28 October 2014
Royal Navy Historic Flight stalwart John Beattie has been awarded the Honourable Company of Air Pilots’ Hanna Trophy, for ‘An outstanding contribution to the art of display flying of fighter aircraft,’ and more than 40 years of display flying. The award, regarded as one of the world’s premier accolades in the field was presented to the Air Pilots by the Hanna family in memory of two legends of display flying – Ray Hanna and his son Mark.
While a Fleet Air Arm pilot, Beattie’s first air displays were actually given in an Army Air Corp Westland Scout AH.1 helicopter while on detachment in 1973. John subsequently led the renowned Sharks helicopter display team, before joining the Royal Navy Historic Flight in 1986, displaying their Swordfish, Firefly AS.5 and both the Sea Fury FB.11 and T.20. He took over as the Flight Commander of RNHF in 1991 where he remained until he retired from the Royal Navy in 1994. After life in the RN, John took up a career with the airlines, but this never deterred him from display flying and as an experienced display aerobatic examiner, John continues to use his extensive knowledge to mentor many civilian display acts whilst remaining an active display pilot of both rotary and fixed-wing aircraft.
“The Air Pilots Awards are regarded as particularly prestigious as they are awarded by pilots to fellow pilots and John is the perfect recipient,” said Dorothy Saul-Pooley, Master of the Honourable Company of Air Pilots. “The UK Air Display Circuit would be a less interesting and potentially less safe arena for the general public if so many pilots, both military and civilian, hadn’t benefitted from his wisdom and so many people had not witnessed his graceful displays.”
<a href=’http://www.airpilots.org/’ target=’_blank’>www.airpilots.org</a>
(Picture: The Air Pilots / Sharp Photo)
