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Neill Michael Daunt OBE (23 October 1909 – 26 July 1991) was a British test pilot; the first person to fly the Gloster Meteor in March 1943, Britain's first production jet aircraft. He was the second person to fly the Gloster E.28/39 "Pioneer" (Britain's first jet aircraft) in November 1942. He had many severe accidents that he was lucky to survive, including one for which he had no recollection.
He became a flying instructor for de Havilland at the de Havilland Flying School in 1935.
He flew Hawker Typhoon R7625 which crashed on 27 March 1942 near Gloucester, which ripped both wings off, between trees. Gloucestershire Echo Saturday 8 January 1944, page 1
On 19 May 1942 from Staverton, he had a crash in the experimental Folland Fo.108 'P1777', an engine test-bed for the Bristol Centaurus, when the port tailplane spar failed. He went through the perspex canopy. He had no recollection of pulling the ripcord, and was nearly strangled to death by the harness, and crashed near Tewkesbury, being found unconscious in a cornfield by the local vicar, and was in hospital for six months. He regained his pilot licence in October 1942. Coventry Evening Telegraph Wednesday 23 May 1956, page 10
Most of his test flying took place at Brockworth, Gloucestershire. He flew the Gloster E.28/39 on 6 November 1942 at RAF Edgehill in Oxfordshire, near Shenington off the A422. He took the only known picture of the E.28/39 first flight in May 1941.
He retired from test flying in June 1944 when the Meteor he was flying had a full compressor failure in mid-air and he was lucky enough to have a safe landing.
On 27 January 1943 he was stood near Meteor 'DG206' and was sucked into the Meteor nacelle at Bentham; Richard Walker (engineer) was stood nearby, who made gestures at the technician in the cockpit to switch off the engines. Only his broad shoulders and 15 stone weight stopped him being killed. He was the first person to do this. Daunt was off work for two days.
The first Meteor (Gloster F9/40) prototype was moved to RAF Cranwell in Lincolnshire on 12 February 1943. On 5 March 1943 Daunt flew the Meteor, prototype DG206, on the Meteor's first flight. University of Cambridge It was not fitted with Power Jets W.2 engines, but the de Havilland Halford H-1. The first flight lasted three and a half minutes, as the aircraft began to yaw violently from side to side. The de Havilland engines were almost twice as powerful as the other engines, and also heavier; this put much work on the undercarriage shock absorbers and brakes. The Meteor, with De Havilland engines, was wider. On the first flight, the Meteor took off after 1,200 yds. Gloucester Citizen Monday 8 March 1993, page 19 First Meteor flight
The second flight of the Meteor was on 17 April 1943. He flew the first Meteor ( DG205) powered by Power Jets jet engines on 12 June 1943. Another Meteor prototype, DG204, flew with the axial-flow Metropolitan-Vickers F.2 jet engine in November 1943, which was the fifth Meteor prototype, and the Metropolitan-Vickers (MetroVick) engines outperformed those of Power Jets. The highest speed of any Meteor prototype was at . An order was made for 300 Meteors, but due to engine problems, this first order was reduced to 20 aircraft.
He flew Meteor 'W4041' fourteen times, and Meteor 'W4046' four times, between 16 and 20 April 1943. On 19 April 1943, he flew Meteor 'W4046' in front of Winston Churchill in Hertfordshire, in an 11-minute display. He flew with John Grierson (pilot).
Michael Daunt flew the first production (military) version of the Meteor Mk 1, equipped with four 20mm Hispano cannon, EE210/G, on 12 June 1944. The Meteor entered service in July 1944, with the Rolls-Royce Welland.
The Meteor would stay in production until 1954, with around 4,000 being made; with 3,600 made in the UK, mostly at Hucclecote and some at Baginton; and 330 were made in the Netherlands by Fokker, for the Dutch and Belgian air forces. Birmingham Post Monday 24 May 1954, page 9
He returned to Cranwell in March 1983 for the anniversary, with Air Chief Marshal Sir Keith Williamson. Lincolnshire Echo Saturday 5 March 1983, page 6
The Messerschmitt Me 262 V3 prototype first flew on 18 July 1942 at Leipheim with the Junkers Jumo 004 Axial compressor jet engine, piloted by Fritz Wendel.
From September 1955 he worked for a Warwickshire company. From March 1962 he worked for Bardahl Products Ltd of Bayswater. From 1969 to 1976 he was Chief Technician of the kidney unit of the Wordsley Hospital in Kingswinford.
After divorce, he married Elspeth Eliot Lloyd (born 31 March 1916), a member of the banking family, in 1940 at Chelsea Register Office. They had a son Michael Seton (1942-2023) who became a well-known writer on fishing and country matters. His wife had an affair with an assistant pilot, and he was given custody of their one child. Gloucestershire Echo Friday 20 April 1945, page 1 He divorced Elspeth on Friday 20 April 1945, and she later married Alan Dipper of Beckley, East Sussex on 20 March 1948 in Stratford upon Avon. Elspeth lived at 'Cleavers', on Church Lane, in Welford-on-Avon. Times Tuesday April 6 1948, page 1 Elspeth was a friend of the actress Patience Collier. Elspeth had another son on 24 August 1949, Times Saturday August 27 1949, page 1 and daughter Frances, who married John Richard Buckley, of Woldingham, on Saturday 4 September 1976 at St Mary's Church, Rye. Times Tuesday September 7 1976, page 14
He married thirdly Monica Claire Parnell in 1947 in Ploughley Rural District, and they had a daughter on 5 November 1948 and a son on 10 June 1950. He lived at Pyrton, now in South Oxfordshire and then in Kent, South Wales, Hertfordshire, Devon and Oldbury in the West Midlands. In the early 1960s he lived with three children in Hertfordshire. In the 1980s he lived in Oldbury. His third wife Monica died in May 1989.
His son Michael married Rosamund Suzanne Hall of Pett in East Sussex, Times Tuesday January 14 1969, page 8 on 9 August 1969 at St Laurence's Church, Guestling. Times Saturday August 16 1969, page 18
He had broken his leg, when falling, and had been in a coma, and died in Ipswich on 26 July 1991; the funeral was in Ipswich on 2 August 1991. Gloucester Citizen Thursday 5 August 1991
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