Ken Wallis

BTN notes the passing of Ken Wallis MBE, at the age of 97, perhaps the last of a whole series of British aviation innovators who in the post war years included Barnes Wallis (Dam Buster bomb) and George Edwards (Vickers and Concorde). 

Wallis served in the Royal Air Force in World War II and flew 28 bomber missions over Germany; after the war, he moved on to research and development, before retiring in 1964.  He later became one of the leading exponents of autogyros and earned 34 world records, still holding eight of them at the time of his passing.

He worked as Sean Connery's stunt pilot in the 1967 James Bond film You Only Live Twice, where he flew one of his autogyro WA-116s named Little Nellie.  A keen photographer, he combined his passion for images and flight to help police in aerial reconnaissance, the search for Lord Lucan and the Loch Ness monster.  A loss to the world of aviation originality.

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