Peter Twiss

To a younger generation the name Peter Twiss may mean nothing but for those who remember the 1950s the five times married former Royal Navy pilot was a true British aviation hero and a holder of the World Airspeed record, the first man to fly over 1,000 miles per hour. 

On 10 March 1956 piloting the Fairey Delta 2 Twiss broke the World Speed Record, raising it to 1,132 mph (1811 km/h), an increase of some 300 mph (480 km/h) over the previous record.  As a test pilot for Fairy (later taken over by Westland) he also flew the remarkable and advanced Rotodyne, the forerunner of today’s Chinook.  Peter Twiss passed away on 31 August aged 90.

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