Roland Beamont
Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, was a British fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force and an experimental test pilot during and after the Second World War. He was the first British pilot to exceed Mach 1 in a British aircraft in level flight, and the first to fly a British aircraft at Mach 2.
During the Second World War, he flew more than five hundred operational sorties. He also spent several months as a Hawker Aircraft experimental test pilot developing the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest, and was responsible for introducing these types into operational squadron service. He pioneered the ground attack capabilities of the Typhoon and led the air-to-air campaign against the V-1 flying bomb.
In 1945 he commanded the Air Fighting Development Squadron at RAF Central Fighter Establishment, before leaving the service in 1947. During his subsequent career as English Electric Aviation chief test pilot, he directed the flight test programmes of the Canberra, the Lightning and TSR-2, making the maiden flight of each type.
When he retired from test flying in 1968, he had flown 167 different types during a total of 5,100hr and 8,000 flights—of which more than 1,100 were supersonic. He set three Atlantic records in the Canberra, including the first double Atlantic flight within 24 hours for which he was awarded the Britannia Trophy. In 1971, he became Panavia flight operations director, responsible for the testing of the Tornado, retiring in August 1979 following the maiden flight of the first production Tornado. After retirement he contributed to aviation journals and wrote a number of books about his experiences.
Beamont was a careful pilot who understood the capabilities of the aircraft he flew. He was proud that he had never broken an aircraft, nor had to bail out or eject. Even when his Tempest was shot down, he had made the best landing possible in the circumstances and got out, free of injury.
Early life
Roland Prosper Beamont was born on 10 August 1920 at 8 Private Road, Enfield, Middlesex, the son of Lieutenant Colonel Ernest Clement Beamont, a trade officer with the Foreign Office, and Dorothy Mary, née Haynes. He grew up in Chichester, Sussex, and from an early age was fascinated by aviation. His first flight was in 1926; a barnstormer in an Avro 504 landed near his home and took Beamont and his father up for 5 Shillings. Thereafter, Beamont saved all his pocket money to spend it on flying books and model aeroplanes His second fight was in 1932 in a Fox Moth piloted by C.W.A. Scott.He spent his school holidays, cycling to nearby Tangmere aerodrome to watch the RAF Hawker Furies fly. His parents supported his interest in aviation and had him educated at Eastbourne College from 1934 to 1937 with the aim of admission into the RAF College Cranwell In addition, his father organised two air experience flights the first at Tangmere, with No. 1 Squadron, the second at RAF Halton in which Beamont was allowed to take the controls in an Avro Tutor.
Beamont was not academic and failed his school certificate in 1938. He retook it after private tuition, and scraped enough passes to apply for a short service commission. On 2 September 1939 he reported to No. 13 Elementary and Reserve Training School at White Waltham Airfield for ab initio flying training as a civilian. His subsequent commission was dependent on passing the course, which he only just managed. He was posted to No. 13 Advanced Flying Training School, Drem, flying Hawker Harts and then Hurricanes. He passed out as a pilot officer, graded exceptional, on 21 October, and in November 1939, he was sent to France to join No. 87 Squadron.
RAF career
Hurricane
Beamont arrived at British Expeditionary Force in France with 15 hours experience flying Hurricanes. During the winter of 1939, there was little opportunity for the inexperienced pilots to fly and Beamont was assigned to the operations room. As a result of a high fever, he was sent to a hospital in Dieppe, but after two weeks absence he risked being removed from squadron strength and put into the pilots pool. To avoid this, he persuaded his father, who was also stationed in France, to provide a car to drive him back to the squadron. The spring of 1940 provided more opportunity for action. In March he took part in an interception of a Heinkel He 111 bomber, on 8 May he shot down a Dornier Do 17.When No. 87 Squadron returned from France they were initially stationed at RAF Church Fenton, before relocating to RAF Exeter, as part of 10 Group, defending South Western England. During the Battle of Britain, Beamont claimed a Junkers Ju 88 on 24 July, two Messerschmitt Bf 110 on 15 August, a Dornier Do 17 and a Messerschmitt Bf 109 on 25 August.
Beamont described the period:
During the air raids of The Blitz, No. 87 Squadron was assigned night fighter duties defending Bristol. Directing the Hurricanes by searchlight was largely ineffective. In frustration, Beamont suggested that on moonlit nights they should cross the channel and strafe the Luftwaffe aerodromes. This tactic was adopted by Group and proved successful, with Beamont taking part in the destruction of several aircraft.
In May 1941 he was transferred to No. 79 Squadron RAF as flight commander, and in June he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Beamont set about raising the morale of his new flight by engaging them in night flying and formation aerobatics. In September he transported a Women's Auxiliary Air Force cipher officer to a dance at RAF Pembrey in his single-seat Hurricane because the squadron's de Havilland Tiger Moth was unavailable. This action would lead to his court martial in December 1941. The court found him guilty and he was severely reprimanded by Group Captain Richard Atcherley.
When his tour of duty ended in December 1941, he was offered the position of Leigh-Mallory's personal aide. Instead, he chose to keep flying and to accept a position as a production test pilot at Hawker's. While he had 800 hours flying Hurricanes he was by his own admission, ignorant of the problems of aircraft stability, trim and control balance. To remedy this, Hawker's civilian test pilots, Bill Humble, Hubert Broad and particularly Philip Lucas mentored him in the art and science of test flying.
