In memory of
Flight Lieutenant Harold Charles Calvey
On 1st July 1928, the R.A.F. lost one of it’s 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.
Aged 24, Harold married Georgina Helen Scott Calvey (nee Patey), at St. Saviour’s, Westcliff-on-Sea, Essex, in January 1919. The couple had a three year old son at the time of Harold’s death and were living at Cranwell Cottage, Foxon Lane, Caterham, not far from RAF Kenley. Harold had taken part in the Hendon Air Pageant the Saturday before he died and at one time held the record for flying upside down.
For more information, see the linked article below.
Rest in peace Sir and thank you for your service.
Rank
Flight LieutenantSquadron
23 squadon (8)
Airfield
Kenley (226)
Nationality
British (132)
Comments about this page
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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