Derek Piggott
Encyclopedia
Alan Derek Piggott MBE
(born 27 December 1922) is one of Britain's best known glider
pilots and instructors. His flying career has been long and varied. He first flew in an Avro 504
as a passenger at the age of four. He has over 5,000 hours on over 153 types of powered aircraft and over 5,000 hours on over 184 types of glider
.
in 1942 as aircrew and made a first solo in a DH82 Tiger Moth
after only six hours dual. He completed his training in Canada and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer
in 1943. He was then sent on a multi-engine instructors' course and then on a course for elementary instructors before returning to England. By 1944 there was a surplus of trained pilots and he so volunteered to fly military gliders. After a short conversion to Airspeed Horsa
, General Aircraft Hotspur and Waco Hadrians, he was posted to India and then on to Burma where he flew Dakotas
dropping supplies to front-line troops. During his stay in India, he instructed Indian Air Force
students and flew low anti-riot patrols just before partition.
Back in the UK he was posted as a Staff Instructor at RAF's Central Flying School
at Little Rissington
where he trained instructors and flew Harvard
s, Balliol
s, Athena
s, Meteor
s, Spitfire
s, Mosquito
s and Lancaster
s. After being awarded the A1 Instructor Rating, he joined the Home Command Gliding Instructors' School teaching civilian instructors for the Air Training Corps
on Slingsby T21 and Slingsby Kirby Cadet
gliders. As Chief Flying Instructor he introduced improved training methods. He also taught school teachers in the Combined Cadet Force
how to teach flying in primary gliders. Flying with an ATC cadet as co-pilot in the National Gliding Championships, he established a British two-seater altitude record climbing to over 17000 feet (5,181.6 m) in a thunderstorm over Sheffield
. In 1953 Piggott received the Queen's Commendation for work on developing and introducing new instructional techniques for gliding in the ATC.
In 1953, he left the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant and joined Lasham Gliding Society
and became its Chief Flying Instructor.
. He holds the FAI
Diamond Badge. Between 1953 to 1989, Derek Piggott was the Chief Flying Instructor at Lasham Gliding Society
, though he took breaks during this time to do stunt flying.
He has travelled widely, lecturing and advising gliding associations such as the Soaring Society of America
and the Dutch gliding association on matters such as the use of motor gliders in training. As a leading authority on gliding
, he has written seven books on the subject, an autobiography, several monographs and many magazine articles. His first book 'Gliding' was first published in 1958 and is still in print in its eighth edition. In 2003 at the age of 81, he completed a 505 km task in an Me7 glider with only a 12.7 metre span in a national competition in a time of 7hr 14min. (Several much younger pilots with superior machines failed to complete this task). He is an active glider pilot and competitor, though he no longer holds a full Private Pilot's Licence.
He was a member of a test group for the British Gliding Association
and tested a number of prototype gliders
and foreign machines for approval to be imported. He made a successful emergency parachute descent from a damaged Bocian making him a member of the Caterpillar Club
. He researched the effect of sub-gravity sensations as a cause for many serious and fatal gliding accidents.
), Derek Piggott became the first person to make an officially authenticated take-off and flight in a man-powered aircraft. The longest flight was 650 yards (594 m). Turns were attempted, with 80 degrees the best achieved. He made a total of 40 flights in SUMPAC.
He took a break from being a gliding instructor to become a stunt pilot and was also technical advisor on several feature film
s. His role as a stunt pilot, began in 1965 with the film The Blue Max
which tells the story of the competitive rivalry between two German pilots in the First World War. He was enlisted as one of several pilots who helped recreate the live dog-fight scenes for the film. However, he was the only stunt pilot to agree to fly for the climax of the film in which the two rivals challenge each other to fly beneath the spans of a bridge over a river. Taking the role of both German pilots and with multiple takes from contrasting camera angles, he ended up flying through the wide span of this bridge in Ireland 15 times and 17 times through the narrower span. The two Fokker Dr.I
triplane replicas had about four feet of clearance on each side when passing through the narrower span. Piggott was able to fly through the arch reliably by aligning two scaffolding poles, one in the river and one on the far bank. The director had placed a flock of sheep next to the bridge so that they would scatter as the plane approached in order to demonstrate that the stunt was real and had not used models. However, by later takes, the sheep had become accustomed to the planes and continued to graze, and so they had to be scared by the shepherd.
