Background
He was born and lived in Esher, Surrey, near the Brooklands race track.
He was born and lived in Esher, Surrey, near the Brooklands race track.
Eton College.
He made money as a director of fur brokers Anning, Chadwick and Kiver and could afford to specialise in large capacity motor-racing. Without this being beaten he raised the record to 394.19 mph (63439 km/h) in 1947. During the Second World War he served as a pilot in the Royal Air Force, and between 1943 and 1945 in the Air Transport Auxiliary.
In 1941 he made an (uncredited) appearance in the wartime propaganda film Target for Tonight.
He reached the rank of group captain. He died in 1952, attempting to break the world water speed record at Loch Ness in the jet speedboat Crusader at a speed in excess of 200 mph (320 km/h).
The boat hit an unexplained wake, which some believers in the Loch Ness Monster claim was caused by a large animal. Nearby, there is a memorial to him erected by the people of Glenurquhart.
He is buried at Christ Church, Esher.
He was awarded the Segrave Trophy in 1947. On 27 March 1953 he was posthumously awarded the Queen"s Commendation for Brave Conduct: John Rhodes Cobb (deceased), Racing Motorist. Foreign services in attempting to break the world"s water speed record, and in research into high speed on water, in the course of which he lost his life.
