. It was released only to U.S. rock stations on September 5, 2007. Upon its release the song got adds at those stat ...

near

Chicklade Chicklade is a small village and civil parish in Wiltshire, South West England. The village is on the A303 road, about south of Warminster. The parish includes the hamlet of Upper Pertwood. The Great Ridge Wood, formerly also known as Chickl ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. Six other BAC flight test team members were killed too.

References

Citations

Sources

*Autobiography: ''Mach One''. (Oct 1954). Allan Wingate Ltd.

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononymously as Asin, is a former Indian actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil, Hindi and Telugu films. She is a trained Bharatanatyam dancer. She has received three Filmfare Awards. She beg ...

: B0000CIZSW *Editor: ''Vapour Trails''. (1956). Allan Wingate Ltd.

: B0000CJFFQ * *

External links

Supermarine Swift history
1920 births 1963 deaths People educated at Cheltenham College Royal Navy officers Royal Navy officers of World War II Fleet Air Arm aviators British test pilots Officers of the Order of the British Empire Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II {{aviation-bio-stub