{{short description|British test pilot (1921–2011)}} {{Use British English|date=September 2012}} {{Use dmy dates|date=January 2021}} {{Infobox aviator | name = Peter Twiss | image = Investiture at Buckingham Palace 1943, with Rankin, Fraser-Harris, and Twiss.jpg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Twiss (Right) at Buckingham Palace during Investiture, 6 April 1943 | full_name = Lionel Peter Twiss | birth_date = {{birth date|1921|07|23|df=yes}} | birth_place = [[Lindfield, West Sussex]], England | death_date = {{Death date and age|2011|08|31|1921|07|23|df=yes}} | death_place = | death_cause = | resting_place = | monuments = | nationality = | education = | spouse = | relatives = | known_for = Breaking the [[Flight airspeed record|World Air Speed Record]] and being the first person to exceed {{convert|1000|mph|km/h kn|lk=on|abbr=on}} in flight | first_flight_date = | first_flight_aircraft = | famous_flights = | license_date = | license_place = | air_force = [[Fleet Air Arm]] | battles = [[Second World War]] * [[Malta Convoys]] * [[Operation Torch]] | rank = [[Lieutenant Commander]] | awards = [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]] (1942) & [[Medal bar|Bar]] (1943)<br/>[[Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air]] (1955)<br/>[[Britannia Trophy]] (1956)<br/>[[Segrave Trophy]] (1956)<br/>[[Officer of the Order of the British Empire]] (1957) | memorials = }} '''Lionel Peter Twiss''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|OBE|DSC1}} (23 July 1921 – 31 August 2011) was a British test pilot who held the [[Flight airspeed record|World Air Speed Record]] in 1956.
==Early life== He was born in [[Lindfield, West Sussex|Lindfield]], Sussex and lived with his grandmother while his parents were in India and Burma. He was the grandson of an admiral and the son of Colonel Dudley Cyril Twiss an army officer.<ref name = "Guardian obituary">{{cite journal|date = 2 September 2011|title = Peter Twiss Obituary|journal = The Guardian}} [https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2011/sep/02/peter-twiss-obituary Online version]</ref> Twiss went to school at [[Haywards Heath]] and later at [[Sherborne School]]. In 1938, he was employed as an apprentice tea-taster by [[Brooke Bond]] in London, before returning to the family farm near Salisbury.<ref name = "Guardian obituary"/><ref name="His web page">[https://archive.today/20130414092636/http://www.britisharmedforces.org/pages/nat_peter_twiss.htm Brief autobiography]</ref>
==Aviation career== ===Military=== Rejected as a pilot by the [[Fleet Air Arm]], he was accepted as a Naval Airman Second Class on the outbreak of the [[Second World War]]. After training at 14 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School, [[Castle Bromwich Aerodrome|Castle Bromwich]], he went on to fly [[Fairey Battle]]s and [[Hawker Hart]]s. He underwent operational training at [[RNAS Yeovilton (HMS Heron)|RNAS Yeovilton]] flying [[Blackburn Roc]]s, [[Blackburn Skua]]s and [[Gloster Gladiator]]s.<ref name ="His web page"/> His next posting was at the School of Army Co-operation at [[Andover, Hampshire|Andover]], flying [[Bristol Blenheim]]s as a twin conversion. He was then posted to 771 Squadron in the Orkney Islands, flying a variety of naval aircraft on various duties, including [[meteorology|met]] observations at 12000 ft in winter in the open cockpit of a Fairey Swordfish, and target-towing duties.<ref name ="His web page"/>
He then served with the [[Merchant Ship Fighter Unit]] on [[CAM ship|catapult ships]] flying [[Hawker Hurricane]]s. These missions required the pilot to ditch or bale out, in the expectation of being recovered by a passing ship. During the [[Malta Convoys]] in 1942, he flew [[Fairey Fulmar]]s with 807 Squadron, from the carrier [[HMS Argus (I49)|HMS Argus]]. For his service, he was awarded the [[Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)|Distinguished Service Cross]] (DSC) in June 1942. Later in the year, the squadron converted to [[Supermarine Spitfire|Supermarine Seafires]] flying from {{HMS|Furious|47|6}} for the [[Operation Torch]] landings in North Africa. During the Allied landings in Algeria and Morocco, he added a bar to his DSC, gazetted in March 1943. By this time, he had shot down one Italian aircraft (a [[Fiat CR.42]] on 14 May 1942) and damaged another.<ref name ="Telegraph">{{cite journal|date = 2 September 2011|title = Obituary: Lieutenant-Commander Peter Twiss|journal = The Daily Telegraph}} [https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/technology-obituaries/8738456/Lieutenant-Commander-Peter-Twiss.html Online version]</ref>
He then flew long-range intruder operations over Germany from [[RNAS Ford]], developing night fighter tactics with the RAF's [[Fighter Interception Unit]]. Ford also acted as an operational research unit and so Twiss flew missions over occupied Europe, in [[Bristol Beaufighter]]s and [[de Havilland Mosquito]]s, so putting the unit's theory into practice. He claimed two [[Junkers Ju 88]]s shot down during 1944.
