Test Pilots - Michael John Lithgow

Michael John “Mike” Lithgow, OBE (30 August 1920 – 22 October 1963) was educated at Cheltenham College. He joined the Royal Navy in 1938 and during WW2 he served with the Fleet Air Arm. He was posted to A&AEE at Boscombe Down in 1943. He was with the British Air Commission in the USA from 1944-1945. He joined Supermarine as a test pilot in 1945 and succeeded Jeffrey Quill as Chief Test Pilot in 1948.

Mike set up the 100km closed-circuit record in an Attacker, and held the London-Paris and Paris-London records in the Supermarine Swift. He set a world speed record in 1953 at Castel Idris in Libya, with a speed of 735.7mph.

Colleague Les Colquhoun (right) wrote:

“Mike and I took off from Chilbolton on 22nd September 1953, Mike was in Swift F.4 prototype WK/198 and I was in the Attacker WK/286. We flew to Tripoli via Nice and Tunis. The attempt nearly ended in Chilbolton. As I took off, the jet efflux stripped the top surface of the runway and it was thought that some had gone down the intake of Mike’s Swift. Fortunately all was well and on 25th September, Mike set the new world record at 735.7 mph. This was the last time the world air speed record was run in this way, ie: low level runs over a measured distance. Subsequent attempts were all at high altitude using sophisticated radar techniques.”

Mike did extensive test flying on the Supermarine Attacker, Swift, Scimitar and later the Vickers Vanguard and BAC 1-11. Mike Lithgow died test flying the prototype BAC 1-11 from Wisley airfield on 22 October 1963 when during stall tests the aircraft entered a deep stall and crashed near Chicklade (Wiltshire). Six other BAC flight test team members were killed too.