Squadron Leader 'Bill' A Waterton, GM AFC 1916-2006 - Chief Test Pilot
Bill Waterton was born in Camrose, Alberta in 1916, after two years at the Royal Military College of Canada, he travelled to Britain, took flying lessons and joined the Royal Air Force in June 1939. When Canada declared war on Germany he was posted to No. 242 (Canadian) Squadron. He flew in the Battle of France until sustaining a severe head injury in a crash landing near Dover on May 25, 1940 in a Hurricane fighter. He went on to train pilots in Canada in 1942 and was awarded the Air Force Cross for "acts of gallantry for fighting with the Royal Air Force.
He gained much of his extensive experience with the RAF's Air Fighting development unit based at Wittering in Lincolnshire where he had an important role in devising tactics for fighter command, based on the actual performance of aircraft rather than what the manufactures claimed they were able to achieve. In 1946 he was posted to the Royal Air Force's High Speed Flight where he flew Meteor EE550 at 614mph, marginally beaten by Grp Capt Donaldson who claimed the world air speed record at 616mph. He received a second Air Force Cross following the success of the team leaving the RAF in October 1946 to join Gloster as a test pilot on the princely salary of £1,000 per year.
He became the chief test pilot for Gloster in April 1947 and was involved in all the experimental flying with the later models of the Meteor also being the first pilot to fly the Gloster E1/44 'Ace' which he nicknamed the 'Gloster Gormless'. He was also responsible for the training of pilots for other air forces beginning with Argentina, the first export customer for the Meteor. In December 1949 he was sent to Canada to test fly the Avro CF-100 which took place on 19th January 1950 remaining on loan to Avro until Feb 1951. Following his return he continued to be the primary experimental test pilot for Gloster including the initial flights of the Javelin (WD804) in which he suffered his most serious crash following the loss of the Ailerons due to aerodynamic flutter. He was awarded the George Medal for his actions in returning to the burning wreckage to recover flight data, which would prove useful in determining the cause of the crash.
Bill Waterton resigned from Gloster's at the end of May 1954, He left after serious disagreements with the management of Gloster which are detailed in his comprehensive book "The Quick and the dead. After leaving Gloster's, Bill Waterton returned to Canada initially becoming an aviation journalist but his history from that point to his death in 2006 in unknown. He deserves recognition for his achievements even if he felt he was not able to achieve as much as he should have against an entrenched attitude where as he puts it 'Profit is placed ahead of the lives of pilots'. It takes a brave man to ply a prototype aircraft for the first time and he is one a select group of very special individuals.
Squadron Leader Bill Waterton getting ready for a flight and climbing
into a Gloster Meteor and it landing after breaking air speed record in a gale.