In Darling Lilli, he was responsible for the majority of the designs of six replica aircraft and for supervising their construction in a period of nine weeks. Some of the dog fight scenes are considered to be among the best made. However, they had to be re-shot the following year because the film was changed from being comic to serious.
Another notable film role, was Derek Piggott's contribution to Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
in which he flew and advised on the construction of several of the early aircraft recreated for use in the film. Many of the planes employed wing warping
for directional control, which involved re-discovering how to fly them safely. Several of the aircraft had dangerous features and he had a number of narrow escapes.
In Villa Rides
he had to crash an aircraft that was flying towards a cliff by making the undercarriage collapse. This stopped it from 110 km/h in about 10 metres.
Derek Piggott flew some or all the aerial stunts in these other films:
and for several television programs. For one of these a replica of the Sir George Cayley's
first heavier-than-air flying machine was built in the early 1970s. The machine was flown by Derek Piggott at the original site in Brompton Dale in 1973 for a TV programme and again in 1985 for the IMAX
film On the Wing
.
(MBE). In 2007 Derek Piggott was awarded the Royal Aero Club
Gold Medal - the highest award for aviation in the UK. Also in 2007 the Royal Aeronautical Society
appointed Derek Piggott an Honorary Companion of the Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Lilienthal Gliding Medal
by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
for outstanding service over many years to the sport of gliding
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 27 December 1922) is one of Britain's best known glider
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
pilots and instructors. His flying career has been long and varied. He first flew in an Avro 504
Avro 504
The Avro 504 was a World War I biplane aircraft made by the Avro aircraft company and under licence by others. Production during the War totalled 8,970 and continued for almost 20 years, making it the most-produced aircraft of any kind that served in World War I, in any military capacity, during...
as a passenger at the age of four. He has over 5,000 hours on over 153 types of powered aircraft and over 5,000 hours on over 184 types of glider
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...
.
Royal Air Force
Derek Piggott joined the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
in 1942 as aircrew and made a first solo in a DH82 Tiger Moth
Tiger moth
Tiger moths are moths of the family Arctiidae.Tiger moth may also refer to:*de Havilland Tiger Moth, an aircraft; an aerobatic and trainer tailwheel biplane*de Havilland DH.71 Tiger Moth, an earlier monoplane produced by de Havilland...
after only six hours dual. He completed his training in Canada and was commissioned as a Pilot Officer
Pilot Officer
Pilot officer is the lowest commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries. It ranks immediately below flying officer...
in 1943. He was then sent on a multi-engine instructors' course and then on a course for elementary instructors before returning to England. By 1944 there was a surplus of trained pilots and he so volunteered to fly military gliders. After a short conversion to Airspeed Horsa
Airspeed Horsa
The Airspeed AS.51 Horsa was a British World War II troop-carrying glider built by Airspeed Limited and subcontractors and used for air assault by British and Allied armed forces...
, General Aircraft Hotspur and Waco Hadrians, he was posted to India and then on to Burma where he flew Dakotas
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is an American fixed-wing propeller-driven aircraft whose speed and range revolutionized air transport in the 1930s and 1940s. Its lasting impact on the airline industry and World War II makes it one of the most significant transport aircraft ever made...
dropping supplies to front-line troops. During his stay in India, he instructed Indian Air Force
Indian Air Force
The Indian Air Force is the air arm of the Indian armed forces. Its primary responsibility is to secure Indian airspace and to conduct aerial warfare during a conflict...
students and flew low anti-riot patrols just before partition.
