Trevor Sidney Wade
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Sqn Ldr Trevor Sidney "Wimpy" Wade, (27 January 1920 – 3 April 1951) 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 ...
(RAF)
fighter ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...
, one of
The Few The Few were the airmen of the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the aviators of the Fleet Air Arm, Royal Navy (RN) who fought the Battle of Britain in the Second World War. The term comes from Winston Churchill's phrase " Never, in the field of human c ...
and later a test pilot. He was killed test flying the Hawker P.1081 prototype fighter.


Early life

Wade was born on 27 January 1920 in
Wandsworth Wandsworth Town () is a district of south London, within the London Borough of Wandsworth southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. Toponymy Wandsworth takes its name ...
,
London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. He was educated at
Yardley Court Yardley Court is a private day preparatory school for boys in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1898 by Arthur Bickmore and his wife, Lilian. It now forms part of The Schools at Somerhill, a public school in the British sense of the term. T ...
and
Tonbridge School Tonbridge School is a public school (English fee-charging boarding and day school for boys aged 13–18) in Tonbridge, Kent, England, founded in 1553 by Sir Andrew Judde (sometimes spelt Judd). It is a member of the Eton Group and has clo ...
. In April 1938, aged 18, he joined the
Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve The Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve (RAFVR) was established in 1936 to support the preparedness of the U.K. Royal Air Force (RAF) in the event of another war. The Air Ministry intended it to form a supplement to the Royal Auxiliary Air Force ( ...
as an Airman u/t (under training) and learned to fly at No. 19 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School,
Gatwick Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwick was the second-bu ...
. He was called to full-time service at the outbreak of war and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer (on probation) on 30 April 1940.


