Background
Bedford was born on the 18 November 1920 at Loughborough and was educated at Loughborough College.
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Bill Bedford
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Loughborough University.
Career
He was serving an electrical a mechanical apprenticeship and training to be a steeplejack when the war started. Bedford joined the Royal Air Force as a fighter pilot in 1940. He flew the Hawker Hurricane and the Republic Thunderbolt with Number.
605 Squadron Royal Air Force and Number.
135 Squadron Royal Air Force, and the North American Mustang with Number. 65 Squadron Royal Air Force. After the war, he took a permanent commission with the Royal Air Force and became an all-weather flying instructor and tutor at the Empire Test Pilots" School.
On 24 August 1950 an Eon Olympia glider flown by Bill Bedford broke the British distance record by flying 310 km in 3:50 hour On 2 May 1951 Bedford broke this record with a flight of 413 km from Farnborough to Newcastle.
On his retirement in 1951 he joined Hawker Siddeley and was chief test pilot from 1956 till 1967.
Bedford was the first pilot to fly the Hawker P.1127, Kestrel, and Harrier. In addition to his land-based test pilot duties, he also pioneered the operation of V/STOL aircraft from a ship - the P.1127 on HMS Ark Royal in 1963. From 1968 he became the Sales Manager for Hawker Siddeley Aviation and later marketing manager when it became British Aerospace.
Bedford retired in 1986 and died on the 20 October 1996 in Surrey.
In addition, he was awarded the Britannia, Segrave and de Havilland trophies. In 1994, he was awarded the Sir Peter Masefield Gold Meda
Achievements
Connections
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Born
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Died
October 20, 1996 (aged 75) -
Nationality
United Kingdom