Neville Duke DSO OBE DFC AFC

Squadron Leader Neville’s performance as a test pilot and his wartime record as a fighter ace made him the first celebrity airman of the TV age. He also played a major role in the development of the Hawker Hunter jet fighter and, unlike many of his contemporaries, lived to a ripe old age while still flying to the very end. All with a very British modesty. Born in 1922, Neville was educated at the Judd School in Tonbridge, Kent and was a flying fanatic from an early age. He enlisted as an RAF cadet in June 1940 and later joined 92 Squadron, flying Spitfires and other planes and amassing a spectacular record in combat, obliterating some 28 enemy aircraft, and being shot down himself in Italy. In 1945 he became a Hawker test pilot and in 1946 joined the Empire Test Pilots School in England. That June he was seconded to the RAF High Speed Flight, set up for development work in the unfolding jet age. In 1949-50 he achieved world records on flights between London and Rome, London and Cairo, and London and Karachi. Duke took the Hawker Hunter jet fighter from experiment to patriotic frontline, establishing his record just three months after the Queen’s Coronation in 1953. He died in 2007 after many decorations, and years working as a consultant.