Chris Staniland

Flight Lieutenant Christopher Stainbank Staniland (7 October 1905 - 26 June 1942) was a British pilot, and the former chief test pilot for the Fairey Aviation Company.

He was born in Fallow Corner, North Finchley; his family later moved to the Abbey House in Lincolnshire. He attended King Edward VI Grammar School, Louth, then a private school in Kent, leaving in 1922. His father was killed in Belgium on 14 April 1915, serving with the Royal Lincolnshire Regiment, and his mother died in 1949.

RAF

He joined the RAF in March 1924 on a Short Service Commission and undertook his flying training at Shotwick. He was posted to 41 Squadron in February 1925 and remained with the unit until September 1928, when he was posted to the High Speed Flight RAF at Calshot. In November 1925, he was promoted to Flying Officer, and four years later to Flight Lieutenant, by then in the Reserve (RAFO), Class A. He relinquished his commission in the RAFO in March 1937, on completion of service, and was permitted to retain his rank.

Fairey

Early in 1930 he joined Fairey as their chief test pilot, flying from Great West Aerodrome (Harmondsworth Aerodrome). On 21 March 1933 he flew the first prototype F1875 of the Fairey Swordfish from Harmondsworth Aerodrome. He first flew the Fairey Firefly prototype on 22 December 1941.

He was killed in an accident aged 36, when his aircraft, the second Fairey Firefly prototype, broke up over Sindlesham (now in the Borough of Wokingham). He had taken off from Harmondsworth, and crashed in a field near Hatch Farm at Sindlesham Mill. A Structural failure had occurred when the aircraft was pulling out of a high speed dive; he died before receiving medical attention. He is buried in St Margaret's Church, Keddington in East Lindsey, Lincolnshire.

He married Evelyn M. Gregorie at Southampton register office on 29 June 1929, which was followed by a church ceremony at St. Peter's-in-Eastgate, Lincolnshire, on 19 February 1930; his wife, from Skellingthorpe, died in 1980.