page_title: Geoffrey de Havilland
section_title: Aviation career
hierarchical_section_title: Geoffrey de Havilland / Aviation career
caption_attribution_description: English: A group of officers of the Royal Flying Corps. These men were among the first flying and administrative officers of the RFC, and some of the first pilots ever qualified by the Royal Aero Club. The officers are (left to right) Lieutenant Geoffrey de Havilland Captain (later Lt-Col.) George William Patrick Dawes, D.S.O, Legion d'Honneur, Croix de Guerre&#91;1&#93;&#91;2&#93;&#91;3&#93; Captain Robert Gordon, R.M.&#91;1&#93; Lieutenant Vivian H. N. Wadham&#91;1&#93; (killed in action 17th January 1916)&#91;4&#93; Major Robert Brooke-Popham Lieutenant Patrick Playfair Lieutenant Ronald L. Charteris&#91;1&#93; (founded ABC Motors) Major Frederick Sykes Lieutenant Alexander Ernest Burchardt-Ashton&#91;1&#93; (Resigned commission in RFC because drunk while flying at Brooklands; transferred to Dragoon Guards. Re-enlisted in 22 Bn. Royal Fusiliers, Lance-Corporal; killed near Ypres 10/11 July 1916.)&#91;5&#93;&#91;6&#93;&#91;7&#93; Lieutenant L'Estrange Malone Commander Charles Samson, R.N. Lieutenant Spenser D. A. Grey&#91;1&#93; Lieutenant Basil Herbert Barrington-Kennett, Grenadier Guards (first adjutant of the RFC, killed while serving in the Guards, 18 May 1915)&#91;8&#93; Lieutenant Alan Geoffrey Fox (died of wounds sustained while flying, May 1915)&#91;8&#93; References: ↑ a b c d e f Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1913, pp. 34, 35 ↑ George William Patrick Dawes. Grace's Guide. ↑ "Steady, Colonel" ↑ Captain V H N Wadham, RFC ↑ Great War forum ↑ Alexander Ernest Burchardt-Ashton. Graces's Guide ↑ "Alexander Ernest Burchardt-Ashton". Great War Commemoration. ↑ a b Aeronautical Journal, April-June 1915, p. 79
context_page_description: Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, OM, CBE, AFC, RDI, FRAeS was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer. His Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built, and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production.
context_section_description: Built with money borrowed from his maternal grandfather, de Havilland's first aircraft took two years to build before he crashed it during its first very short flight at Seven Barrows near Litchfield, Hampshire in December 1909. He built a fresh biplane, making his first flight in it from a meadow near Newbury in September 1910. A memorial plaque presently marks the event. Subsequent designs were even more successful: in 1912 he established a new British altitude record of 10,500 feet (3.2 km) in an aircraft of his design, the B.E.2. Geoffrey was the designer and his brother Hereward was the test pilot.
  In December 1910, de Havilland joined HM Balloon Factory at Farnborough, which was to become the Royal Aircraft Factory. He sold his second aeroplane (which he had used to teach himself to fly) to his new employer for £400. It became the F.E.1, the first aircraft to bear an official Royal Aircraft Factory designation. For the next three years de Havilland designed, or participated in the design of, a number of experimental types at the "Factory". He was commissioned a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps on 2 September 1912, was appointed a reserve officer in the RFC on 24 November and was confirmed in his rank on 25 December.
  In December 1913, de Havilland was appointed an inspector of aircraft for the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate. Unhappy at leaving design work, in May 1914 he was recruited to become the chief designer at Airco, in Hendon. He designed many aircraft for Airco, all designated by his initials, DH. Large numbers of de Havilland-designed aircraft were used during the First World War, flown by the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force. De Havilland continued to serve in the RFC during the war. On 5 August 1914, he was promoted to lieutenant and appointed a flying officer in the RFC from the same date. He was briefly stationed in Montrose on the east coast of Scotland as an officer on war duty. Flying a Blériot, he was to protect British shipping from German U-boats. After a few weeks he was released from this duty and returned to Airco. However, he nominally remained in the service until the end of the war. On 30 April 1916, he was promoted to captain and appointed a flight commander.
  His employer, Airco, was bought in early 1920 by armaments group Birmingham Small Arms Company but discovering it was less than worthless BSA shut down Airco in July 1920. With the help of former Airco owner George Holt Thomas he formed de Havilland Aircraft Company employing some former colleagues. Pleased and impressed by the aircraft they built for him Alan Butler, thereafter company chairman, provided the capital to buy premises and then the airfield at Stag Lane Aerodrome, Edgware, where he and his colleagues designed and built a large number of aircraft, including the Moth family. One of his roles was as a test pilot for the company's aircraft.
  In 1928 the subsidiary company De Havilland Canada was created to build Moth aircraft for the training of Canadian airmen. After the Second World War it went on to design and produce a number of indigenous types, some of which proved highly successful.
  In 1933 the company moved to Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire.
  De Havilland was believed to have said "we could have had jets" prior to the start of the World War II although the company did not pursue this technology. In 1944 he bought out his friend and engine designer Frank Halfords's consultancy firm, forming the de Havilland Engine Company with Halford as head. Halford had previously designed a number of engines for de Havilland, including the de Havilland Gipsy and de Havilland Gipsy Major. Halford's first gas turbine design entered production as the de Havilland Goblin powering de Havilland's first jet, the Vampire.
  De Havilland controlled the company until it was bought by the Hawker Siddeley Company in 1960. His financial backer, Alan Butler, remained a very involved chairman until he retired in 1950.
caption: de Havilland (far left), with fellow officers of the RFC c1913
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