SENT FLYING

Signed on the title page by

Captain Bill Pegg

MacDonald. First edition 1959.   236 pages and well illustrated with photographs.

Fine condition hardback book and Fine condition unclipped dustjacket. An excellent copy in all respects.

Arthur J (Bill) Pegg was the Chief Test Pilot for the Bristol Aeroplane Company. He had joined the RAF as a boy apprentice at fifteen becoming a flight mechanic. In 1925 he was accepted for training as an NCO pilot and joined 43 (Fighter) Squadron. He quickly became an instructor and in 1931 was given a commission and singled out as a pilot with ‘exceptional ability’ and posted to the Aircraft and Armament Experimental Establishment, Martlesham, as a test pilot. In 1935 he resigned his commission and joined BAC, developing Blenheims and Beaufighters, becoming Chief Test Pilot in 1947.

Pegg flew over 150 types including the American B-36 bomber as practice before flying the Brabazon. He made the maiden flight of the gigantic Bristol Brabazon in 1949 and also the maiden flight of the Bristol 175 Britannia in 1952. On 4th February 1954, during a demonstration flight of the second Britannia prototype (G-ALRX), an engine fire forced an emergency landing. Pegg successfully crash-landed the aircraft on the mudflats of the Severn Estuary, saving everyone on board in what became known as the “Miracle on the Severn”. Retiring in 1957, he died in 1978.

A scarce signed test pilot memoir in fabulous condition.