Bill Humble

Humble was born on 14 April 1911, the son of William Humble senior, a mining engineer and mine owner in the South Yorkshire coalfield, and also associated with the Staveley Coal and Iron Company. Humble was educated at Repton School and the University of Cambridge, following his father in qualifying as a mining engineer in 1930. and on 27 July 1930 he was commissioned as a pilot officer on probation in the Special Reserve of the Royal Air Force, his rank was confirmed on 25 October 1931, and he was promoted flying officer on 27 January 1932. He was a founder member of No. 504 (City of Nottingham) Squadron, He transferred to the Reserve of Air Force Officers, Class A on 16 May 1932. In 1935 he entered the King's Cup Air Race, flying a Miles Hawk, he would enter again on several subsequent occasions. he returned to the Reserve of Officers on 31 August 1937. He married for the first time in 1936, but divorced just a few years later. ==Test pilot==

prototype HM599 Following the outbreak of the Second World War Humble was invited to join Hawker Siddeley's team of test pilots, taking up the role on 10 October 1940. The testing team was led by George Bulman and Philip Lucas. Humble was initially involved in testing Hurricanes as they came off the production line at the rate of seven a day. Having proved his ability, he was soon assigned to help test and develop new aircraft types, initially the Hawker Typhoon, and then later types derived from it, the Hawker Tempest, Hawker Fury and Sea Fury. The Typhoon became particularly important as a "tank-buster" during the Normandy Campaign, and the Tempest in the fight against the V-1 flying bomb. Development of the Fury was a particularly difficult experience. The aircraft could approach the sound barrier in a dive, causing unexpected handling problems; the Bristol Centaurus engine was also still relatively new and experienced many problems, on more than one occasion it was only Humble's skill as a pilot which prevented a crash. Bulman had retired towards the end of the war, Lucas then became Hawker's chief test pilot. In mid-1945, Lucas was promoted to the board of the company, and in early January 1946, Humble was appointed the new chief test pilot. Hawker now moved into the jet age, with Humble making the first test flight of the Hawker P.1040 from Boscombe Down on 2 September 1947. This ultimately entered service as the Hawker Sea Hawk. ==Later life and legacy==

Humble retired from testing in 1948, remaining with Hawker as a sales executive. He continued to give demonstration flights, and his skill as a display pilot is credited with helping to win Hawker sales. His main sales territory was the Middle East, and he spent much time in Egypt, Lebanon and Cyprus. According to his obituary in The Times he was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1949. ==References==