Anthony Lionel Blackman (born April 1928) is a British aviator, and former Chief Test Pilot for

Avro AVRO, short for Algemene Vereniging Radio Omroep ("General Association of Radio Broadcasting"), was a Dutch public broadcasting association operating within the framework of the Nederlandse Publieke Omroep system. It was the first public broad ...

Early life

Blackman was the son of the radiologist Dr Sydney Blackman (7 December 1898 - 1971) of Kensington Court, one of the principal developers of

panoramic radiograph A panoramic radiograph is a panoramic scanning dental X-ray of the upper and lower jaw. It shows a two-dimensional view of a half-circle from ear to ear. Panoramic radiography is a form of focal plane tomography; thus, images of multiple pl ...

y in dentistry, and the son of Polish emigrants, educated at the Grocers' Company School (later known as

Hackney Downs School Hackney Downs School was an 11–16 boys, community comprehensive secondary school in Lower Clapton, Greater London, England. It was established in 1876 and closed in 1995. It has been replaced by the Mossbourne Community Academy. History Gr ...

). His father, when a local GP, was at the birth of the playwright

Harold Pinter Harold Pinter (; 10 October 1930 – 24 December 2008) was a British playwright, screenwriter, director and actor. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most influential modern British dramatists with a writing career that spanne ...

. His parents Sydney and Lena Goodman had married in 1923 in Hackney. His sister Rita Mason (1925- 25 March 2008) was also a dental radiologist (

oral and maxillofacial radiology Oral and maxillofacial radiology, also known as dental and maxillofacial radiology, is the specialty of dentistry concerned with performance and interpretation of diagnostic imaging used for examining the craniofacial, dental and adjacent structur ...

), with her father at the Royal Dental Hospital, attending Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. His father helped to found the British Society of Dental and Maxillo-facial Radiology. Blackman attended Oundle School. When at Oundle he saw many damaged US bombers returning to RAF Polebrook and

RAF Deenethorpe Royal Air Force Deenethorpe or more simply RAF Deenethorpe is a former Royal Air Force station located east of Corby, Northamptonshire, England. It has one remaining tarmac runway at 1200m (3937ft) long. United States Army Air Forces use De ...

in Northamptonshire. Later he studied Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Career

Royal Air Force

From October 1948 Blackman started his National Service at

RAF Padgate Padgate is a suburb of Warrington, in the civil parish of Poulton-with-Fearnhead, in the Warrington district, in the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England. History Overview Historically part of Lancashire, until 1838 Padgate was an area of far ...

near Warrington. He joined the RAF, in December 1948 as a

Pilot Officer Pilot officer (Plt Off officially in the RAF; in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly P/O in all services, and still often used in the RAF) is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countri ...

, training for 12 weeks at RAF Wellesbourne at the RAF School of Education becoming a Maths and Physics instructor at No. 1 Initial Training School at RAF Wittering, then learned to fly from January 1950 at RAF Ternhill with 6 FTS (

No. 6 Flying Training School RAF No. 6 Flying Training School RAF is a Flying Training School (FTS) within No. 22 (Training) Group of the Royal Air Force that delivers flying training to University Air Squadrons and Air Experience Flights. History The school was formed by renam ...

) on the

Percival Prentice The Percival Prentice was a basic trainer of the Royal Air Force in the early postwar period. It is a low-wing monoplane with a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Front seating was in a side-by-side configuration with a rear seat provided. Desig ...

, on the No. 38 Pilots Course. He joined the Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS). He flew Vampires and Venoms with 5 and 11 squadrons. He worked at the Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE), with B Squadron, until August 1956.

Avro

Blackman joined Avro as a test pilot, becoming Chief Test Pilot, and flying with Avro from 1956 to 1973. He tested 105 of the Vulcans that were built. Avro won a contract to build the Mach 3 Avro 730, and he was to be the test pilot; the project was cancelled in 1957. He was offered to become a Concorde test pilot. He did fly Concorde ( G-AXDN, now at Duxford) once, taking the place of Jock Cochrane at RAF Fairford. He was the test pilot for the Hawker Siddeley HS 748 (Avro 748) and the Hawker Siddeley Nimrod (designed by Gilbert Whitehead).

Smiths Industries

Blackman later worked for

Smiths Industries Smiths or Smith's may refer to: Companies * Smith Electric Vehicles, or Smith's, a manufacturer of electric trucks * Smith's Food and Drug, or Smith's, an American supermarket chain ** Smith's Ballpark, a baseball stadium in Salt Lake City, Utah, U ...

Personal life

Blackman married Margaret in late 1956. He had a son in 1964 (who married in 1998, with a grand-daughter in 2003) and a daughter in 1961. When with Avro, he lived in Hamble-le-Rice.At home
/ref> He was made an OBE in the

1974 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours 1974 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were published on 7 June 1974 for ...

. When deputy chief test pilot of Hawker Siddeley in

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, he was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air in the

1970 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 1970 were appointments in many of the Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. They were announced in supplements to the '' Lo ...

References

External links

Biography

XM603 at Woodford
{{DEFAULTSORT:Blackman, Tony 1928 births Living people Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Avro Vulcan English test pilots English people of Polish descent Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Hawker Siddeley Officers of the Order of the British Empire People educated at Oundle School People from Kensington People from Hamble-le-Rice Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air Royal Air Force officers