On 7th September 1953, the sole Hunter Mk 3 (the modified first prototype, WB188) broke the world air speed record for jet-powered aircraft, achieving 727.63 mph (1,171.01 km/h) over Littlehampton on the South Coast, flown by Neville Duke.
Further information on the Hunter
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Neville Duke was one of my father’s flying instructors when he was learning to fly the Tiger Moth, Harvard & Spitfire in Africa. He assessed my father as ‘above the average’. Duke’s signature appears several times in my father’s flying log, signing off various tests.
My father was Cyril John Aldred, (1924-2004). After training, he joined 274 Squadron, (Italy, later Detling & Hornchurch). He became a POW after being shot down over France on 16 June 1944.