Lt Cdr Ian Normand obituary

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FD2
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Lt Cdr Ian Normand obituary

#1 Post by FD2 » Fri Jul 24, 2020 11:20 pm

Lieutenant-Commander Ian Normand, one of the first men to fly at more than 1,000 mph – obituary - born Johannesburg 1927

He flew fighter-bombers in the Korean War, and over the course of his career handled 124 different types of aircraft




Lieutenant-Commander Ian Normand, who has died aged 92, flew fighter-bombers in the Korean War, and as a naval aero-engineer and test pilot was one of the first men to fly at more than 1,000  mph.

Normand was flying the Seafire Mark 47e, the ultimate and definitive version of the famous Spitfire, at the Navy’s Operational Flying School when the Korean War broke out. He progressed to the Hawker Sea Fury, the last propeller-driven fighter-bomber in the Navy and one of the fastest production single reciprocating engine aircraft ever built. In it he learnt aerial combat, bombing and deck landing in the carrier Triumph in the English Channel.

He joined 804 Naval Air Squadron in the carrier Glory when she was on her third patrol off Korea. There, the Fleet Air Arm had reached pitch perfection: each pilot sometimes flew three and even four sorties a day, serviceability was extremely high, and aircraft landed and took off at half-minute intervals.

Normand was rated as an exceptional pilot, and when Glory was relieved after two more patrols, he was one of the pilots selected to take his experience to the carrier Ocean and 802 Naval Air Squadron. Between March and November 1952 he flew 150 sorties over North Korea against bridges, tanks, and artillery positions.



Having lost most of the WW2 veterans we're now losing the Korean War ones.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/obituaries/ ... -1000-mph/

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Re: Lt Cdr Ian Normand obituary

#2 Post by Undried Plum » Sat Jul 25, 2020 4:46 am

I remember Ian. Went on the piss with him and John Crewdson and Keith Sissons one weekend. He was good fun. So were John and Keith, but that's a whole nuther story.

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