Peter Thorne obituary

My father Peter Thorne, who has died aged 90, was a wartime airman who became one of the leading RAF test pilots in the postwar era of British supersonic flight and aerodynamic development.

Born in Eastbourne, to Donald and Olive (nee Dyson), he attended Culford school, Suffolk; his father died of pneumonia when he was six. Enlisting straight from school in April 1941, after a short course at Edinburgh University and training in Canada, Peter was flying Typhoons in 193 Squadron (1942-43). He briefly flew Mustangs (170 Squadron) before leading a training unit in Peterborough.