Back in the UK he was posted as a Staff Instructor at RAF's Central Flying School
Central Flying School
The Central Flying School is the Royal Air Force's primary institution for the training of military flying instructors. Established in 1912 it is the longest existing flying training school.-History:...
at Little Rissington
RAF Little Rissington
RAF Little Rissington is an RAF aerodrome and former RAF station in Gloucestershire, England. It was once home to the Central Flying School, the Vintage Pair and the Red Arrows.Built during the 1930s, the station was opened in 1938 and closed in 1994...
where he trained instructors and flew Harvard
T-6 Texan
The North American Aviation T-6 Texan was a single-engine advanced trainer aircraft used to train pilots of the United States Army Air Forces, United States Navy, Royal Air Force and other air forces of the British Commonwealth during World War II and into the 1950s...
s, Balliol
Boulton Paul Balliol
|-See also:-References:NotesBibliography* Donald, David, ed. The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing, 1997. ISBN 1-85605-375-X....
s, Athena
Avro Athena
|-See also:-External links:*...
s, Meteor
Gloster Meteor
The Gloster Meteor was the first British jet fighter and the Allies' first operational jet. It first flew in 1943 and commenced operations on 27 July 1944 with 616 Squadron of the Royal Air Force...
s, Spitfire
Supermarine Spitfire
The Supermarine Spitfire is a British single-seat fighter aircraft that was used by the Royal Air Force and many other Allied countries throughout the Second World War. The Spitfire continued to be used as a front line fighter and in secondary roles into the 1950s...
s, Mosquito
De Havilland Mosquito
The de Havilland DH.98 Mosquito was a British multi-role combat aircraft that served during the Second World War and the postwar era. It was known affectionately as the "Mossie" to its crews and was also nicknamed "The Wooden Wonder"...
s and Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
s. After being awarded the A1 Instructor Rating, he joined the Home Command Gliding Instructors' School teaching civilian instructors for the Air Training Corps
Air Training Corps
The Air Training Corps , commonly known as the Air Cadets, is a cadet organisation based in the United Kingdom. It is a voluntary youth group which is part of the Air Cadet Organisation and the Royal Air Force . It is supported by the Ministry of Defence, with a regular RAF Officer, currently Air...
on Slingsby T21 and Slingsby Kirby Cadet
Slingsby T.7 Kirby Cadet
-External links:*...
gliders. As Chief Flying Instructor he introduced improved training methods. He also taught school teachers in the Combined Cadet Force
Combined Cadet Force
The Combined Cadet Force is a Ministry of Defence sponsored youth organisation in the United Kingdom. Its aim is to "provide a disciplined organisation in a school so that pupils may develop powers of leadership by means of training to promote the qualities of responsibility, self reliance,...
how to teach flying in primary gliders. Flying with an ATC cadet as co-pilot in the National Gliding Championships, he established a British two-seater altitude record climbing to over 17000 feet (5,181.6 m) in a thunderstorm over Sheffield
Sheffield
Sheffield is a city and metropolitan borough of South Yorkshire, England. Its name derives from the River Sheaf, which runs through the city. Historically a part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, and with some of its southern suburbs annexed from Derbyshire, the city has grown from its largely...
. In 1953 Piggott received the Queen's Commendation for work on developing and introducing new instructional techniques for gliding in the ATC.
In 1953, he left the RAF as a Flight Lieutenant and joined Lasham Gliding Society
Lasham Airfield
Lasham Airfield is located north-west of Alton in Hampshire, England, in the village of Lasham.It was built in 1942 and it was an operational RAF during the Second World War. It was used for recreational gliding from 1951. The airfield is now owned by the world's largest gliding club, Lasham...
and became its Chief Flying Instructor.
Gliding career
Derek Piggott is well known as a gliding instructor, and has written several instructional articles. In addition he had success as a competition glider pilot winning three regional championships, was the UK National aerobatic glider champion in 1961 and set several national gliding records including the single-seat altitude record of over 25000 feet (7,620 m) in an active thunderstorm in a Slingsby SkylarkSlingsby Skylark
|-References:* Ellison, N.H. British Gliders and Sailplanes 1922-1970. A & C Black, 1971* Simons, M. Slingsby Sailplanes. Airlife Publishing, 1996 - ISBN 1-85310-732-8* accessed 21 Nov 2008...
. He holds the FAI
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
Diamond Badge. Between 1953 to 1989, Derek Piggott was the Chief Flying Instructor at Lasham Gliding Society
Lasham Airfield
Lasham Airfield is located north-west of Alton in Hampshire, England, in the village of Lasham.It was built in 1942 and it was an operational RAF during the Second World War. It was used for recreational gliding from 1951. The airfield is now owned by the world's largest gliding club, Lasham...
, though he took breaks during this time to do stunt flying.
