Squadron Leader and test pilot who has died aged 85.
Neville Duke was born January 11th 1922. He died April 7th 2007.
Neville Duke was a wartime fighter ace who moved into the jet engine age and broken the world air speed record. He was awarded a DSO and three DFCs for his courage in wartime dogfights in the skies above North Africa and Italy. He shot down an astonishing 27 German planes. After the war he took on the perilous job of testing experimental aircraft for the Hawker company. His record breaking flight came in the Coronation year of 1953 at a time when Britain was briefly ahead of the Americans in the development of jet planes. It made him even more famous with a string of children’s books based on his exploits and an appearance in the Eagle comic’s “Heroes of Today” column.
