Test Pilot by Neville Duke
The name of Neville Duke is well known in aviation circles, not only as a wartime pilot, but also as a peacetime test pilot with the Hawker Aviation Company. This is the story of his career. Duke started the war as a young fighter pilot with the crack 92 Squadron at RAF Biggin Hill, was posted to the Western Desert in 1941, flying the Tomahawks. He was awarded the DSO at the end of the Tunisian Campaign, and then given command of 145 Spitfire Squadron in Italy. Leading this unit in the summer of 1944 he brought his score to 28 and received a second bar to his DFC. He became an RAF test pilot towards the end of the war, and later became Chief Test Pilot at Hawkers, where he worked on the development of the Hawker Hunter.