He has travelled widely, lecturing and advising gliding associations such as the Soaring Society of America
Soaring Society of America
The Soaring Society of America was founded at the instigation of Warren E. Eaton to promote the sport of soaring in the USA and internationally. The first meeting was held in New York City in the McGraw-Hill building on February 20, 1932. Its first objective was to hold a national soaring...
and the Dutch gliding association on matters such as the use of motor gliders in training. As a leading authority on gliding
Gliding
Gliding is a recreational activity and competitive air sport in which pilots fly unpowered aircraft known as gliders or sailplanes using naturally occurring currents of rising air in the atmosphere to remain airborne. The word soaring is also used for the sport.Gliding as a sport began in the 1920s...
, he has written seven books on the subject, an autobiography, several monographs and many magazine articles. His first book 'Gliding' was first published in 1958 and is still in print in its eighth edition. In 2003 at the age of 81, he completed a 505 km task in an Me7 glider with only a 12.7 metre span in a national competition in a time of 7hr 14min. (Several much younger pilots with superior machines failed to complete this task). He is an active glider pilot and competitor, though he no longer holds a full Private Pilot's Licence.
He was a member of a test group for the British Gliding Association
British Gliding Association
The British Gliding Association is the governing body for gliding in the United Kingdom. Gliding in the United Kingdom operates through 85 gliding clubs which have 2,310 gliders and 9,462 full flying members , though a further 17,000 people have gliding air-experience flights each year.-History:A...
and tested a number of prototype gliders
Glider (sailplane)
A glider or sailplane is a type of glider aircraft used in the sport of gliding. Some gliders, known as motor gliders are used for gliding and soaring as well, but have engines which can, in some cases, be used for take-off or for extending a flight...
and foreign machines for approval to be imported. He made a successful emergency parachute descent from a damaged Bocian making him a member of the Caterpillar Club
Caterpillar Club
The Caterpillar Club is an informal association of people who have successfully used a parachute to bail out of a disabled aircraft. After authentication by the parachute maker, applicants receive a membership certificate and a distinctive lapel pin...
. He researched the effect of sub-gravity sensations as a cause for many serious and fatal gliding accidents.
Other flying
In 9 November 1961, flying Southampton University's Man Powered Aircraft (SUMPACSUMPAC
-See also:-Bibliography:* Guttery, T.E. The Shuttleworth Collection. London: Wm. Carling & Co, 1969. SBN 901319-01-5*...
), Derek Piggott became the first person to make an officially authenticated take-off and flight in a man-powered aircraft. The longest flight was 650 yards (594 m). Turns were attempted, with 80 degrees the best achieved. He made a total of 40 flights in SUMPAC.
He took a break from being a gliding instructor to become a stunt pilot and was also technical advisor on several feature film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
s. His role as a stunt pilot, began in 1965 with the film The Blue Max
The Blue Max
The Blue Max is an 1966 British war film about a German fighter pilot on the Western Front during World War I. It was directed by John Guillermin, stars George Peppard, James Mason and Ursula Andress, and features Karl Michael Vogler and Jeremy Kemp. The screenplay was written by David Pursall,...
which tells the story of the competitive rivalry between two German pilots in the First World War. He was enlisted as one of several pilots who helped recreate the live dog-fight scenes for the film. However, he was the only stunt pilot to agree to fly for the climax of the film in which the two rivals challenge each other to fly beneath the spans of a bridge over a river. Taking the role of both German pilots and with multiple takes from contrasting camera angles, he ended up flying through the wide span of this bridge in Ireland 15 times and 17 times through the narrower span. The two Fokker Dr.I
Fokker Dr.I
The Fokker Dr.I Dreidecker was a World War I fighter aircraft built by Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. The Dr.I saw widespread service in the spring of 1918...
triplane replicas had about four feet of clearance on each side when passing through the narrower span. Piggott was able to fly through the arch reliably by aligning two scaffolding poles, one in the river and one on the far bank. The director had placed a flock of sheep next to the bridge so that they would scatter as the plane approached in order to demonstrate that the stunt was real and had not used models. However, by later takes, the sheep had become accustomed to the planes and continued to graze, and so they had to be scared by the shepherd.
In Darling Lilli, he was responsible for the majority of the designs of six replica aircraft and for supervising their construction in a period of nine weeks. Some of the dog fight scenes are considered to be among the best made. However, they had to be re-shot the following year because the film was changed from being comic to serious.
Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines
Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, Or How I Flew from London to Paris in 25 Hours 11 Minutes is a 1965 British comedy film starring Stuart Whitman and directed and co-written by Ken Annakin...
in which he flew and advised on the construction of several of the early aircraft recreated for use in the film. Many of the planes employed wing warping
Wing warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite directions...
for directional control, which involved re-discovering how to fly them safely. Several of the aircraft had dangerous features and he had a number of narrow escapes.
In Villa Rides
Villa Rides
Villa Rides is a 1968 film starring Yul Brynner in toupee in the title role and Robert Mitchum as an American adventurer and pilot of fortune. The supporting cast includes Charles Bronson as Fierro, Herbert Lom as Huerta, and Alexander Knox as Madero...
he had to crash an aircraft that was flying towards a cliff by making the undercarriage collapse. This stopped it from 110 km/h in about 10 metres.
Derek Piggott flew some or all the aerial stunts in these other films:
- The Red Baron,
- Agatha,
- Slipstream,
- You Can't Win Them All,
- Chitty Chitty Bang BangChitty Chitty Bang Bang (film)Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a 1968 musical film with a script by Roald Dahl and Ken Hughes, and songs by the Sherman Brothers, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel Chitty Chitty Bang Bang: The Magical Car. It starred Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts and Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious. The...
and for several television programs. For one of these a replica of the Sir George Cayley's
George Cayley
Sir George Cayley, 6th Baronet was a prolific English engineer and one of the most important people in the history of aeronautics. Many consider him the first true scientific aerial investigator and the first person to understand the underlying principles and forces of flight...
first heavier-than-air flying machine was built in the early 1970s. The machine was flown by Derek Piggott at the original site in Brompton Dale in 1973 for a TV programme and again in 1985 for the IMAX
IMAX
IMAX is a motion picture film format and a set of proprietary cinema projection standards created by the Canadian company IMAX Corporation. IMAX has the capacity to record and display images of far greater size and resolution than conventional film systems...
film On the Wing
On the Wing (1986 film)
On the Wing is a 1986 IMAX film featuring a half-sized robotic Quetzalcoatlus that demonstrates principles of animal flight.The film is narrated by F. Murray Abraham....
.
Piggott Hook
Derek Piggott also is the inventor of the "Piggott-Hook", which is to prevent air brakes opening on a launch. The system is installed in all new gliders built by DG FlugzeugbauDG Flugzeugbau
DG Flugzeugbau GmbH is a manufacturer of sailplanes based in Bruchsal near Karlsruhe, Germany. The business was founded in 1973 by Gerhard Glaser and Wilhelm Dirks as Glaser-Dirks Flugzeugbau GmbH....
Honours
In 1987 Derek Piggott was appointed Member of the Order of the British EmpireOrder of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(MBE). In 2007 Derek Piggott was awarded the Royal Aero Club
Royal Aero Club
The Royal Aero Club is the national co-ordinating body for Air Sport in the United Kingdom.The Aero Club was founded in 1901 by Frank Hedges Butler, his daughter Vera and the Hon Charles Rolls , partly inspired by the Aero Club of France...
Gold Medal - the highest award for aviation in the UK. Also in 2007 the Royal Aeronautical Society
Royal Aeronautical Society
The Royal Aeronautical Society, also known as the RAeS, is a multidisciplinary professional institution dedicated to the global aerospace community.-Function:...
appointed Derek Piggott an Honorary Companion of the Society. In 2008 he was awarded the Lilienthal Gliding Medal
Lilienthal Gliding Medal
Lilienthal Gliding Medal – the highest soaring award in the world, established by Fédération Aéronautique Internationale in 1938 in honor of Otto Lilienthal, a German pioneer of human aviation. It aims "to reward a particularly remarkable performance in gliding, or eminent services to the sport of...
by the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
Fédération Aéronautique Internationale
The Fédération Aéronautique Internationale is the world governing body for air sports and aeronautics and astronautics world records. Its head office is in Lausanne, Switzerland. This includes man-carrying aerospace vehicles from balloons to spacecraft, and unmanned aerial vehicles...
for outstanding service over many years to the sport of gliding