Fighter pilot

A month later Wade was posted to No. 92 Squadron, part of No. 10 Group RAF and then based at
Croydon Airport Croydon Airport was the UK's only international airport during the interwar period. It opened in 1920, located near Croydon, then part of Surrey. Built in a Neoclassical architecture, Neoclassical style, it was developed as Britain's main airp ...
. On his first day (26 May) he borrowed Tony Bartley's Spitfire to get more flying hours on type, performing a low level roll immediately after takeoff. His nickname "Wimpy" was borrowed from the American cartoon character of Popeye fame. In June the squadron was moved to
RAF Pembrey Pembrey Sands Air Weapons Range is a Ministry of Defence air weapons range located near the village of Pembrey, Carmarthenshire, northwest of Burry Port and south of Carmarthen, Wales. Adjacent to the weapons range site is a former Royal Air ...
. On 28 July Wade was flying a night patrol over
Swansea Bay Swansea Bay () is a bay on the southern coast of Wales. The River Neath, River Tawe, River Afan, River Kenfig and Clyne River flow into the bay. Swansea Bay and the upper reaches of the Bristol Channel experience a large tidal range. The sh ...
. As his fuel ran low, with deteriorating visibility and a failed radio he elected to bail out over
Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...
. On 19 August he was in action for the first time. He shared the destruction of a
Ju 88 The Junkers Ju 88 is a twin-engined multirole combat aircraft designed and produced by the German aircraft manufacturer Junkers Aircraft and Motor Works. It was used extensively during the Second World War by the ''Luftwaffe'' and became one of ...
but was hit by return fire. As a result, he had to make a forced landing, managing to escape before his aircraft ignited. Wade was engaged in more combat in September, claiming a half share in a Do 17 on 10 September, a
He 111 The Heinkel He 111 is a German airliner and medium bomber designed by Siegfried and Walter Günter at Heinkel Flugzeugwerke in 1934. Through development, it was described as a wolf in sheep's clothing. Due to restrictions placed on Germany a ...
on 11 September, a probable
Bf 109E Due to the Messerschmitt Bf 109's versatility and time in service with the German and foreign air forces, numerous variants were produced in Germany to serve for over eight years with the Luftwaffe. Additional variants were produced abroad total ...
on
15 September Events Pre-1600 * 994 – Major Fatimid victory over the Byzantine Empire at the Battle of the Orontes. *1440 – Gilles de Rais, one of the earliest known serial killers, is taken into custody upon an accusation brought against him by ...
, damage to Bf 109Es on
18 September Events Pre-1600 * 96 – Emperor Domitian is assassinated as a result of a plot by his wife Domitia and two Praetorian prefects. Nerva is then proclaimed as his successor. * 324 – Constantine the Great decisively defeats Licinius in ...
and 20 September, with the destruction of a Do 17 on 22 September. . On 27 September he was hit by return fire and had to force land at
Lewes Lewes () is the county town of East Sussex, England. The town is the administrative centre of the wider Lewes (district), district of the same name. It lies on the River Ouse, Sussex, River Ouse at the point where the river cuts through the Sou ...
, his aircraft flipping over. Wade's luck held out during the final phase of the
Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...
. On 12 October he claimed one Bf 109E destroyed, one probable and one damaged. On 26 October he claimed one Bf 109 probable, on 29 October a Bf 110 probable and on 26 November a Do 17 probable. On 2 December Wade was engaged in combat, he claimed one Bf 109E but yet again was hit by return fire forcing him to land at
Gravesend Gravesend is a town in northwest Kent, England, situated 21 miles (35 km) east-southeast of Charing Cross (central London) on the Bank (geography), south bank of the River Thames, opposite Tilbury in Essex. Located in the diocese of Roche ...
. In June 1941 his combat tour was over and he was sent to join No. 123 Squadron at
RAF Turnhouse Royal Air Force Turnhouse, or more simply RAF Turnhouse, is a former Royal Air Force Sector Station located in Edinburgh, Scotland. It is now Edinburgh Airport. History A landing ground was first established at Turnhouse in 1915. The airfield ...
, which at that time was assigned operational training duties.. While there, he received notification that he had been awarded a Distinguished Flying Cross for his efforts during the first part of the war and achieving seven confirmed victories. The citation, published in the ''
London Gazette London is the capital and largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Tha ...
'' on 15 July 1941, read: In September 1941 he was posted as a
flight commander A flight commander is the leader of a constituent portion of an aerial squadron in aerial operations, often into combat. That constituent portion is known as a flight, and usually contains six or fewer aircraft, with three or four being a common ...
to No. 602 Squadron for what would be a short tour, because during a raid on the Marquise Shell factory, on 17 September, he received a wound which ended his career as a combat pilot. After he had recovered in October 1941, he was sent to the Central Flying School on an instructors course. Following this, he became a pilot-gunnery instructor; first at the Central Gunnery School; then at 9 Group's headquarters, responsible for gunnery instruction at fighter OTUs. He was promoted to Squadron Leader (temporary) on 30 October 1942 and in late 1943 he was made the
Officer Commanding The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually giv ...
at the
Air Fighting Development Unit The Air Fighting Development Unit (AFDU) was an air technical intelligence part of the Royal Air Force which developed tactics and tested captured enemy aircraft. It was based at Royal Air Force Stations Northolt, Duxford and Wittering. The AF ...
(AFDU). For his service at the AFDU he was awarded the AFC in September 1944. Early in 1945 he was sent to USA to test captured Japanese aircraft and also to gain experience of early jets.


