Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

Roland 'Roly' John Falk OBE AFC* (1915 - 1985) was a 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 ...

noted for being at the controls on the maiden flight of the British

V bomber The "V bombers" were the Royal Air Force (RAF) aircraft during the 1950s and 1960s that comprised the United Kingdom's strategic nuclear strike force known officially as the V force or Bomber Command Main Force. The three models of strategic ...

, the

Avro Vulcan The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan from July 1963) is a jet-powered, tailless, delta-wing, high-altitude, strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe an ...

. Falk typically flew dressed in pin stripe suit and tie.

Early life

Falk was born in London in 1915, the second son of Diana Gwendoline Edith Cecil (née Stracey) and Oswald Toynbee Falk, and he was educated at

Stowe School , motto_translation = I stand firm and I stand first , established = , closed = , type = Public school Independent school, day & boarding , religion = Church of England , president = , head_label = Headmast ...

and the de Havilland Technical School. After gaining his pilot's licence he flew in both the

Abyssinian War The British Expedition to Abyssinia was a rescue mission and punitive expedition carried out in 1868 by the armed forces of the British Empire against the Ethiopian Empire (also known at the time as Abyssinia). Emperor Tewodros II of Ethiopia, t ...

and the

Spanish Civil War The Spanish Civil War ( es, Guerra Civil Española)) or The Revolution ( es, La Revolución, link=no) among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War ( es, Cuarta Guerra Carlista, link=no) among Carlism, Carlists, and The Rebellion ( es, La Rebeli ...

for the press. In 1937 he flew a newspaper service from London to Paris and then joined the

Air Registration Board The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) is the statutory corporation which oversees and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the United Kingdom. Its areas of responsibility include: * Supervising the issuing of pilots' licences, testing of e ...

as a test pilot.

Wartime service

Falk had been a member of the Reserve of Air Force Officers since 1935 and at the start of the Second World War in 1939 he joined the Royal Air Force, by 1943 he was chief test pilot at the

Royal Aircraft Establishment The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in me ...

Farnborough. At Farnborough he flew and tested captured German aircraft as well as carrying out operational flights with night fighter squadrons. For his service he was awarded the Air Force Cross twice, described as the Air Force Cross and bar.

Delta-wing testing

At the end of the war in 1946 he joined

Vickers-Armstrongs Vickers-Armstrongs Limited was a British engineering conglomerate formed by the merger of the assets of Vickers Limited and Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Company in 1927. The majority of the company was nationalised in the 1960s and 1970s, w ...

but was injured in an accident in a

Vickers Wellington The Vickers Wellington was a British twin-engined, long-range medium bomber. It was designed during the mid-1930s at Brooklands in Weybridge, Surrey. Led by Vickers-Armstrongs' chief designer Rex Pierson; a key feature of the aircraft is its ...

. Falk recovered and went to Avro to test fly the

Avro Athena The Avro 701 Athena is a British advanced trainer aircraft built by Avro in the late 1940s. It was designed to replace the North American Harvard in the Royal Air Force, but was bought only in small numbers, the competing Boulton Paul Ballio ...

. He soon embarked on one of the most important jobs of his career, test pilot of the

Avro 707 The Avro 707 (also known as Type 707) is a British experimental aircraft built to test the tailless thick delta wing configuration chosen for the Avro 698 jet bomber, later named the Vulcan. In particular, the low-speed characteristics of such ...

. The Avro 707 was an experimental delta-winged aircraft to gain experience for the design of the

bomber, Falk's experience flying the German

Messerschmitt Me 163 The Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet is a rocket-powered interceptor aircraft primarily designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Messerschmitt. It is the only operational rocket-powered fighter aircraft in history as well as ...

came in handy in what was seen as advanced and dangerous test flying. After testing the Avro 707 Falk piloted the Vulcan on the first flight on 30 August 1952. Falk demonstrated the Vulcan on several occasions and designed much of the cockpit layout. During the 1955

Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough Airshow, officially the Farnborough International Airshow, is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors. Since its fir ...

he barrel-rolled a Vulcan at the top of the post-take-off climb; although safe, he was rebuked for this manoeuvre by the organisers, but only because performing aerobatics in an aircraft weighing 69 tons and with a 99-foot wingspan was "not the done thing"! He was appointed an

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1952.

Later life

Falk retired from Avro in 1958 and became a sales representative for Hawker Siddeley until he set up his own aircraft business in

Jersey Jersey ( , ; nrf, Jèrri, label= Jèrriais ), officially the Bailiwick of Jersey (french: Bailliage de Jersey, links=no; Jèrriais: ), is an island country and self-governing Crown Dependency near the coast of north-west France. It is the ...

. He had married the daughter of former Avro test pilot Sydney Thorn. The couple had two children. Roly Falk died in Jersey on 23 February 1985, aged 69.

Notes and references

External links

Roly Falk biography
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Falk, Roly 1915 births 1985 deaths English test pilots Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II People educated at Stowe School Officers of the Order of the British Empire Military personnel from London Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) English aviators