26 February 2007
Legendary Spitfire test pilot and author Alex Henshaw has died. He was 94. He died peacefully in his sleep on Saturday night.
Before World War II Henshaw, son of a wealthy Lincolnshire family, made a name for himself in air racing and long distance flying. During the war he moved to the Vickers Armstrongs factory in Castle Bromwich. As a test pilot he flew numerous examples of the Spitfire over the war years, as well as Lancaster, Hurricanes and Wellingtons. However, it’s the Spitfire that he’s best remembered for, and that was the subject of one of his two best-remembered books, <i>Sigh for a Merlin : Testing the Spitfire</i>.
His other bestseller <i>The Flight of the Mew Gull</i> is about his flight from England to South Africa and back, a record-breaking achievement. Both books are generally included in pilots’ ‘must read’ lists.
Last year Henshaw once again took the controls of a Spitfire (a two-seater on this occasion) on the 70th anniversary of the flight of the first prototype on 5th March, 2006 at Southampton Airport in England.
