P.E.G Sayer - First British Jet Pilot
Little is currently known about Flt Lt P.E.G Sayer, the first British pilot to fly a jet aircraft. At the time of his first flight in the Gloster E28/39 (aka Pioneer) he was the Chief Test Pilot for Gloster Aircraft as well as a serving RAF officer.
Sayer's first actual flight in the E28/39 consisted of some short hops of between 100 and 200 yards at Hucclecote on the 7th April 1941 while the aircraft was still fitted with its first W1X (Taxi only) engine. The aircraft was then moved to Cranwell where it received its flight ready engine. The first offical flight took place at 7pm on the 15th May 1941 and lasted 17 minutes due to its minimal fuel load. Over the next thirteen days he completed a further ten hours of test flights at altitudes up to 25,000 feet with the longest of just under an hour with its maximum load of 81 gallons.
Sayer was killed flying a Typhoon in 1942 on a visit to RAF Acklington in Northumberland. The cause of the accident was never determined but it is thought that he collided in the clouds with the other aircraft he was flying with. Following the loss the task of continuing the flight test program fell to his assistant Michael Daunt who would go on to test-fly the early Meteors.