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Duncan Simpson
Duncan Menzies Soutar Simpson (23 December 1927 - 5 December 2017) was a Scottish test pilot who played a key role in the development of the Hawker Hunter, Hunter aircraft, the Hawker Siddeley Harrier, Harrier, and the Hawk trainers, Hawk advanced trainer flown by the RAF’s Red Arrows. He was the former chief test pilot of Hawker Siddeley in the 1970s. He flew the first production Harrier aircraft in December 1967, and the first two-seat Harrier in April 1969. Early life He was born in Edinburgh, and was educated at Merchiston Castle School there. His uncle was a test pilot for the Fairey Aviation Company. Career de Havilland After leaving school in 1945 he worked for de Havilland in Hertfordshire. Royal Air Force In 1949 he joined the Royal Air Force with No. 6 Flying Training School RAF, 6FTS and No. 226 Operational Conversion Unit RAF, 226 OCU, and flew the Gloster Meteor VIII with No. 222 Squadron RAF, 222 Squadron. In 1953 he joined the Day Fighter Development Unit at th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hawker Hunter
The Hawker Hunter is a transonic British jet propulsion, 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-Royce Avon turbojet engine and the swept wing, and was the first jet-powered aircraft produced by Hawker to be procured by the RAF. On 7 September 1953, the modified first prototype broke the Flight airspeed record, world air speed record for aircraft, achieving a speed of . The single-seat Hunter was introduced to service in 1954 as a manoeuvrable day interceptor aircraft, quickly succeeding first-generation jet fighters in RAF service such as the Gloster Meteor and the de Havilland Venom. The all-weather/night fighter role was filled by the Gloster Javelin. Successively improved variants of the type were produced, adopting increasingly more capable engine models and expanding its fuel capacity amongst other modifications bei ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
