Hereward de Havilland

English aviator (1894–1976) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hereward de Havilland (2 December 1894 – 12 September 1976)^[1] was a pioneer British aviator, test pilot and member of the de Havilland company.

Born2 December 1894

Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England

Died12 September 1976 (aged 81)

Australia

OccupationAviator

RelativesGeoffrey de Havilland (brother)
Joan Fontaine (cousin)
Olivia de Havilland (cousin)

Quick facts Born, Died ...

Hereward de Havilland
De Havilland in 1929
Born	2 December 1894 Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England
Died	12 September 1976(1976-09-12) (aged 81) Australia
Occupation	Aviator
Relatives	Geoffrey de Havilland (brother) Joan Fontaine (cousin) Olivia de Havilland (cousin)

Early and family life

One of the three sons of Rev. Charles de Havilland, he was the younger brother of Geoffrey de Havilland.^[2]^[3] Actresses Olivia de Havilland and Joan Fontaine were his cousins.^[4] He had one son, Peter de Havilland, whose career was in de Havilland's until it was taken over by Hawker Siddeley Aviation. He died on 27 March 1999^[5], leaving a son, John de Havilland, who also had his career in British Aerospace, and daughter, Joanna de Havilland.^[6]

Hereward and his brothers, Geoffrey and Ivon, had a mechanical workshop at their home at the rectory in Crux Easton near Newbury.^[7] Geoffrey's first flight took place with Frank Hearle and Hereward in 1909 at Seven Barrows in Dorset.^[8] They practised at their grandfather's farm, Medley Manor, near Port Meadow outside Oxford. Geoffrey was the designer and his brother Hereward was the test pilot.^[9]

Career

De Havilland flew in various air campaigns in Europe and the Middle East during World War I and reached the rank of Major.^[10] On 10 March 1917, he was awarded a DSO for distinguished service in the field in Mesopotamia,^[11] the youngest airman at that time to receive the DSO.^[12] He was awarded a bar to his DSO later that same year.^[13]

In 1921, along with a journalist from El Liberal, he was one of the first civilians to witness the consequences of the Annual disaster, from the air, during the Rif War.^[14] In March 1927, he established de Havilland Australia, the first overseas subsidiary of the de Havilland company.^[15]^[16]^[17]

He flew solo in the 1929 Western Australian Centenary Air Race in a modified de Havilland DH.60 Moth, named "Black Hawk", coming second on handicap and winning the £300 fastest overall time prize in 22 hours 50 minutes 23 seconds and averaging 107.8 miles per hour (173.5 km/h).^[18]^[19]^[20]^[21] The same year he joined the board of Airspeed Ltd. at Christchurch Airfield in Hampshire and was appointed Joint Managing Director.^[22]

He went on to manage and develop the de Havilland company in various other parts of the world including South America.^[23]^[24] He retired as Managing Director of de Havilland's Airspeed Division in 1959, joined the board and became Deputy Chairman.^[25]^[26]

More information de Havilland family tree ...

