John Douglas Derry DFC

Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom)

The Distinguished Flying Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom's Royal Air Force and other services, and formerly to officers of other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying in active operations against...

 (5 December 1921 – 6 September 1952) was a British

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

 test pilot

Test pilot

A test pilot is an aviator who flies new and modified aircraft in specific maneuvers, known as flight test techniques or FTTs, allowing the results to be measured and the design to be evaluated....

, and was the first Briton to exceed the speed of sound

Speed of sound

The speed of sound is the distance travelled during a unit of time by a sound wave propagating through an elastic medium. In dry air at , the speed of sound is . This is , or about one kilometer in three seconds or approximately one mile in five seconds....

. He was killed in the 1952 Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash

1952 Farnborough Airshow DH.110 crash

The 1952 Farnborough DH.110 crash was an air show accident that killed 29 spectators, the pilot , and the onboard flight test observer when during a manoeuvre, the aircraft broke up due to a faulty wing leading edge design...

 where his aircraft broke up due to a design fault, with 29 fatalities including himself and his flight observer Tony Richards),.

Born in Cairo

Cairo

Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

, Derry attended Dragon School

Dragon School

The Dragon School is a British coeducational, preparatory school in the city of Oxford, founded in 1877 as the Oxford Preparatory School, or OPS. It is primarily known as a boarding school, although it also takes day pupils...

 in Oxford and Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School

Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...

. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he left school to enlist as a wireless operator and air gunner in the Royal Air Force

Royal 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...

. In 1942 he received a commission and the following year trained (in Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

) as a pilot. His operational career began late in 1944 when he joined 182 Squadron

No. 182 Squadron RAF

No. 182 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as a fighter-bomber unit in World War II.-Formation in World War II:The squadron formed on 25 August 1942 at RAF Martlesham Heath and was supplied with Hurricanes and Typhoons. It then operated the Typhoons from several locations in the...

, flying Hawker Typhoon

Hawker Typhoon

The Hawker Typhoon was a British single-seat fighter-bomber, produced by Hawker Aircraft. While the Typhoon was designed to be a medium-high altitude interceptor, and a direct replacement for the Hawker Hurricane, several design problems were encountered, and the Typhoon never completely satisfied...

s on close support to the Allied armies in the low countries. After serving also with 181 Squadron

No. 181 Squadron RAF

No. 181 Squadron RAF was a Royal Air Force Squadron formed as a fighter-bomber unit in World War II.-Formation in World War II:The squadron formed on 25 August 1942 at RAF Duxford and was supplied with Hurricanes and Typhoons. It then operated the Typhoons from several locations in the United...

, he was given command of 182 Squadron shortly before the end of the war.

In 1947 Derry joined de Havilland

De Havilland

The de Havilland Aircraft Company was a British aviation manufacturer founded in 1920 when Airco, of which Geoffrey de Havilland had been chief designer, was sold to BSA by the owner George Holt Thomas. De Havilland then set up a company under his name in September of that year at Stag Lane...

 as a test pilot, working largely on the de Havilland DH 108 aircraft. He is widely believed to have exceeded the speed of sound on 6 September 1948 when he lost control of his aircraft and the Mach meter briefly showed supersonic speeds in a shallow dive from 12,195 m (40,000) ft to 9,145 m (30,000) ft., although recording apparatus was switched off.