The Christmas quiz

See last week’s BTN.

We planned to list the winners but there were too many and the thinking at BTN was perhaps to make the whole thing harder.  But perhaps not?  In any event the quiz is published Monday 21 December and readers will have until Tuesday 5 January to put their entries in, although we would prefer not to have a last minute rush.

The aircraft shown is a Hawker Hunter.     

The Duke was Neville Duke, DSO OBE

J-4059 first flew in June 1959 and served with the Swiss Air Force for 35 years before retirement. Arriving in South Africa in 1996, she was flown briefly before being grounded by the National CAA. Then certified by the Swaziland CAA as 3D-HUN, she took to the air again and was eventually certified by the South Africans under her current ID of ZU-AVC.

Owned by Ron Wheeldon and flown regularly, J-4059 is normally based at Thunder City along with his other Hunter J-4202. She's currently undergoing servicing at Rand airport, Germiston, which will include some touch-ups on the paintwork.

The Hawker Hunter first flew in 1951 and is acknowledged as the prettiest jet fighter of its generation. 1,972 were built and served with the primary users Indian, Swedish, Swiss and Royal Air Forces with the last one retired in 2014. At the 1958 Farnborough Air Show 22 Hunters “The Black Arrows” looped the loop, led by Wing Commander (later Air Vice-Marshal) Peter Latham.

Neville Duke (1922–2007) was the most successful Western Allied ace in the Mediterranean Theatre in World War II and was credited with the destruction of 27 enemy aircraft. After the war, Duke was acknowledged as one of the world's foremost test pilots.  In 1953, he became holder of the world air speed record when he flew a Hawker Hunter at 727.63mph over Littlehampton.  He beat his own record as a passenger on Concorde.

On 7 April 2007, Neville and his wife Gwen were flying their private aircraft when Duke became ill. He landed safely at Popham Airfield, but collapsed as he left the aircraft. He was taken by ambulance to hospital in Basingstoke where he was diagnosed as suffering from an aneurysm. He was transferred to St Peter's Hospital, Chertsey, Surrey, and died later that same evening after an operation, at the age of 85.

www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk

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Paul Kay, London, UK

...."What a Great Man Neville was"... WW2 'Ace'...and a "Take it to the limit" British test pilot...in the end and very prematurely...a fly-in at little Popham was to be his last landing test... Neville..."The Flying UK Colours Will Always Be Out For You".... "Littlehampton you say ed...well,if my old Mum was still here,she would look to the sky and shake her fist because now I know why she complained her deckchair collapsed with her in it in '53...it was Nev!!"..