Edward Scholefield
Encyclopedia
Flight Lieutenant Edward Rodolph Clement Scholefield 1893-1929 DCM
AFC
(known as Tiny Scholefield) was an aviator and a motor racing driver. He was killed during a test flight of a Vickers Vanguard airliner in 1929.
until the end of the war. During the war he had won the Distinguished Conduct Medal
and following the war he became an experimental test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
. In 1923 he was awarded the Air Force Cross
.
Scholefied became Chief Test Pilot for Vickers
and became well known as an air racer and demonstration pilot. It was not usual in the 1920s for pilots to wear parachutes but he was given one in June 1926 to use, with an instruction that it was to be used on all test flights. The following day he found himself in trouble when he had inverted an aircraft (a Vickers Wibault
) and it would not right itself, he used the newly acquired parachute and landed without injury.
On 16 May 1929 Scholefield was killed when the aircraft crashed and burned at Shepperton on the shore of the River Thames
. Scholefield and his Mechanic S.W. Sherratt were test flying the Vanguard airliner from Brooklands Aerodrome
when control was lost and the aircraft nose-dived from 2000 feet into the ground. Observers had seen something fluttering away from the tail just before the aircraft dived. Scholefield was killed in the burnt wreck, and Sherratt who had jumped from the aircraft died from the fall.
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...
AFC
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
(known as Tiny Scholefield) was an aviator and a motor racing driver. He was killed during a test flight of a Vickers Vanguard airliner in 1929.
Early life
Scholefield was born on 22 October 1893 in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. In the 1901 Census of Bournemouth Scholefield aged 6 is listed with his sister Vandine as boarders at a School.Aviator
Scholefield was awarded a French aviators certificate on 5 April 1912. He joined the Royal Flying Corps as an airmen at the start of the First World War and was later commissioned. In 1915 when on patrol over the Western Front he was shot down and taken prisoner, he remained a German prisoner of warPrisoner of war
A prisoner of war or enemy prisoner of war is a person, whether civilian or combatant, who is held in custody by an enemy power during or immediately after an armed conflict...
until the end of the war. During the war he had won the Distinguished Conduct Medal
Distinguished Conduct Medal
The Distinguished Conduct Medal was an extremely high level award for bravery. It was a second level military decoration awarded to other ranks of the British Army and formerly also to non-commissioned personnel of other Commonwealth countries.The medal was instituted in 1854, during the Crimean...
and following the war he became an experimental test pilot at the Royal Aircraft Establishment
Royal Aircraft Establishment
The Royal Aircraft Establishment , was a British research establishment, known by several different names during its history, that eventually came under the aegis of the UK Ministry of Defence , before finally losing its identity in mergers with other institutions.The first site was at Farnborough...
. In 1923 he was awarded the Air Force Cross
Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...
.
Test Pilot
Following his retirement from the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
Scholefied became Chief Test Pilot for Vickers
Vickers
Vickers was a famous name in British engineering that existed through many companies from 1828 until 1999.-Early history:Vickers was formed in Sheffield as a steel foundry by the miller Edward Vickers and his father-in-law George Naylor in 1828. Naylor was a partner in the foundry Naylor &...
and became well known as an air racer and demonstration pilot. It was not usual in the 1920s for pilots to wear parachutes but he was given one in June 1926 to use, with an instruction that it was to be used on all test flights. The following day he found himself in trouble when he had inverted an aircraft (a Vickers Wibault
Vickers Wibault
-Bibliography:* Andrews, E.N. and Morgan, E.B. Vickers Aircraft Since 1908, Second edition. London: Putnam, 1988. ISBN 0-85177-815-1.* Green, William and Swanborough, Gordon. The Complete Book of Fighters. New York: Smithmark, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8....
) and it would not right itself, he used the newly acquired parachute and landed without injury.
On 16 May 1929 Scholefield was killed when the aircraft crashed and burned at Shepperton on the shore of the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
. Scholefield and his Mechanic S.W. Sherratt were test flying the Vanguard airliner from Brooklands Aerodrome
Brooklands
Brooklands was a motor racing circuit and aerodrome built near Weybridge in Surrey, England. It opened in 1907, and was the world's first purpose-built motorsport venue, as well as one of Britain's first airfields...
when control was lost and the aircraft nose-dived from 2000 feet into the ground. Observers had seen something fluttering away from the tail just before the aircraft dived. Scholefield was killed in the burnt wreck, and Sherratt who had jumped from the aircraft died from the fall.