Michael Henry Bruce Snelling (born 1941) is a former British

fighter pilot A fighter pilot is a military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, air-to-ground combat and sometimes electronic warfare while in the cockpit of a fighter aircraft. Fighter pilots undergo specialized training in aerial warfare and ...

test pilot A test pilot is an aircraft pilot with additional training to fly and evaluate experimental, newly produced and modified aircraft with specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques.Stinton, Darrol. ''Flying Qualities and Flight Testing ...

and airline pilot.

Early life

Born in

Brighton Brighton () is a seaside resort and one of the two main areas of the City of Brighton and Hove in the county of East Sussex, England. It is located south of London. Archaeological evidence of settlement in the area dates back to the Bronze A ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, Mike Snelling was educated at Prestonville School, Brighton and Radley College where he was a classics scholar.

Career

Snelling joined the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

(RAF) as a Technical Cadet, as a member of 8(U) entry at the RAF Technical College at RAF Henlow in 1959. He read Engineering at Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge. After post graduate training he was sent for basic flying training. In 1965 he transferred to the RAF General Duties Branch. After advanced flying training he was posted to the Central Flying School and graduated as a flying instructor on the Gnat T Mk 1. After a tour at RAF Valley in

Anglesey Anglesey (; cy, (Ynys) Môn ) is an island off the north-west coast of Wales. It forms a principal area known as the Isle of Anglesey, that includes Holy Island across the narrow Cymyran Strait and some islets and skerries. Anglesey island ...

, he joined No.229 OCU at

RAF Chivenor Royal Air Force Chivenor or RAF Chivenor was a Royal Air Force station located on the northern shore of the River Taw estuary, on the north coast of Devon, England. The nearest towns are Barnstaple and Braunton. Originally a civil airfield opene ...

for

Hawker Hunter The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet-powered fighter aircraft that was developed by Hawker Aircraft for the Royal Air Force (RAF) during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It was designed to take advantage of the newly developed Rolls-R ...

conversion. He then served as a DFGA (Day Fighter/Ground Attack) Hunter pilot on 208 Sqn at RAF Muharraq in

Bahrain Bahrain ( ; ; ar, البحرين, al-Bahrayn, locally ), officially the Kingdom of Bahrain, ' is an island country in Western Asia. It is situated on the Persian Gulf, and comprises a small archipelago made up of 50 natural islands and an ...

Test pilot

In 1970 Snelling graduated from the Empire Test Pilots' School 29 (FW) course. He joined A (Fighter Test) Squadron of the

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its work ...

at Boscombe Down. He specialised in weapon system testing. In 1972 he was appointed Senior Pilot. In 1973 he was awarded the Air Force Cross. He left the RAF and started work as a test pilot for

Hawker Siddeley Hawker Siddeley was a group of British manufacturing companies engaged in aircraft production. Hawker Siddeley combined the legacies of several British aircraft manufacturers, emerging through a series of mergers and acquisitions as one of onl ...

in 1973 and joined the Harrier project. He was the pilot that tested the Harrier and Sea Harrier with the

ski-jump Ski jumping is a winter sport in which competitors aim to achieve the farthest jump after sliding down on their skis from a specially designed curved ramp. Along with jump length, competitor's aerial style and other factors also affect the final ...

take-off method in 1977 and 1978, later adopted by the

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 ...

of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against F ...

. The testing began on 5 August 1977 with Harrier ''XV281''. In August 1978 he became the second person to fly the Sea Harrier when he took ''XZ450'' for its sixth flight at Dunsfold. The aircraft itself had been first flown on 20 August 1978. On 13 November 1978 he was the first person to land a Sea Harrier at sea in the

Moray Firth The Moray Firth (; Scottish Gaelic: ''An Cuan Moireach'', ''Linne Mhoireibh'' or ''Caolas Mhoireibh'') is a roughly triangular inlet (or firth) of the North Sea, north and east of Inverness, which is in the Highland council area of north of Scotl ...

on HMS ''Hermes''. The ship was anchored whilst the trials took place. In 1980 he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. He was the first person to fly the Harrier GR5 (''ZD318'') on 30 April 1985 at

Dunsfold Aerodrome Dunsfold Aerodrome (former ICAO code EGTD) is an unlicensed airfield in Surrey, England, near the village of Cranleigh. It extends across land in the villages of Dunsfold and Alfold. It was built by the Canadian Army and civilian contracto ...

. The GR5 would enter RAF service in July 1987, and was designated as the British Aerospace Harrier II. It was the version of the Harrier that would remain in service until its retirement in 2010. It had a larger composite wing and flap system giving greater range and payload than the previous Harrier. On 19 May 1986 he was the first person to fly the single-seat

British Aerospace Hawk 200 The British Aerospace Hawk 200 is a single-seat, single engine light multirole fighter designed for air defence, air denial, anti-shipping, interdiction, close air support, and ground attack. Development In 1984, British Aerospace (now B ...

fighter plane on a flight of 1 hour 20 minutes from Dunsfold. He was a main test pilot on the Sea Harrier. He retired from test flying in 1989.

Commercial Pilot

Snelling joined

Air Europe Air Europe was a wholly privately owned, independentindependent from government-owned corporations British airline, established in 1978 under the working title Inter European Airways.Simons It adopted the Air Europe name the following year. Its ...

in 1990 and flew

Boeing 737 The Boeing 737 is a narrow-body aircraft produced by Boeing at its Renton Factory in Washington. Developed to supplement the Boeing 727 on short and thin routes, the twinjet retains the 707 fuselage width and six abreast seating with two un ...

aircraft as a captain on European routes. When that airline failed, he joined Sabena as a contract pilot flying

DHC-8 The De Havilland Canada DHC-8, commonly known as the Dash 8, is a series of turboprop-powered regional airliners, introduced by de Havilland Canada (DHC) in 1984. DHC was later bought by Boeing in 1988, then by Bombardier in 1992; then by ...

aircraft from

Brussels Airport Brussels Airport, nl, Luchthaven Brussel, vls, Vliegpling Brussel, german: Flughafen Brüssel is an international airport northeast of Brussels, the capital of Belgium. In 2019, more than 26 million passengers arrived or departed at Bruss ...

and retired from flying in 1994.

Personal life

Snelling married Jennifer Fox in 1965 in the Spen Valley district in the

West Riding of Yorkshire The West Riding of Yorkshire is one of three historic subdivisions of Yorkshire, England. From 1889 to 1974 the administrative county County of York, West Riding (the area under the control of West Riding County Council), abbreviated County ...

(now

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

); they have two daughters - Astrid and Heidi. He married Mary Yelf in 1981. He now lives on

Guernsey Guernsey (; Guernésiais: ''Guernési''; french: Guernesey) is an island in the English Channel off the coast of Normandy that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey, a British Crown Dependency. It is the second largest of the Channel Islands ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Snelling, Mike 1941 births Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge English test pilots People from the Bailiwick of Guernsey People educated at Radley College Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers Living people Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air