John Oliver Lancaster (4 February 1919 – 10 August 2019) was a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

bomber pilot who transitioned to a career as a test pilot for various firms. On 30 May 1949, he ejected from the experimental

Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 The Armstrong Whitworth A.W.52 was an early flying wing aircraft designed and produced by British aircraft manufacturer Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft. The A.W.52 emerged from wartime research into the laminar flow airfoil, which indicated that ...

flying wing in a "primitive"

Martin-Baker Mk.1 The Martin-Baker Mk.1 is a British ejection seat designed and built by Martin-Baker. Developed in the late 1940s it was the first in the line of production Martin-Baker seats for military aircraft. Ground and air testing of earlier designs result ...

seat, becoming the first person to eject from a British aircraft in an emergency.London, UK: ''Aeroplane'', Lancaster, Jo O., "Setting the Record Straight", October 2006, Volume 34, Number 10, No. 402, pp.42–46.

Early career

In 1935, Lancaster joined Armstrong Whitworth Aircraft Ltd. on an engineering apprenticeship. In 1937 he joined the RAF Volunteer service, undergoing pilot training on DH 82 Tiger Moths. On the night of 30–31 May 1942, he flew Wellington ''S9932'' of 22 OTU on an op to

Cologne Cologne ( ; ; ) is the largest city of the States of Germany, German state of North Rhine-Westphalia and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with nearly 1.1 million inhabitants in the city pr ...

, the first 1,000 plane raid, in which 600 acres (300 acres of the city centre) were damaged, 13,000 homes destroyed with another 6,000 badly damaged, leaving some 45,000 people homeless. The city suffered 5,000 casualties, including 469 deaths. Of the 1,046 bombers involved, "39 were lost – primarily to night fighters. This represented a loss of 4 percent which was considered the maximum

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

could sustain." On 1–2 June 1942, piloted Wellington ''S9932'' of 22 OTU on an op to

Essen Essen () is the central and, after Dortmund, second-largest city of the Ruhr, the largest urban area in Germany. Its population of makes it the fourth-largest city of North Rhine-Westphalia after Cologne, Düsseldorf and Dortmund, as well as ...

Test pilot

Following Lancaster's operational tours, he was assigned to

Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment The Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment (A&AEE) was a research facility for British military aviation from 1918 to 1992. Established at Martlesham Heath, Suffolk, the unit moved in 1939 to Boscombe Down, Wiltshire, where its wo ...

Boscombe Down MOD Boscombe Down ' is the home of a military aircraft testing site, on the south-eastern outskirts of the town of Amesbury, Wiltshire, England. The site is managed by QinetiQ, the private defence company created as part of the breakup of the D ...

. In 1945 he completed the 3 Course

Empire Test Pilots' School The Empire Test Pilots' School (ETPS) is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type. ...

, and then in 1946 was seconded to Boulton-Paul Aircraft Ltd., and was later demobilised from the RAF. In 1946 he joined

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aerospace and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took ...

Cowes Cowes () is an England, English port, seaport town and civil parish on the Isle of Wight. Cowes is located on the west bank of the estuary of the River Medina, facing the smaller town of East Cowes on the east bank. The two towns are linked b ...

, Isle of Wight, flying as deputy to Chief Test Pilot

Geoffrey Tyson Geoffrey Arthur Virley Tyson FRAeS OBE (4 February 1907 – 9 January 1987) was an RAF officer, barnstormer and test pilot. He is best known for his aerobatic skills and the test flying of the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 and Princess flying boats. Ear ...

. Lancaster flew the

Supermarine Walrus The Supermarine Walrus is a British single-engine Amphibious aircraft, amphibious biplane designed by Supermarine's R. J. Mitchell. Primarily used as a maritime patrol aircraft, it was the first British Squadron (aviation), squadron-service ai ...

Sea Otter The sea otter (''Enhydra lutris'') is a marine mammal native to the coasts of the northern and eastern Pacific Ocean, North Pacific Ocean. Adult sea otters typically weigh between , making them the heaviest members of ...

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat Maritime patrol aircraft, patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of ...

and the Auster AOP.6 floatplane, as well as undertaking development test flying on the Saunders-Roe SR.A/1 jet fighter flying boat. His duties with Saunders-Roe ended in 1949 when he rejoined

Armstrong Whitworth Sir W G Armstrong Whitworth & Co Ltd was a major British manufacturing company of the early years of the 20th century. With headquarters in Elswick, Tyne and Wear, Elswick, Newcastle upon Tyne, Armstrong Whitworth built armaments, ships, locomot ...

where he served as a test pilot under Chief Test Pilot Eric Franklin and participated in test programmes covering the Lancaster,

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the 16th president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincoln (na ...

and

York York is a cathedral city in North Yorkshire, England, with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss. It has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a Yor ...

, Meteor T4, T7 and F8 and Night Fighter Mks. 11 to 14 and the Meteor TT20. He also tested the Sea Hawk, Hunter F2, F5, F6 and T7, Shackleton,

Valetta Valletta ( ; , ) is the capital city of Malta and one of its 68 Local councils of Malta, council areas. Located between the Grand Harbour to the east and Marsamxett Harbour to the west, its population as of 2021 was 5,157. As Malta’s capital ...

, A.W.52G tailless experimental glider and

experimental twin-jet flying-wing,

Gloster Javelin The Gloster Javelin is a twin-engined all-weather interceptor aircraft designed and produced by the Gloster Aircraft Company. It was operated by the Royal Air Force from the mid-1950s until the late 1960s and was the final aircraft design to b ...

and the Argosy.

First British ejection

On 30 May 1949, Lancaster became the first pilot to eject in an emergency from a British aircraft when the flying wing A.W.52, ''TS363'', out of

Bitteswell Bitteswell is a small village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bitteswell with Bittesby, in the Harborough district of Leicestershire in England. It is situated just north of the town of Lutterworth, and in the 2001 census had a ...

, developed an oscillation in pitch during a shallow dive from ~5,000 feet, whilst in flight east of Leamington. "The plane which was on the secret list crashed in open country near

Leamington Hastings Leamington Hastings is a small village and larger civil parish in Warwickshire, England. The civil parish covers Leamington Hastings itself, plus the nearby hamlets of Broadwell, Hill and Kites Hardwick. Its population in the 2011 census was ...

. Jo Lancaster parachuted to safety and landed in a field at the rear of The Cuttle Inn at Long Itchington narrowly avoiding 'touch down' in the adjacent canal. It was the first ever deployment of the Martin-Baker ejection seat in an in-flight emergency."

Later career

Lancaster retired in 1984. He has over 13,000 flight hours in his logbooks. As of 2003, he lived in retirement. In 2006, he corresponded with ''Aeroplane'', providing details of his historic ejection. Lancaster died on 10 August 2019 at the age of 100.

Published Biography

In April 2016 Lancaster's biography 'First Out In Earnest: The Remarkable Life of Jo Lancaster DFC from Bomber Command Pilot to Test Pilot and the Martin Baker Ejection Seat' by David Gunby, was published by Fighting High Publishing.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lancaster, John Oliver English aviators English men centenarians English test pilots Fellows of the Royal Aeronautical Society Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers 1919 births 2019 deaths Royal Air Force pilots of World War II British World War II bomber pilots British Army personnel of World War II Royal Warwickshire Fusiliers soldiers Royal Navy personnel of World War II