Michael John Lithgow, OBE (30 August 1920 – 22 October 1963) was a British aviator and chief test pilot for Vickers Supermarine who became the holder of the World Absolute Air Speed Record in 1953 flying a Supermarine Swift. He died when the prototype

BAC One-Eleven The BAC One-Eleven (BAC-111, BAC 1-11) is a retired early jet airliner produced by the British Aircraft Corporation (BAC). Conceived by Hunting Aircraft as a 30-seat jet, before its merger into BAC in 1960, it was launched as an 80-seat airl ...

airliner crashed in 1963.

Early life

Mike Lithgow was born on 30 August 1920 and educated at

Cheltenham College Cheltenham College is a public school ( fee-charging boarding and day school for pupils aged 13–18) in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England. The school opened in 1841 as a Church of England foundation and is known for its outstanding linguis ...

Second World War

Lithgow was a member of the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is the naval aviation component of the United Kingdom's Royal Navy (RN). The FAA is one of five :Fighting Arms of the Royal Navy, RN fighting arms. it is a primarily helicopter force, though also operating the Lockhee ...

from March 1939 – December 1945. As a Lieutenant Commander on HMS ''Ark Royal'', he flew Swordfish torpedo bombers and was one of the pilots attacking the .family history

Test pilot

He retired from the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the naval warfare force of the United Kingdom. It is a component of His Majesty's Naval Service, and its officers hold their commissions from the King of the United Kingdom, King. Although warships were used by Kingdom ...

and moved to Vickers Supermarine as a test pilot in January 1946 and became the company's chief test pilot two years later. In September 1946, he took part in the

Lympne Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...

high speed air race, flying a Supermarine Seafang, competing against Bill Humble in a Hawker Fury,

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 ...

in a D.H. Vampire and G.H Pike in a D.H. Hornet On 26 September 1953, flying the Supermarine Swift F.4 prototype, WK198, Lithgow broke the World Air Speed Record near Tripoli in Libya, reaching a speed of 735.7 mph (1184 km/h). He was awarded the Gold Medal of th
Royal Aero Club
and the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy in 1953 He did extensive test flying on the Supermarine Attacker,

Swift Swift or SWIFT most commonly refers to: * SWIFT, an international organization facilitating transactions between banks ** SWIFT code * Swift (programming language) * Swift (bird), a family of birds It may also refer to: Organizations * SWIF ...

, Scimitar and later the Vickers Vanguard and

. Lithgow died test flying the prototype BAC One-Eleven ''G-ASHG'' from Wisley airfield on 22 October 1963 when during stall tests the aircraft entered a deep stall and crashed near Chicklade,

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated to Wilts) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It borders Gloucestershire to the north, Oxfordshire to the north-east, Berkshire to the east, Hampshire to the south-east, Dorset to the south, and Somerset to ...

. Six other BAC flight test team members were also killed.

References

Citations

Sources

*Autobiography: ''Mach One''. (Oct 1954). Allan Wingate Ltd.

ASIN Asin Thottumkal (born 26 October 1985), known mononyomusly as Asin, is an Indian former actress who appeared predominantly in Tamil cinema, Tamil, Hindi and Telugu language, Telugu films. Asin is a recipient of List of awards and nominations ...

: B0000CIZSW *Editor: ''Vapour Trails''. (1956). Allan Wingate Ltd.

: B0000CJFFQ * * *

External links

Supermarine Swift history
1920 births 1963 deaths People educated at Cheltenham College Royal Navy officers Royal Navy officers of World War II Fleet Air Arm aviators British test pilots Officers of the Order of the British Empire Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1963 Victims of flight test accidents {{aviation-bio-stub