The Committee looks forward to seeing many of you there on the day.

Hawk 50th Anniversary of First Flight. Normally a meeting is not arranged in August, however, the 50th Anniversary of XX154’s first flight cannot go unmarked.  The aircraft is part of the Boscombe Down Aviation Collection at Old Sarum airfield museum in Wiltshire, 2 miles north of Salisbury. SP46DZ. The event will be self-funding by those attending and planning is still underway – details to follow. Note that the date is not the usual 2nd Wednesday; it is Wednesday 21st.

We are pleased to share some biographical information on our recent and next guest speaker:

Rear Admiral David Snelson CB FNI served in the Royal Navy (RN) from 1969 to 2006. He initially trained as a fighter controller and bridge watchkeeper. During his time as junior officer he served in HMS Ark Royal IV in 1978. Later in his career he commanded HMS Liverpool, twice, and then took command of HMS Ark Royal V in 2001, bringing the ship back into service after a major refit. David was promoted to Rear Admiral in 2002 and was the Task Group Commander for RN forces in the second Gulf War 2003. He left the RN in 2006 to become the Chief Harbour Master of the Port of London. He also worked for the Port of Milford Haven and the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. David is an Elder Brother of Trinity House and a member of the Honourable Company of Master Mariners.

Nick Anderson applied to the RAF aged 20 in 1974 and flew Phantoms for No43(F) Sqn at RAF Leuchars. He was also a Fast Jet A1 QFI at RAF Valley and a Qualified Weapons Instructor on the Phantom.  In 1987 he became an exchange pilot with the RAAF flying the F/A18 Hornet at RAAF Williamtown, New South Wales for 3 years. His career concluded on the F3 Tornado and he served as the Pilot Flight Commander with 111(F) Sqn at RAF Leuchars. He retired as a Squadron Leader in 1993 and was then employed with Virgin Atlantic Airways for 25 years on the Airbus A340-300, A340-600 and A330 until 2019 when he retired.

Anthony Inglis Howard-Williams is a musician and conductor of orchestras.  He is currently the Music Director for Katherine Jenkins and the London Concert Orchestra.  For 33 years he was the Music Supervisor of Phantom of The Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre.  More often than any other artist Anthony has appeared in London’s Royal Albert Hall, and he has conducted extensively around the world with major orchestras.  His autobiography “Sit Down, Stop Waving Your Arms!” was so titled after a comment made to him by a member of the audience.  Aside from conducting around the world, Anthony has an extraordinary and unique story to tell: his family has supplied 9 distinguished pilots to the Royal Air Force.  Anthony’s father-in-law was a senior loftsman at Hawkers, and Anthony and his wife, Jan Howard-Williams, live half a mile from the Hawker Centre.

Tony Buttler worked as a metallurgist for twenty years at High Duty Alloys (part of the Hawker Siddeley Group) analysing and testing aluminium and titanium forgings for the aircraft and defence industries. In 1994 he took a Master’s Degree in Information Science and Archives at Loughborough University and since 1996 he has been a full-time aviation historian and author. Since then he has written 41 major books, numerous titles in the Warpaint series of modeller’s books and well over a hundred articles for all the important historical aviation magazines. His foremost area of interest and research has always been the design and development of military aircraft covering the period from the mid-1930s to the 1980s. In 2017 Tony became a member of the RAeS’s Historical Group Committee, and in November 2022 he received the Society’s Aeronautical Heritage Specialist Group Award for that year in recognition of his contribution to aviation history.