de Havilland family tree

Alice Jeannette (née Saunders)
1854–1911

Rev. Charles de Havilland
1854–1920

Walter de Havilland
1872–1968

Lilian Fontaine (Ruse)
1886–1975

Ivon Molesworth Charles Jordan de Havilland
1879–1905

Louise Thomas
c. 1879–1949

Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland
1882–1965

Joan Mary Frith
1900–1974

Hereward de Havilland
1894–1976

Marcus Goodrich
1897–1991

Olivia Mary de Havilland
1916–2020

Pierre Galante
1909–1998

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland
1917–2013

William McElroy Dozier
1908–1991

son

Geoffrey de Havilland Jr.
1910–1946

John de Havilland
1918–1943

son

daughter

References

[1]
Flight International. Illiffe Transport Publications. 1976. p. 1026. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[2]
Kingdom, Royal Aero Club of the United (1923). Flight International. IPC Transport Press Limited. p. 9. Retrieved 13 February 2018. Major Hereward de Havilland, D.S.O., M.C., third son of the late Rev. C. M. de Havilland, Rector of Crux Easton, was married at the Embassy Chapel, Madrid, on December 9, to Mary Proctor Swaby, only child of Mrs. J. de Solla, of Madrid, and the late Dr. William Percy Swaby. The marriage took place at St. Augustine's Church, Johannesburg, on December 13, of Sproat and Gladys Mary Meeson.
[3]
The Aeroplane. Temple Press. 1949. p. 290. Retrieved 13 February 2018. ... Because of his widening fields of interest in this country and overseas, Mr. A. S. Butler relinquishes the chairmanship of the Airspeed company, and Mr. W. E. Nixon, managing director of the parent de Havilland company and chief executive of the D.H. Enterprise, will be elected chairman. Major Hereward de Havilland is the younger brother of Sir Geoffrey de Havilland and has been connected with the de Havilland Enterprise since its early days. A test pilot at Farnborough in 1913 and ...
[4]
Réalités: femina-illustration (in French). 1950. p. 56. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[5]
"Name: Peter Adam de Havilland. Date of birth: 28 February 1923. Place of birth: London..." The National Archives. 28 February 1923. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[6]
joannadehavilland@dehavilland.org
[7]
Frater, A. (2011). The Balloon Factory: The Story of the Men Who Built Britain's First Flying Machines. Pan Macmillan. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-330-47874-8. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[8]
Verhovek, S.H. (2010). Jet Age: The Comet, the 707, and the Race to Shrink the World. Penguin Publishing Group. pp. 41 ff. ISBN 978-1-101-44439-9. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[9]
"Geoffrey de Havilland", Wikipedia, 3 October 2025, retrieved 2 November 2025
[10]
Macmillan, N. (1963). Tales of two air wars. G. Bell. p. 87. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[11]
The London Gazette. Tho. Newcomb over against Baynards Castle in Thamse-street. 1917. p. 2720. Retrieved 13 February 2018. His Majesty the KING has been graciously pleased to approve of the undermentioned Honours and Rewards for distinguished service in the Field, in Mesopotamia, with effect from 10th March, 1917, inclusive: ... Hereward de Havilland, R.F.C., Spec. Res.
[12]
The Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. Ingram brothers. 1917. p. x. Retrieved 13 February 2018. As the youngest pilot in the Army, his career has indeed been extraordinary. MajorHereward de Havilland, however, comes of a remarkable family. The late Ivan de Havilland, whose portrait was erroneously published in a daily paper as that of the new D.S.O., was one of the most brilliant designers in the motor industry; while Mr. Geoffrey de Havilland, formerly of the Royal Aircraft Factory and now manager of the great Aircraft Manufacturing Company of Hendon, was the designer of ...
[13]
Sketch: A Journal of Art and Actuality. Ingram brothers. 1917. p. 77. Retrieved 13 February 2018. She is of a family that came with the Normans, and sister of two famous aviators, Captain Geoffrey p de Havilland and Major Hereward de Havilland (at present in Mesopotamia—he has been awarded a bar to his D.S.O. just recently, and is, I believe, a great source of admiration to the Baghdad ladies, who, closely veiled, assemble near the aerodrome and gaze with awe upon his evolutions in the air.) Peggy writes me from Paris: " The Parisian beau monde are assembled once again ...
[14]
Garcia-Consuegra, Mariano. “Archivo Histórico Del Ejército Del Aire (AHEA)" Aeroplano, 2021).
[15]
McKay, S. (2016). The de Havilland DH.60 Moth. Amberley Publishing. p. 37. ISBN 978-1-4456-5724-0. Retrieved 13 February 2018. The de Havilland Aircraft Company announced the 1927 model Moth in the manner of a new motor car. Greater emphasis was put on the better performance resulting from the newly available 85hp Cirrus Mk II engine than on the reduction in price from £795 to £730 exworks. Major Hereward de Havilland arrived in Perth, Western Australia, on board the RMS Otranto on 7 February 1927, with a mission to establish the Australian branch of the de Havilland Aircraft Company. He had ...
