Commander of the Order of the British Empire Distinguished Service Order & Bar Distinguished Flying Cross & Bar Distinguished Flying Cross (United States) Croix de guerre (Belgium)
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Test pilot Author
Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (10 August 1920 – 19 November 2001) was a British fighter pilot for the Royal Air Force (RAF) and an experimental test pilot during and after the Second World War. He was the first British pilot to exceed Mach 1 in a British aircraft in level flight (P.1A),[Note 1] and the first to fly a British aircraft at Mach 2 (P.1B).[1]
During the Second World War, he flew more than five hundred operational sorties. He also spent several months as a Hawker Aircraft experimental test pilot developing the Hawker Typhoon and Tempest, and was responsible for introducing these types into operational squadron service.[1] He pioneered the ground attack capabilities of the Typhoon and led the air-to-air campaign against the V-1 flying bomb
In 1945 he commanded the Air Fighting Development Squadron at RAF Central Fighter Establishment, before leaving the service in 1947. During his subsequent career as English Electric Aviation chief test pilot (and later for BAC), he directed the flight test programmes of the Canberra, the Lightning and TSR-2, making the maiden flight of each type.[1]
When he retired from test flying in 1968, he had flown 167 different types during a total of 5,100hr and 8,000 flights—of which more than 1,100 were supersonic. He set three Atlantic records in the Canberra, including the first double Atlantic flight within 24 hours for which he was awarded the Britannia Trophy. In 1971, he became Panavia flight operations director, responsible for the testing of the Tornado, retiring in August 1979 following the maiden flight of the first production Tornado.[1] After retirement he contributed to aviation journals and wrote a number of books about his experiences.
Beamont was a careful pilot who understood the capabilities of the aircraft he flew. He was proud that he had never broken an aircraft, nor had to bail out or eject. Even when his Tempest was shot down, he had made the best landing possible in the circumstances and got out, free of injury.[2]
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Wing Commander Roland Prosper "Bee" Beamont, CBE, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar (10 August 1920 – 19 November 2001) was a British fighter pilot for the Royal Air...
Beamont is an English surname, a variant of "Beaumont". Notable people with this surname include the following: RolandBeamont (1920–2001), British fighter...
S2CID 110338269. Beamont, Roland (1985). English Electric P1 Lightning. Littlehampton Book Services Ltd. ISBN 978-0711014718. Beamont, Roland. Flying to the...
in 1974. The first director of flight operations was Wing Commander RolandBeamont. Marketing of the plane was directed by Jeffrey Quill from 1969–76,...
Mason 1967, p. 16. Beamont, Roland. My Part of the Sky. London, UK: Patrick Stephens, 1989. ISBN 1-85260-079-9. Beamont, Roland. Tempest over Europe...
excellent qualities – seen from the start by S/L RolandBeamont of 609 Squadron – became apparent. Beamont had worked as a Hawker production test pilot while...
identification letters on their personal aircraft, e.g., Wing Commander RolandBeamont's personal Hawker Tempest, JN751, was coded "R-B", Wing Commander John...
11 August 1954. A week previously, on 4 August, the P.1, WG760 flown by RolandBeamont on its maiden flight, had unknowingly exceeded Mach 1 in a climb. During...
military personnel held at Stalag Luft III included: Fighter pilot RolandBeamont, later to fly the English Electric Canberra and English Electric Lightning...
mountaineer James Richard Henry Burns, police officer Wing Commander RolandBeamont, British fighter pilot Admiral Sir Ian Forbes, former Deputy Supreme...
Battle of France. About Gleed's arrival in France, British RAF pilot RolandBeamont said the following: Gleed was one of our replacement pilots and he came...
work as a test pilot is portrayed. Dell, along with chief test pilot RolandBeamont, was responsible for the TSR-2 test programme until it was controversially...
2000 Frederick Libby Horses Don't Fly: A Memoir of World War I 2000 RolandBeamont The Years Flew Past: 40 Years at the Leading Edge of Aviation 2001 Robert...
Edwards Roy Ewans Frederick Page Archibald Russell Tom Smith Bill Strang RolandBeamont Jimmy Dell David Eagles London portal Companies portal Aviation portal...
"Boscombe Down, 27 September 1964: The TSR.2's First Flight (Pilot RolandBeamont; Navigator Donald Bowen)."". Flight. 1 October 1964. pp. 637–640. "Aviation...
pilot "Beazle" – Hugh John Beazley, Battle of Britain pilot "Bee" – RolandBeamont, Battle of Britain pilot "Ben" – George Bennions, Battle of Britain...
sold off its vehicle business and the remains were absorbed into BAC. RolandBeamont was the chief test pilot and manager of flight operations for EE. He...
flightglobal.com. Archived from the original on 25 April 2016. "Testing Years" RolandBeamont, Ian Allan Ltd. Londondon, ISBN 0 7110 1072 2, p.93 "armstrong siddeley...
fighters of 746 Naval Air Squadron based at RAF Ford. Wing Commander RolandBeamont had the harmonisation 20 mm cannons on his Tempest changed to converge...
prototypes, VN799, conducted its maiden flight on 13 May 1949. Piloted by RolandBeamont, the aircraft is claimed to have handled well, with the exception of...
supersonic nuclear bomber took off from Boscombe Down in Wiltshire with RolandBeamont as the test pilot. In the 1964 All-Ireland Senior Football Championship...
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