Hereward de Havilland (2 December 1894 – 12 September 1976) was a pioneer British aviator, test pilot and member of the

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to ...

company. One of the three sons of Rev. Charles de Havilland, he was the younger brother of

Geoffrey de Havilland Captain (British Army and Royal Marines), Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. De Havilland, The aircraft company he founded produced the de Havilland Mosquit ...

. Actresses

Olivia de Havilland Dame Olivia Mary de Havilland (; July 1, 1916July 26, 2020) was a British and American actress. The major works of her cinematic career spanned from 1935 to 1988. She appeared in 49 feature films and was one of the leading actresses of her tim ...

and

Joan Fontaine Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was an English-American actress best known for her roles in Hollywood films during the Golden Age of Hollywood. Fontaine appeared in ...

were his cousins. He had a son Peter Adam de Havilland (m. Barabara Bolt) and grandchildren John and Joanna de Havilland. Hereward and his brothers Geoffrey and Ivon had a mechanical workshop at their home at the

rectory A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of names, such as manse, p ...

in Crux Easton near Newbury. Geoffrey's first flight took place with Frank Hearle and Hereward in 1909 at Seven Barrows in

Dorset Dorset ( ; Archaism, archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by Somerset to the north-west, Wiltshire to the north and the north-east, Hampshire to the east, t ...

. They practised at their grandfather's farm Medley Manor near

Port Meadow Port Meadow is a large meadow of open common land beside the River Thames to the north and west of Oxford, England. Overview The meadow is an ancient area of grazing land, still used for horses and cattle, and according to legend has never bee ...

just outside Oxford. De Havilland flew in various air campaigns in Europe and the Middle East in

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

and reached the rank of

Major Major most commonly refers to: * Major (rank), a military rank * Academic major, an academic discipline to which an undergraduate student formally commits * People named Major, including given names, surnames, nicknames * Major and minor in musi ...

. On 10 March 1917, he was awarded a DSO for distinguished service in the field in

Mesopotamia Mesopotamia is a historical region of West Asia situated within the Tigris–Euphrates river system, in the northern part of the Fertile Crescent. Today, Mesopotamia is known as present-day Iraq and forms the eastern geographic boundary of ...

, the youngest airman at that time to receive the DSO. He was awarded a bar to his DSO later that same year. In March 1927, he established de Havilland Australia, the first overseas subsidiary of the de Havilland company. He flew solo in the 1929 Western Australian Centenary Air Race in a modified de Havilland DH.60 Moth, named "Black Hawk", coming second on handicap and winning the £300 fastest overall time prize in 22 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds and averaging . The same year he joined the board of

Airspeed Ltd. Airspeed Limited was established in 1931 to build aeroplanes in York, England, by A. H. Tiltman and Nevil Shute Norway (the aeronautical engineer and novelist, who used his forenames as his pen-name). The other directors were A. E. Hewitt, ...

Christchurch Airfield : ''For the World War II use of this facility, see RAF Christchurch'' Christchurch Airfield was located southeast of the A337/B3059 intersection in Somerford, Dorset, Somerford, Christchurch, Dorset, England. It was a civil airfield starting fro ...

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Berkshire to the north, Surrey and West Sussex to the east, the Isle of Wight across the Solent to the south, ...

and was appointed Joint Managing Director. He went on to manage and develop the de Havilland company in various other parts of the world including South America. He retired as Managing Director of de Havilland's Airspeed Division in 1959, joined the board and became Deputy Chairman.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:De Havilland, Hereward 1894 births 1976 deaths De Havilland

Hereward Hereward the Wake (Old English pronunciation /ˈhɛ.rɛ.ward/ , modern English pronunciation / ) (also known as Hereward the Outlaw or Hereward the Exile) was an Anglo-Saxon nobleman and a leader of local resistance to the Norman Conquest of E ...

English aviators Royal Flying Corps officers British aviation record holders 20th-century English businesspeople