Test pilot

Wade was demobilised in 1946 and joined the staff of ''The Aeroplane'' magazine, testing and reporting on new civil light aeroplanes. Within a year (October 1947) he had joined
Hawker Aircraft Hawker Aircraft Limited was a British aircraft manufacturer that was responsible for some of the most famous products in British aviation history. History Hawker had its roots in the aftermath of the First World War, which resulted in the ban ...
as an assistant to the Chief Test Pilot Bill Humble. He was initially tasked with the production testing of Furies and Sea Furies, but also assisted with the development flying of the N.7/46 (P.1040). When Humble became a sales manager in June 1948, Wade became Chief Test Pilot and focussed on the development flying of the latest Hawker jets. In August 1948 Wade made the first public demonstration of the P.1040, flying it from Langley Airfield (Hawker's flight test centre). Later in that month he competed in the 1948 S.B.A.C.
air race Air racing is a type of motorsport that involves airplanes or other types of aircraft that compete over a fixed course, with the winner either returning the shortest time, the one to complete it with the most points, or to come closest to a pre ...
at
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 ...
, flying a Hawker Fury. Hawker's first swept wing jet was the P.1052; Wade made the maiden flight of the first of the two prototypes (VX272) on 19 November 1948. On 13 May 1949,The same day as the first flight of the Canberra prototype. he set up a new record for the London-Paris flight, flying in 21min 28s, an average speed of . In August 1949 he won the S.B.A.C. Challenge Cup race in the P.1040 (competing against John Cunningham in a D.H Vampire F3 and John Derry in the D.H.108). He averaged over the course, with one lap at , thereby gaining the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy for the fastest racing time of the year. The rear fuselage of the second P.1052 prototype (VX279) was rebuilt to use a straight-through jet pipe and a swept
tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...
. Thus modified it was re-designated as P.1081. On 19 June 1950 Wade flew the P.1081 on its maiden flight from
RAE Farnborough The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mer ...
. He was satisfied with its behaviour and put in approximately six hours flying over the following three days prior to flying it to the Antwerp international air display, successfully demonstrating it on 25 June. Testing VX279 was not without incident, during one test flight in 1950, a main wheel failed to lower but Wade managed to land the aircraft without serious consequences. Wade surpassed his performance at Antwerp at the S.B.A.C. Display in September 1950, when he demonstrated its high roll rate and speed in level flight. In January 1951 Wade was the first of a group of British test pilots to go to the United States on an exchange scheme. There he gained experience of supersonic flight in the
F86 Sabre The North American F-86 Sabre, sometimes called the Sabrejet, is a transonic jet fighter aircraft. Produced by North American Aviation, the Sabre is best known as the United States' first swept-wing fighter that could counter the swept-wing Sov ...
. The prototype Hawker P.1081 was transferred from Hawkers to
RAE Farnborough The Royal Aircraft Establishment (RAE) was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), before finally losing its identity in mer ...
for high speed research. On 3 April 1951 Wade was testing it when the aircraft entered an unrecoverable flight regime. It has been suggested that he was attempting a transonic dive and had inadvertently gone supersonic.Bill Bedford has suggested that Wade may have tried to go supersonic using a vertical dive as was the technique with the F86 Sabre. However, because the P.1081 lacked powered flying controls (unlike the F86) Wade could not recover. Wade elected to eject, jettisoning the canopy at and ejecting at . While the ejection was successful, he failed to separate from the seat and was killed on impact with the ground.The reason for the crash and the seat failure was not determined at the time or subsequently. Wade's death resulted in Percy ('Laddie') Lucas, MP for Brentford and Chiswick, questioning the Minister of Supply on 30 April 1951 about the types of ejector seat fitted to British aircraft, how they were tested and the insurance of British test pilots. While at the time the RAF used Martin Baker ejection seats, the Hawker P.1081 was fitted with an ML seat.


Personal life

Trevor Wade married Josephine Clow Gibbins on 2 August 1940 at
Oxted Oxted is a town and civil parish in the Tandridge District, Tandridge district of Surrey, England. It is at the foot of the North Downs, south-east of Croydon, west of Sevenoaks, and north of East Grinstead. Oxted is a commuter town and Ox ...
, with many of his 92 Squadron colleagues attending the service and the reception, which was held at the White Hart in
Brasted Brasted is a village and civil parish in the Sevenoaks (district), Sevenoaks District of Kent, England. Brasted lies on the A25 road, between Sundridge, Kent, Sundridge and Westerham; the road is named Westerham Road, High Street and Main Road ...
, Kent. Trevor and Josephine had three children: two sons and a daughter.


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See also

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List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain The List of RAF aircrew in the Battle of Britain is a summary regarding the lists of those who flew during the Battle of Britain, and were awarded the Battle of Britain Clasp to the 1939–45 Star by flying at least one authorised operational s ...
*
List of World War II aces from the United Kingdom This is a list of fighter aces in World War II from the United Kingdom and the British Empire (Country names as per name at the time of World War II). For other countries see List of World War II aces by country. For "turret fighters" such as th ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Trevor Sidney 1920 births 1951 deaths Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England British aviation record holders British World War II flying aces English test pilots Military personnel from the London Borough of Wandsworth People educated at Tonbridge School People from Wandsworth Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force pilots of World War II Royal Air Force squadron leaders Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II The Few Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1951 Victims of flight test accidents