Flight Lieutenant Harold Charles Calvey
On 1st July 1928, the R.A.F. lost one of its finest aerobatic pilots in a freak accident when Avro 504N (H2534) of the RAF Practice Camp at Sutton Bridge, dived into the ground not far from RAF Henlow, killing Flight Lieutenant Harold Charles Calvey of No.23 Squadron, Kenley and Flight Sergeant William Charles Hollier, a carpenter/rigger.
Harold Charles Calvey was born in 1897. His Father, Charles Bernard Calvey was an Irishman from Wexford and his Mother, Anna Louisa Calvey (nee Marshman) was from Kent. He had one brother and two sisters. In 1914, Harold was living with his parents in the Antrim Road district of Belfast and attending the Belfast Royal Academy, Cliftonville. On the outbreak of war, he joined the Army and served in France from 29th May, 1915, possibly with the Army Service Corps, 58th Depot, 12th Division, in the rank of 2nd Lieutenant. At some point, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps.
Aged 24, Harold married Georgina Helen Scott Calvey (nee Patey), at St. Saviour’s, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, in January 1919.
On 20th January, 1926, No.23 Squadron’s diary notes that Flight Lieutenant Calvey was posted from No.43 Squadron for flying duties. Both Squadron’s were stationed at Henlow at the time, so life must have continued in much the same vein for Harold and Georgina until the following year when, at 9.40am, on 6th February, 23 Squadron began their move to RAF Kenley, with the Main Party travelling by road in a column under the command of F/Lt. Calvey. They arrived at their new airfield at 2.45pm that afternoon, and the Squadron’s aircraft were flown down the following day.
On 2nd August, 1927, Calvey was granted a permanent commission in the rank of Flight Lieutenant.
Harold and Georgina were now living in Married Officers Quarters at Cranwell Cottage, Foxon Lane, Caterham, and they had a son – John Michael (Mike) Calvey, who followed his father into the RAF and rose to the rank of Wing Commander. He was just three years old at the time of Harold’s tragic death, which must have been a huge shock to his young family. Harold had served 14 years in the Army and RAF when he died and was well-known for his aerobatic skills – at one tine he held the record for flying inverted.
For more information, see the linked article below.
Rest in peace Sir and thank you for your service.
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Thanks for this entry about my grandfather, Harold Charles Calvey. My father, Wing Commander John Michael (Mike) Calvey was 3, rather than 4 when his father was killed. This was misreported in newspapers around the world at the time.
According to a framed letter we have, dated July 1928 from Airports and Airways of Bunhill Row headed Volume IV Number Eleven “Planes & Personalities by Observer” :
“UPSIDE-DOWN LOOPS”
On a recent visit to Kenley Aerodrome, I was fortunate enough to arrive just in time to see Flight-Lieutenant H. C. Calvey accomplish that extraordinarily difficult aerobatic, the inverted loop. In the manoeuvre, the machine, in this case a Hawker Hawfinch, is first flown upside-down and then dived to attain sufficient speed for the loop, from which the machine emerges still flying upside down.
The feat is not easy of achievement because, when upside down, the wings are less efficient and the machine tends to stall more readily than when the right way up.
Incidentally, Flight-Lieutenant Calvey, in my opinion, is one of the finest aerobatic pilots in the Royal Air Force, and at one time was holder of the world’s record for upside-down flying.”
My father Wing Commander Mike Calvey followed in his father’s footsteps as an aerobatic and test pilot with the Royal Air Force and helped set up Air Wing of The Abu Dhabi Defence Force.
Thank you so much for this information Georgina. I have edited your Father’s age.
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