Valentine Baker (pilot)

Born in Llanfairfechan, Wales, Baker joined the Royal Navy ("for land service") on 27 October 1914, and was immediately rated petty officer mechanic, and assigned to the Royal Naval Air Service Armoured Car Section as a despatch rider. At the time he joined up he was described as being five feet eight and four-fifths inches tall, with a thirty-eight inch chest, "medium brown" hair, blue eyes and a "medium" complexion. Baker was assigned to 41 Squadron, with which he spent his entire nine-month combat flying career, during which time he was reputed to have shot down several German aircraft. Baker transferred to the new Royal Air Force on its formation as a merger of the RFC and RNAS on 1 April 1918. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in the 1918 King's Birthday Honours; the announcement was made the same day that the medal was instituted. Because Baker was first in the alphabetically ordered list of recipients, His final job for the military was in the Secret Codes Department, Air Ministry, from May 1920 until he resigned his commission on 1 October 1921, and was permitted to retain the rank of captain. ==Civilian life==

Baker's first civilian job was for Vickers Limited, which took him to the Dutch East Indies. There, he became affiliated with the Netherlands Naval Aviation Service and worked for them as an instructor for three years. However, his wife became ill and they returned to England. Soon after, he took another job for Vickers, this time to Chile where he demonstrated the company's aircraft as well as trained Chilean pilots. Lord Londonderry of the Air Ministry, Lord Lloyd, Amy Johnson, Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Grace Marguerite Hay Drummond-Hay. ==Martin-Baker==

In 1934, Baker left Heston to join his friend James Martin to found the Martin-Baker Aircraft Company, where Baker was the company's test pilot. During a test flight of the Martin-Baker MB 3 prototype from RAF Wing in Buckinghamshire during the late afternoon of 12 September 1942, the engine seized and he was forced into an emergency landing, during which the aircraft struck a hay rick, cartwheeled through a hedge and he was killed. The crash site was located in December 2020 and now sits on the land of the Aylesbury Vale Golf Club near to Stewkley, Buckinghamshire, where a memorial has been created along with a commissioned bust of Valentine and relics from the crash site. The main function room has been named ‘The Captain Valentine Baker Suite’. A further memorial to Valentine sits by the main runway of RAF Wing, and next to the hangar site where the MB3 was stored during the trials. Baker's death affected his partner deeply, so much so that pilot safety became Martin's primary focus and led to the reorganisation of the company to focus on ejection seats. ==References==