Background
He was born in Brighton Sussex and educated at Prestonville School, Brighton and Radley College where he was a classics scholar.
He was born in Brighton Sussex and educated at Prestonville School, Brighton and Radley College where he was a classics scholar.
After advanced flying training he was posted to the Central Flying School and graduated as a flying instructor on Gnat TMk1. In 1970 he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots School 29(FW) course.
He read engineering at Cambridge University. After post graduate training he was sent for basic flying training. In 1965 he changed to the Royal Air Force GD Branch.
After a tour at Royal Air Force Valley, he joined 229 OCU Chivenor for Hunter conversion.
He then served as a DFGA Hunter pilot on 208 Sqn in Bahrein. Test pilot
He joined A (Fighter Test) Squadron A&Association of Energy Engineers Boscombe Down.
He specialised in weapon system testing. In 1972 he was appointed Senior Pilot.
In 1973 he was awarded the Air Force Cross.
He left the Royal Air Force and started work as a test pilot for Hawker Siddeley in 1973 and joined the Harrier project He was the pilot that tested the Harrier and Sea Harrier from the ski jump take-off method in 1977 and 1978, later adopted by the Royal Navy. The testing began on 5 August 1977 with Harrier XV281.
On 13 November 1978 he was the first person to land a Sea Harrier at sea in the Moray Firth on HMS Hermes.
The ship was anchored whilst the trials took place. In 1980 he was awarded the Queen"s Commendation for Valuable Service in the air.
He was the first person to fly the Harrier GR5 (ZD318) on 30 April 1985 at Dunsfold. The Harrier GR5 (41 in total) would enter Royal Air Force service in July 1987, and was designated as the British Aerospace Harrier World War II lieutenant was the version of the Harrier that would remain in service until 2010.
lieutenant had a larger composite wing and flap system giving greater range and payload than the previous Harrier.
On 19 May 1986 he was the first person to fly the single-seat Hawk 200 fighter plane on a flight of 1 hour 20 minutes from Dunsfold Aerodrome. He was a main test pilot on the British Aerospace Sea Harrier. In August 1978 he became the second person to fly the Sea Harrier when he took XZ450 for its sixth flight at Dunsfold.
The aircraft itself had been first flown on 20 August 1978.
He retired from test flying in 1989. He joined Air Europe in 1990 and flew Boeing 737 aircraft as a captain on European routes.
When that airline failed, he joined Sabena as a contract pilot flying DHC8 aircraft from Brussels and retired from flying in 1994.
He joined the Royal Air Force as a technical cadet as a member of 8(U) entry at the Royal Air Force Technical College in 1959.