Later in 1944, he was sent to the British Air Commission Washington DC, where he tested various prototype aircraft and evaluated airborne radar equipment.<ref name ="Telegraph"/> He also served at the [[Naval Air Station Patuxent River]], Maryland. By the end of the war, he was a [[lieutenant commander]]. In 1945, he attended No. 3 Course at the [[Empire Test Pilots' School]] (ETPS), then based at [[RAF Cranfield]].<ref>''The Empire Test Pilots' School — Twenty Five Years'', 1968, p. 68</ref> and then went to the Naval Squadron at the [[Aeroplane and Armament Experimental Establishment]] at [[Boscombe Down]].
===Civil=== In 1946, Twiss joined [[Fairey Aviation]] as a test pilot and flew many of the company's aircraft, including the [[Fairey Primer]], [[Fairey Gannet]], [[Fairey Firefly]], [[Fairey Delta 1]] and the [[Fairey Rotodyne]] compound-helicopter. In 1947, he entered the [[Lympne Airport|Lympne]] Air Races flying a Firefly IV, [http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1947/1947%20-%201467.html winning the high-speed race at 305.93 mph]. He worked for two years on the [[Fairey Delta 2]], a supersonic delta-winged research plane. On 17 November 1954, the FD2 suffered engine failure and consequently hydraulic power loss on a test flight, but Twiss managed to crash-land at Boscombe Down. He received the [[Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air]] for this feat.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=40413 |supp=y |page=1094|date=18 February 1955}}</ref> The aircraft was repaired and, flying it on 10 March 1956, Twiss broke the [[Air speed record|World Speed Record]], raising it to 1,132 mph (1811 km/h), an increase of some 300 mph (480 km/h) over the record set the year before by an [[F-100 Super Sabre]], and became the first jet aircraft to exceed 1,000 mph in level flight.<ref>{{cite magazine |url= http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200315.html?tracked=1 |title= Getting the Record |magazine=Flight Magazine |publisher= Flight Global |date= 23 March 1956 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20121102175517/http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1956/1956%20-%200315.html?tracked=1 |archive-date= 2 November 2012}}</ref>
==Later career== In 1960, Fairey Aviation was sold to [[Westland Aircraft]], a helicopter manufacturer, which was not Twiss's area of expertise. Twiss left after a career in which he had piloted more than 140 different types of aircraft. Twiss joined [[Fairey marine|Fairey Marine]] in 1960 and was responsible for the development and sales of day-cruisers. He appeared in the film ''[[From Russia with Love (film)|From Russia with Love]]'', driving one of the company's speedboats.<ref name = "Guardian obituary"/><ref name ="Times">{{cite journal|date = 2 September 2011|journal = The Times|title = Obituary}}</ref> His work as a marine consultant led to directorships of Fairey Marine (1968–78) and Hamble Point Marina (1978–88).<ref name = "Guardian obituary"/>
In 1969, driving the [[Fairey Huntsman]] ''707 Fordsport'', he took part in the [[Round Britain Powerboat Race]], including among his crew [[Rallying|Rally]] champion [[Roger Clark (rally driver)|Roger Clark]]. He also appeared in the film ''[[Sink the Bismarck]]'', in which he flew a [[Fairey Swordfish]].<ref>{{cite news|title=First 1,000 mph air speed record pilot dies|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-hampshire-14756742|newspaper=BBC News|date=1 September 2011|accessdate=1 September 2011}}</ref> Twiss was for several years a member of [[Lasham Airfield|Lasham Gliding Society]]. His autobiography ''Faster Than the Sun'' was published in 1963, and revised in 2005.
==Personal life== Twiss was married five times. His first three marriages, to [[Constance Tomkinson]], Vera Maguire and [[Cherry Huggins]], ended in divorce. His fourth wife, Heather Danby, predeceased him in 1988. When Twiss died on 31 August 2011, he was survived by his fifth wife, Jane de Lucey. Twiss had a son, three daughters and several stepchildren.<ref name = "Guardian obituary"/>
==References== {{Reflist|30em}}
==Bibliography== * Taylor, H. A. ''Fairey Aircraft since 1915''. London: Putnam, 1974. {{ISBN|0-370-00065-X}}. * Winchester, Jim. ''Concept Aircraft: Prototypes, X-Planes and Experimental Aircraft''. Rochester, Kent, UK: Grange books plc, 2005. {{ISBN|1-84013-809-2}}. * Twiss, Peter. ''Faster than the Sun''. London: Grub Street Publishing, 2000. {{ISBN|1-902304-43-8}}. * {{cite journal| title =''The Empire Test Pilots' School – Twenty Five Years''| journal =ETPS Brochure (4th Ed.)| pages =68 pp| publisher =HMSO for The Empire Test Pilots' School| year =1968 }}
==External links== * [https://www.bbc.co.uk/insideout/south/series9/week_seven.shtml BBC article on record breaking flight] * [https://archive.today/20130414092636/http://www.britisharmedforces.org/pages/nat_peter_twiss.htm Peter Twiss Faster than the Sun] * {{IMDb name|7989459}}
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Twiss, Peter}} [[Category:1921 births]] [[Category:2011 deaths]] [[Category:Britannia Trophy winners]] [[Category:British test pilots]] [[Category:British World War II pilots]] [[Category:Fairey Aviation Company]] [[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]] [[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]] [[Category:People educated at Sherborne School]] [[Category:People from Lindfield, West Sussex]] [[Category:Place of death missing]] [[Category:Recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (United Kingdom)]] [[Category:Royal Navy officers]] [[Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II]] [[Category:Recipients of the Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air]] [[Category:Segrave Trophy recipients]] [[Category:British aviation record holders]]