He retired from the
Royal Navy and moved to
Vickers Supermarine as a test pilot in January 1946 and became the company's chief test pilot two years later. In September 1946, he took part in the
Lympne high speed air race, flying a
Supermarine Seafang, competing against
Bill Humble in a
Hawker Fury,
Geoffrey de Havilland in a
D.H. Vampire and G.H Pike in a
D.H. Hornet On 26 September 1953, flying the
Supermarine Swift F.4 prototype, WK198, Lithgow broke the World Air Speed Record near
Tripoli in Libya, reaching a speed of 735.7 mph (1184 km/h). He was awarded the Gold Medal of the Royal Aero Club and the Geoffrey de Havilland Trophy in 1953 He did extensive test flying on the
Supermarine Attacker,
Swift,
Scimitar and later the
Vickers Vanguard and
BAC One-Eleven. Lithgow died test flying the prototype BAC One-Eleven
G-ASHG 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 also killed. == References ==