On the 7th September 1953 the famous Hawker chief test pilot Sqd Ldr Neville Duke set a new Absolute World Air Speed Record of 727 mph. He took off from RAF Tangmere in the all-red modified Hunter F3 to fly the FAI course set up between Rustington & Worthing Pier. I was there as a 10-year old schoolboy to watch him do it. This great pilot has been my hero ever since. The Hunter was always my favourite jet fighter.

On the same day 50 years later a special tribute was held at Tangmere, now a museum, to celebrate the event. I naturally wouldn''t have missed this for anything. Here's a few photos I took on the day.

This is the actual record-breaking Hunter.


On strolling into the museum building I saw something I never expected. The man himself sitting in the cockpit. By the time I extracted my new camera & fiddled about I missed the shot of a lifetime. Neville Duke standing on the ladder exactly as he did after landing on that day. It's something I shall always regret. I did manage to take this shot of him standing in front of it with Peter Twiss (nearest camera), who later held the world speed record with a speed of 1132 mph in the needle-nosed Fairey Delta 2. This time 40,000 feet above Worthing.


The record didn't last long. Mike Lithgow, Supermarine chief test pilot, broke it 3 weeks later in a Swift F Mk4 out in the Libyan desert (735 mph). This is not the actual aircraft but a similar FR Mk 5. Mike Lithgow tragically lost his life testing the BAC 111 prototype in 1963. He calmly talked it all the way to the ground on the radio despite knowing he was going to certain death. This brave man was represented by his widow at the event.


This is the actual Gloster Meteor F Mk4 in which Group Capt Edward Donaldson had earlier taken the record at a speed of 615 mph on 7 Sept 1946 - again along the same Sussex course. The 7th September seems a lucky date for breaking records.


The weather was not particularly good & the flying tribute was a little disjointed. I managed to get this shot of the Breitling Fighters over Tangmere. I thought it made a nice tribute not only to the record breakers but the many pilots who flew from here during the dark days of WWII - some never to return.

Thanks Ozzy. I missed some good shots that day. Never have the chance again. I'll never make a photographer.

I can't remember much about the Spitfire. Whatever it might be I believe it's a glass-fibre replica. Possibly one of those built for the BoB film.

Man, that Meteor is sweet!  8)

Super photos Hagar. That must have been a very special day.