At Hawker's, while most of his flying was production test flights of Hurricanes, he did take part in some of the development flying of the early production Typhoons. On his first cross country flight in a Typhoon, while delivering it to Gloster's, its main oil pipe failed. He managed an emergency landing in a small field being used as a flying school, attracting a rebuke from the chief flying instructor. In February 1942 he took over the vibration programme of the Typhoon, flying aircraft fitted with vibrographs to determine the effectiveness of propeller balancing improvements and the sprung seat mounts·
Typhoon
Beamont was keen to resume operational flying in one of the two Typhoon squadrons. He was initially posted to No. 56 Squadron, as a supernumerary flight commander in July 1942, followed by a permanent posting to No. 609 Squadron RAF in October. When its commanding officer Paul Richey left in January 1943, Beamont was promoted to squadron leader.Fighter Command had concerns about the Typhoon's safety and serviceability because during the first nine months of its introduction, the losses due to structural and engine failure were greater than caused by enemy action. As commanding officer of the few Typhoon squadrons, Beamont was instrumental in arguing for keeping the aircraft in RAF service against increasing establishment resistance. He was called to meetings with Air Chief Marshal Trafford Leigh Mallory and AOC Hugh Saunders to discuss the future of the Typhoon. Beamont argued that he had faith in the manufacturers to correct its faults and that the basic design of the aircraft was sound: it was easy to fly, a stable firing platform, it was both faster and more manoeuvrable than contemporary Luftwaffe fighters. Leigh Mallory was in agreement and the Typhoon was saved. However, it was Beamont and his squadron's actions over the winter of 1942/43 that would start to establish the Typhoon's reputation.
From March 1942 the Southern coast of England had been under attack from Luftwaffe fighter bombers. No 609 squadron was relocated to RAF Manston and in November standing patrols were set up from dawn till dusk to intercept raiding Focke-Wulf Fw 190 fighter bombers. At the same time Beamont was developing the use of the Typhoon as a night intruder. To repeat his earlier initiative with the Hurricane, he had the illumination of his displays and reflector sight modified to be compatible with night flying. Starting on the night of 17 November, he flew a series of solo sorties; attacking trains on the Calais-Amiens-Paris line to demonstrate that the Typhoon was both safe to fly at night and an effective ground attack aircraft.
No. 91 Squadron's Spitfire XII were also deployed to intercept the raiders. Inevitably, amid inter-squadron rivalry, the question of the fastest fighter arose. Beamont challenged the CO of No. 91 Squadron to an air race, with Beamont's Typhoon being the clear victor over the Spitfire XII.
He was awarded a bar to his DSO in June 1943, his destruction of 13 trains and numerous lorries being noted.
Tempest
In mid-May 1943 he returned to Hawker as a test pilot, performing experimental testing of both the Typhoon and new Tempest. In February 1944 AOC Hugh Saunders invited Beamont to form the first Tempest wing, with the rank of acting wing commander. At this time the available Tempests were dispersed around maintenance units; Beamont had to fly between the units to locate them. By May 1944 his wing had become operational with two Tempest squadrons and one with Spitfire IX. Their first operations were ground attack sorties against trains or airfields. On D-Day+2 the wing shot down three Bf 109s over the invasion beaches without loss, the first one credited to Beamont and the first to a Tempest.File:BeamontTempest.jpg|left|thumb|Wg Cdr R. P. Beamont, leaning against a Hawker Tempest V Series II of No. 3 Squadron RAF at Newchurch Advanced Landing Ground, Kent.
From his airfield at Newchurch, Beamont witnessed the first intrusion by V-1 flying bombs as they flew towards London at dawn on 14 June; two days later his wing was switched to intercepting them. In the following days, he and his pilots would trial attack tactics by day and discuss their effectiveness in the evening. For instance, Beamont discovered first hand that attacking a V-1 at close range could result in a hazardous explosion. He established that the best attack was to approach from astern at an acute angle with the cannons synchronised to 200yds. On at least one occasion Beamont defeated a V-1 by carefully sliding his wing-tip under that of the V-1 and flipping it. His fifth V-1 kill on the evening of 19 June made him the first V-1. ace. By the end of the V-1 campaign, 150 Wing had shot down 638, with Beamont accounting for 32. Around this time Beamont met Ernest Hemingway, who had flown over from America to report on the D-Day invasion and spent time in 150 Wing's officer's mess.
On 2 October 1944, now based on the continent at Volkel, the Netherlands, he achieved his ninth and final kill of the war when he shot down a Fw 190 near Nijmegen. On 12 October, on his 492nd operational mission, while attacking a heavily defended troop-train near Bocholt his Tempest's radiator was hit by flak. He crash landed without injury and became a prisoner of war. Confined firstly to Stalag Luft III at Żagań in Lower Silesia, then to Stalag III-A at Luckenwalde, Brandenburg, he remained a PoW until the end of the war in Europe. Beamont and other POWs were detained for a few weeks by Soviet forces, and repatriated in late May.
At RAF Chilbolton Beamont formed the first wing of Hawker Tempest IIs in preparation for planned invasion of Japan. The Tempests were to escort bombers of Tiger Force over Japan. The operation was cancelled following the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. In May 1946 he was awarded the American Distinguished Flying Cross.