William Arthur Waterton, AFC & Bar, GM (18 March 1916 – 17 April 2006) was a Canadian and British

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 Testin ...

squadron leader Squadron leader (Sqn Ldr in the RAF ; SQNLDR in the RAAF and RNZAF; formerly sometimes S/L in all services) is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence. It is als ...

and correspondent for the '' Daily Express''. He was awarded the

George Medal The George Medal (GM), instituted on 24 September 1940 by King George VI,''British Gallantry Medals'' (Abbott and Tamplin), p. 138 is a decoration of the United Kingdom and Commonwealth, awarded for gallantry, typically by civilians, or in cir ...

for saving the flight data when he landed at great risk the prototype

Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin is a twin-engined T-tailed delta-wing subsonic night and all-weather interceptor aircraft that served with Britain's Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s. The last aircraft design to bear the Gloster name ...

after it lost its controls during a test flight.

Early years

Born in

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

, Canada in 1916, W. A. Waterton was brought up in

Camrose, Alberta Camrose ( ) is a city in central Alberta, Canada that is surrounded by Camrose County. Located along Highway 13 it had its beginnings as a railroad hub. History The area around Camrose was first settled by Europeans around 1900. At that time t ...

, where his father was chief of police. His family originally came from north Sydenham Township and settled in

Owen Sound, Ontario Owen Sound ( 2021 Census population 21,612) is a city in Southwestern Ontario, Canada. The county seat of Grey County, it is located at the mouths of the Pottawatomi and Sydenham Rivers on an inlet of Georgian Bay. The primary tourist attractio ...

. He was interested in flying from an early age.Armitage, Andrew
"Ace test pilot was once a British celebrity and household name."
''Owen Sound Library,'' (article first appeared in the ''(Owen Sound) The Sun Times,'' 11 February 2011). Retrieved 12 March 2011. Like many aviators of his generation, he made his first flight when a barnstormer visited Camrose in 1931.

Aviation career

Second World War

Entering the Royal Military College of Canada in 1935, after two years at the school, where he was a champion middleweight boxer, Waterton had applied without success to the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

(RCAF) and Canadian Army in 1938. Ultimately, he was accepted on a short service commission for 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) an ...

(RAF) which was expanding rapidly in expectation of war. In Britain, he took flying lessons and joined the RAF on 10 June 1939. He was first posted to No. 242 Squadron RAF and flew

Hawker Hurricane The Hawker Hurricane is a British single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1930s–40s which was designed and predominantly built by Hawker Aircraft Ltd. for service with the Royal Air Force (RAF). It was overshadowed in the public consciousness b ...

s from Biggin Hill and Manston during the Battle of France. In operations over Dunkirk on 25 May 1940, he crashed near Dover and suffered severe head injuries. When Waterton returned to flying duties, he was sent to No. 6 Operational Training Unit. His skills as an instructor were recognised and he was made a flying instructor, training hundreds of pilots for over two years in both the UK and Canada.

Test flying

After a stint with Transatlantic Ferry Command in 1943, and initially posted to No. 124 Squadron in September 1943, he was transferred to 1409 (Meteorological) Flight. In 1944, Waterton applied to the

Air Fighting Development Unit The Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) was an air technical intelligence part of the Royal Air Force which developed tactics and tested captured enemy aircraft. It was based at Royal Air Force Stations Northolt, Duxford and Wittering. The AF ...

based at Wittering in Lincolnshire which assessed captured enemy aircraft by flying them in mock combat against the greatest variety of Allied aircraft. During this period, he amassed a great deal of test flying in devising tactics for

Fighter Command RAF Fighter Command was one of the commands of the Royal Air Force. It was formed in 1936 to allow more specialised control of fighter aircraft. It served throughout the Second World War World War II or the Second World War, oft ...

based on the actual performance of aircraft in "real life" conditions. Along with other colleagues, Waterton was sent to No. 5

Empire Test Pilots' School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type ...

(ETPS) at Hanworth, Middlesex.

Postwar

After the war when Waterton was at the Central Fighter Establishment, he was selected for the High Speed Flight, preparing for an attempt at the world airspeed record with the RAF's first jet fighter, the

Gloster Meteor The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies of World War II, Allies' only jet aircraft to engage in combat operations during the Second World War. The Meteor's development was heavily reliant on its ground-breaking turb ...

. He achieved an average speed of 614 mph with Meteor IV EE550, only two mph less than that of the team leader E. M. Donaldson who established a new record with EE549 on 7 September 1946. Javelin arp 750pix

Gloster Aircraft Company

Following the high speed flights, Waterton joined the

Gloster Aircraft Company The Gloster Aircraft Company was a British aircraft manufacturer from 1917 to 1963. Founded as the Gloucestershire Aircraft Company Limited during the First World War, with the aircraft construction activities of H H Martyn & Co Ltd of Chelte ...

in September 1946 as a development test pilot.James 1987, p. 423. He became the company's Chief Test Pilot, primarily in charge of experimental flight testing their new designs, the Meteor family, the experimental Gloster E.1/44, and the delta-wing Gloster GA.5 which entered service as the

. He also was involved in acceptance test flying on production aircraft. On 6 February 1948, Waterton set the world 100 kilometres closed circuit air speed record flying a Gloster Meteor IV at 524.95 mph, although his record was broken a few weeks later by

Mike Lithgow Michael John Lithgow, OBE (30 August 1920 – 22 October 1963) was a British aviator and chief test pilot for Vickers Supermarine who became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift. He died when th ...

in a

Supermarine Attacker The Supermarine Attacker is a British single-seat naval jet fighter designed and produced by aircraft manufacturer Supermarine for the Royal Navy's Fleet Air Arm (FAA). The type has the distinction of being the first jet fighter to enter oper ...