[16]
Aircraft. Royal Aeronautical Society Australian Division. 1987. Retrieved 13 February 2018. Australia's de Havilland March 7 is the 60th anniversary of the day when Hereward de Havilland registered a company in Melbourne to import, assemble, market and service aircraft designed and made by his big brother's company in England. It is a saga of Australian aviation, ... Hereward's report was so positive that Geoffrey and his team sent him back with a Moth to start business as de Havilland Aircraft Pty Ltd, registered in Melbourne on March 7, 1927. Hereward was 12 years ...
[17]
Birtles, P. (1984). De Havilland. Planemakers Series (in Swedish). Jane's. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-7106-0303-6. Retrieved 13 February 2018. The Moth was the eventual answer to the worldwide interest in flying aroused during the First World War. The Stag Lane factory was producing 20 Gipsy engines per week by the end of 1928 and 16 light aircraft a week by 1 929. By 1 928, Moths were flying with flying clubs and private owners in practically every country of the world. The first overseas company was formed by Hereward de Havilland, younger brother of the founder, in Australia on 7 March 1927. The Canadian company ...
[18]
McKay, S. (2016). The de Havilland DH.60 Moth. Amberley Publishing. p. 95. ISBN 978-1-4456-5724-0. Retrieved 13 February 2018. Major Hereward de Havilland's entry was DH.60G VHUIQ, Black Hawk, specially modified in Melbourne to conform to the configuration now well established for most of the works' racing Moths, including a Gipsy I engine tuned to run continuously at between 2,300 rpm and 2,400 rpm. VHUIQ achieved the fastest average speed of 107.8 mph for a flight time of 22 hours and 50 minutes to Perth, placing her in second place on handicap. Roy Tuckett was making an attempt on the London ...
[19]
Aircraft. Royal Aeronautical Society Australian Division. 1988. p. 36. Retrieved 13 February 2018. The winner, Hereward de Havilland, who founded and ran the local DH branch, took 22 hr 50 min flying time in a Gipsy.
[20]
Pratt, B.W. (1977). The Australian Encyclopaedia. Grolier Society of Australia. p. 108. ISBN 978-0-9596604-0-1. Retrieved 13 February 2018. A number of other prizes were awarded. Air races within Australia have also been staged periodically, some on a regular basis. An Aerial Derby was held in Adelaide in 1 920, and several others were held in different places. In 1929 the Sydney-Perth Transcontinental Race was won by Hereward de Havilland (in 22 hours 50 minutes) in one of ...
[21]
"AIR RACE ENDS". The Argus. Melbourne. 7 October 1929. p. 7. Retrieved 9 November 2015 – via National Library of Australia.
[22]
Sprigg, T.S.; Marsh, W.L.; Bracken, C.P.; Whittle, W.C.M. (1955). The Aeroplane Directory of British Aviation. English Universities Press for Temple Press. p. 447. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[23]
Dempster, D.D. (1959). The tale of the Comet. D. McKay Co. p. 43. Retrieved 13 February 2018. Geoffrey's brother, Major Hereward de Havilland, shipped a Moth to Australia in 1927 and there began to assemble imported Moths. The incorporation of the de Havilland Company of Australia was the beginning of a chain of overseas companies, with Moths the basis of them all. Canada 1928, India 1929, South Africa 1930 — agents were appointed everywhere. Big names were made in Moths: Amy Johnson, Francis Chichester, Jim Mollison, Alan Cobham, to name only a few; and ...
[24]
Transport History. Graphmitre Limited. 1978. p. 64. Retrieved 13 February 2018. The de Havilland company started operations in Australia in1927 when Geoffrey's brother, Major Hereward de Havilland, shipped the Cirrus Moth G-EBPP to Perth and flew it to Melbourne. There he started assembling imported Moths in a rented shed. De Havilland Aircraft Pty. Ltd. was incorporated in March 1927. This was followed by a series of overseas companies — de Havilland Aircraft of Canada Ltd. in 1928, of India in 1929, of South Africa in 1930 ...
[25]
Aeroplane and Commercial Aviation News. 1963. p. 565. Retrieved 13 February 2018.
[26]
White's Aviation. 1960. p. 20. Retrieved 13 February 2018. By a coincidence, not long after one of the younger members of the family was browsing through our latest Air Directory and drew my attention to the fact that the famous Moth (DH-82) was now rapidly departing from the scene. Then the very next day in the office came word from de Havil- land's that Major Hereward de Havilland was retiring from the famous old firm. To the younger generation Major de Havilland would not be as well known as his older brother, Sir Geoffrey de Havilland ...

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