Geoffrey de Havilland Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland , OM , CBE , AFC , RDI , FRAeS , ( 27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965 ) was a British aviation pioneer and aircraft engineer . His Mosquito has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built . Early life . Born on 27 July 1882 at Magdala House , Terriers , High Wycombe , Buckinghamshire , de Havilland was the second son of the Revd Charles de Havilland and his first wife , Alice Jeannette ( née Saunders ) . He was educated at Nuneaton Grammar School , St Edward ' s School , Oxford and the Crystal Palace School of Engineering ( from 1900 to 1903 ) . After engineering school , de Havilland ' s first interest was in automotive engineering , building cars and motorcycles . He took an apprenticeship with engine manufacturers Willans & Robinson of Rugby , after which he worked as a draughtsman for The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited in Birmingham , a job from which he resigned after a year . He subsequently spent two years working in the design office of Motor Omnibus Construction Company Limited in Walthamstow . While there he designed his first aero engine and had the first prototype made by Iris Motor Company of Willesden . He married in 1909 and almost immediately embarked on the career of designing , building and flying aircraft to which he devoted the rest of his life . Aviation career . 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 1910 . A memorial marks the event . Subsequent designs were 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 . De Havilland was the designer and his brother Hereward 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 " . In January 1914 , de Havilland was appointed an inspector of aircraft in the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate . Unhappy at leaving design work , in May 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 and later the Royal Air Force . Airco was bought by the BSA Company , but BSA was only interested in using the company factories for car production . Raising £20 , 000 , de Havilland bought the relevant assets he needed and in 1920 formed the de Havilland Aircraft Company at Stag Lane Aerodrome , Edgware , where he and his company designed and built a large number of aircraft , including the " Moth " family . In 1933 the company moved to Hatfield Aerodrome , in Hertfordshire . One of his roles was as test pilot for the company ' s aircraft , in all of which he liked to fly . He was believed to have said " we could have had jets " in reference to the ignoring of jet engine possibilities prior to the start of the 1939 - 45 world war . The company ' s aircraft , particularly the Mosquito , played a formidable role in the Second World War . Until it was bought by the Hawker Siddeley Company in 1960 , de Havilland controlled the company . Retirement and death . In 1955 , de Havilland retired from active involvement in his company , though remaining as president . He continued flying up to the age of 70 . He died aged 82 , of a cerebral haemorrhage , on 21 May 1965 at Watford Peace Memorial Hospital , Hertfordshire . Honours . In 1918 , de Havilland was made an OBE and CBE in 1934 . He received the Air Force Cross in 1919 , in recognition of his service in the First World War , and was knight ed in 1944 . He was appointed to the Order of Merit in 1962 . He received numerous national and international gold and silver medals and honorary fellowships of learned and engineering societies . A statue of de Havilland was erected in July 1997 near the entrance to the College Lane campus of the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield . He was in effect a benefactor of the university , as in 1951 the de Havilland company had given land adjoining the A1 to Hertfordshire County Council for educational use in perpetuity ; the Hatfield Technical College then founded was a precursor of today ' s university . The statue was unveiled by His Royal Highness , The Duke of Edinburgh . Family . Actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine are de Havilland ' s cousins ; his father , Charles , and their father , Walter , were half - brothers . In 1909 , Geoffrey de Havilland married Louise Thomas , who had formerly been governess to de Havilland ' s sisters . They had three sons , Peter , Geoffrey and John . Two of the sons died as test pilots in de Havilland aircraft . His youngest son , John , died in an air collision involving two Mosquitoes in 1943 . Geoffrey carried out the first flights of the Mosquito and Vampire and was killed in 1946 flying the jet - powered DH 108 Swallow while diving at or near the speed of sound . Louise suffered a nervous breakdown following these deaths and died in 1949 . In 1951 , de Havilland remarried , to Joan Mary Frith , a divorcée . They remained married until his death . Posthumous . In 1979 , de Havilland ' s autobiography , " Sky Fever " , was published by Peter and Anne de Havilland .