."News in Brief: Air Speed Record." ''The Times,'' 12 March 1948, Issue 51018, p. 2, Column B. In 1950, Waterton was loaned to Avro Canada for the test flights of the Avro CF-100 Canuck because as a Canadian by birth, and as an experienced test pilot, it was considered a public relations triumph for the parent Hawker Siddeley Group. On 19 January 1950, he piloted the CF-100 prototype on its maiden flight, and stayed on as the aircraft proceeded through its company development trials and throughout a

United States Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the Aerial warfare, air military branch, service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part ...

"fly-off" competition in May 1950. On his return to Gloster in 1951, Waterton found that he was continually at odds with management and even though he continued test flying, gave his superiors an ultimatum to address deficiencies in the Javelin fighter, that ended with his discharge in 1954.

Aviation correspondent

Following his dismissal from Gloster, Waterton became an aviation correspondent for the ''Daily Express''; his columns fearlessly criticising British aviation and its aircraft. In 1955, he collaborated with ''Daily Express'' sub-editor Timothy Hewat on a book covering the

de Havilland Comet The de Havilland DH.106 Comet was the world's first commercial jet airliner. Developed and manufactured by de Havilland in the United Kingdom, the Comet 1 prototype first flew in 1949. It featured an aerodynamically clean design with four ...

crashes: ''The Comet Riddle''. The following year, Waterton published his autobiography ''The Quick and the Dead'' in which he accused the British aviation industry of being badly run, aiming for a quick profit and lagging behind the Soviet and US industry. Due to advertiser pressure, Waterton was fired by the ''Daily Express'', and his departure was covered on their own front page: "We Sacked Waterton – and Why".

Later years

Thereafter, Waterton moved back to Canada to his hometown of Owen Sound, Ontario and largely led a life out of the public eye. During his later years, he continued to fly as an instructor and taught Eddie Sargent, the colourful and popular Owen Sound mayor, member of provincial parliament, newspaper publisher, promoter and record-holding swimmer, to fly.Dunn, Scott
"Sargent bay swim set for Sunday."
''(Owen Sound) The Sun Times,'' 2010. Retrieved 12 March 2011. Waterton died in 2006, and was buried in Oxenden cemetery; his final wish was to be buried with water close by, and even closer is the end of the runway of the nearby Wiarton Airport,

Wiarton Wiarton () is a community in the town of South Bruce Peninsula, Bruce County, Ontario, Canada. It is located at the western end of Colpoys Bay, an inlet off Georgian Bay, on the Bruce Peninsula. Wiarton is notable for the Wiarton Willie Festiva ...

, Ontario.

Honours and awards

*1 January 1943 – Flight Lieutenant William Arthur Waterton (RAF 42288), Royal Air Force is awarded the Air Force Cross (AFC) *12 June 1947 – Acting Squadron Leader William Arthur Waterton AFC (42288) RAFO is awarded a bar to his Air Force Cross (AFC) * 25 July 1952 – William Arthur Waterton AFC, Chief Test Pilot, Gloster Aircraft Company is awarded the George Medal: In 2003, Waterton was made an associate member of the Empire Test Pilots' School Association. Although covering a broad overview of the aerospace industry in the 1950s and 1960s, James Hamilton-Paterson exhaustively profiled Waterton's career in the recent, ''Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World'' (2010).

References

;Notes ;Citations ;Bibliography * Halliday, Hugh. ''The Tumbling Sky''. Stittsville, Ontario, Canada: Canada's Wings, 1978. . * Hamilton-Paterson, James. ''Empire of the Clouds: When Britain's Aircraft Ruled the World.'' London: Faber & Faber, 2010. . * Hamilton-Paterson, James. ''Empire of the Clouds: The Golden Era of Britain's Aircraft.'' London: Faber & Faber, 2018. . * James, Derek N. ''Gloster Aircraft since 1917''. London: Putnam, 1987. . * Jones, Barry. ''Gloster Meteor''. Ramsbury, Marlborough, Wiltshire, United Kingdom: The Crowood Press Ltd., 1998. . * Mason, Francis K. ''The British Fighter Since 1912''. Annapolis, Maryland: Naval Institute Press. 1992. . * Ralph, Wayne. ''Aces, Warriors and Wingmen: The Firsthand Accounts of Canada's Fighter Pilots in the Second World War.'' Toronto: Wiley, 2005. . * Rossiter, Sean. ''The Chosen Ones: Canada's Test Pilots in Action.'' Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 2002. . * Shacklady, Edward. ''The Gloster Meteor''. London: Macdonald & Co. (Publishers) Ltd., 1962. * Waterton, Bill. ''The Quick and the Dead.'' London: Frederick Mueller, 1958. * Waterton, Bill and Tim Hewat. ''The Comet Riddle.'' London: Frederick Mueller, 1955. * Zuk, Bill. ''The Avro Arrow Story: The Revolutionary Airplane and its Courageous Test Pilots.'' Calgary: Altitude Publishing, 2005. .

External links

Around the sticks: article on participation in record speed attempt
* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20081214115603/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,865476,00.html Time magazine reporting his autobiography {{DEFAULTSORT:Waterton, Bill 1916 births 2006 deaths Canadian aviation record holders Canadian test pilots People from Edmonton Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the George Medal Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II