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Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, (10 August 1920 – 19 November 2001) was a British fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and an experimental test pilot during and after the Second World War. He was the first British pilot to exceed Mach number in a British aircraft in level flight (P.1A),John Derry was the first British Pilot to exceed Mach 1 but did so in a shallow dive in the de Havilland DH 108 and the first to fly a British aircraft at Mach 2 (P.1B).
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 Hawker 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 (and later for BAC), 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 Panavia 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.
He spent his school holidays, cycling to nearby Tangmere aerodrome to watch the RAF Hawker Fury 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 (under the RAF's schools assistance scheme) the first at Tangmere, with No. 1 Squadron, the second at RAF Halton in which Beamont (aged 16) 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 (i.e. going solo after 15 hours tuition), which he only just managed. He was posted to RAF Drem, Drem, flying 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.
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 West Country. 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 (WAAF) 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 (and his marriage in October 1942). 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 Aircraft'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 Hawker Typhoon. On his first cross country flight in a Typhoon, while delivering it to Gloster's,Typhoon production was to be by Gloster, a company within the Hawker Siddeley group 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· The engineering work to reduce cockpit vibration in the Typhoon was led by Frederick Page, who would later lead the Lightning and TSR2 development
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 ( Jagdbombers). 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.In a speed trial, held at Farnborough in July 1942, the Griffon-engined Spifire Mk XII prototype (DP845) piloted by Jeffrey Quill was demonstrated to be faster than a contemporary Hawker Typhoon and a captured Focke-Wulf Fw 190.
He was awarded a bar to his DSO in June 1943, his destruction of 13 trains and numerous lorries being noted.
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 (16 June) 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 (180m). 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 (PoW). 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 (May 1945). Beamont and other POWs were detained for a few weeks by Soviet Union 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.
At Gloster, Beamont took the Gloster Meteor through its early experimental test flight programme, culminating in a flight at 632 mph on 9 July 1946 in preparation for the official air speed record by the RAF. In August 1946 he moved to de Havilland as a demonstration pilot, with the aim of moving to experimental flying (particularly the DH 108 Swallow), however apart from demonstrations in the DH Vampire at air shows, the work was not challenging.
At this time English Electric were manufacturing D.H Vampires under licence but had no original aircraft to conduct research, particularly to explore the effects of compressibility. From his experience at Glosters, Beamont suggested to Petter that they borrow a Meteor F.4 to carry out high altitude research. Beamont made the first experimental test flight from the Warton Aerodrome in a Meteor on 28 August 1947.
To get Beamont experience of flying big jets the Ministry of Supply organised a visit to the United States to fly the North American B-45 Tornado, the Boeing B-47 Stratojet and the Martin XB-48. When he arrived in May 1948 only the B-45 was airworthy. Through William.G.A Perring (the director of the RAE) he was able to persuade the US authorities to give him permission to fly one of the only two XP-86 Sabres then built, based at Muroc Field. Briefed by test pilot George Welch, Beamont flew the XP-86 in May of that year, exceeding an indicated Mach 1 on his one and only flight in the aircraft, the third person to do so in the XP-86.It is likely that these flights were not supersonic. Investigations would later prove that the pitot tube on the XP-86 was affected by shock waves and the true Mach number was closer to 0.98. Beamont also noted that there was no sonic bang as there was in his later supersonic flights
On 13 May 1949 he made the first flight of the Canberra prototype (VN799). Due to its reserves of power and low wing-loading the Canberra was highly manoeuvrable at any altitude, and Beamont would use this to advantage in his flying.On 13 September 1949 he demonstrated it at the Farnborough air show. Flight magazine described Beamont's display as "exhilarating", stating that "A new aircraft has never been more convincingly demonstrated" . This display was only marred by the inadvertent jettison of the 'automatic-observer' when Beamont opened the bomb bay doors to slow the aircraft, necessary because the prototype had no air-brakes. On 23 February 1951 he presented it to US Department of Defense officials contributing to the decision in the April for Canberras to be built under licence by the Glenn L. Martin Company as the B-57.
Beamont set two transatlantic records in the Canberra. Taking advantage of a delivery flight to Glenn Martin, he set a new record of 4 hr 18 min 29.4 sec, from RAF Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, to Gander, Newfoundland, on 31 August 1951. The following year, Beamont had the distinction of being the first pilot to make a double-Atlantic crossing by Jet aircraft, when on 26 August 1952, flying Canberra B.5 Serial number, he again flew from RAF Aldergrove to Gander and then back again to Aldergove, in 10 hours 3 minutes.
On 4 April 1957 Beamont made the first flight of the P.1B (XA847, fitted with Rolls-Royce Avon) exceeding Mach 1 during this flight. On 25 November he reached Mach 2, the first time in a British aircraft.During the early flight trials of the P1.B speeds in excess of 1000 mph were achieved daily; during this period the Fairey FD2 delta held the world speed record (1132 mph achieved on 10 March 1956 and held till December 1957). While the P.1B was potentially faster than the FD2, it lacked the fuel capacity to provide one run in each direction at maximum speed to claim the record in accordance with international rules, see Beamont 1985 page 59
Over the following three months the engines were modified and the undercarriage cleared for retraction, allowing the second flight to take place on 31 December 1964. Running short of day light, Beamont took off at 2:40 pm. Once airborne he noted poor forward vision, which he initially thought was due to glare from the low sun until he realised that his instrument panel also appeared blurred. Realising this was due to high frequency vibration affecting his eyes he throttled back No. 1 engine, determining the engine speed range over which this vibration was a problem. This problem forced Beamont to land XR219 with asymmetric thrust.The problem was traced to a malfunctioning fuel pump that was out-of-balance.
Beamont was unable to retract the undercarriage satisfactorily on the third and fourth flights. On the fifth flight the undercarriage bogies jammed in a vertical orientation. He understood that this could cause a catastrophe on landing and offered the project navigator, Don Bowen, the opportunity to "use the Martin-Baker Mk.5 ejection seat". Don Bowen declined. Beamont was confident in the XR219's precise flying, so made a long approach at low descent rate (0.12 m/s) and successfully rotated the bogies by using the weight of the aircraft on landing.The tandem-wheel main wheel bogies on the TSR 2 rotated longitudinally 180 degrees around a horizontal pivot point at the bottom of the leg during retraction so that the two-wheel truck was upside down when stowed. The bogies were rotated by electric motors and the problem was traced to incorrect electrical sequencing of the retraction/extension procedure caused by excessive clearances on the actuating microswitches. On the tenth flight Beamont successfully retracted the undercarriage, he cycled it twice and took XR219 out to 500 knots in stages. At that stage in the programme, XR219 had a flight resonance clearance of 500 kts As TSR-2 was designed to follow contours at high speed, Beamont decided to fly it down Boscombe's runway at 100 ft and 450 knots, commenting later that it had "beautiful control".
On Flight 14 (22 February 1965) Beamont returned XR219 to BAC Warton. During the flight, he achieved exceeded Mach 1 for the first time, using supercruise only. Following this, Beamont lit a single reheat unitBeamont lit a single reheat unit because of problems with the other engine's reheat fuel pump with the result that the aircraft accelerated away from the chase Lightning.
In 1971, he became Panavia flight operations director, responsible for the testing of the Panavia Tornado, retiring in August 1979 following the maiden flight of the first production Tornado. After retirement he devoted himself to writing; contributing to various aeronautical publications and writing number of books about his experiences. He died on 19 November 2001 at the age of 81.
In 2002 he was posthumously awarded the Belgian Croix de guerre. TracesOfWar: BEAMONT, Roland Prosper 'Bee'
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