COMBAT AND COMPETITION.pdf - Lakes Gliding Club

ISBN: 1 872308 23 6
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David Ince was born in Glasgow and
was educated at Aysgarth School and
Cheltenham College. Failing to meet
the eyesight standards for aircrew he
became a gunner officer in 1940 and
managed to pass a wartime RAF
medical board at his third attempt.
Seconded for Army Cooperation duties,
he trained in Canada at 35 EFTS and
37 SFTS before returning to the UK to
fly Hurricanes and Mustangs at 41
OTU.
Subsequently converting to Typhoons
he flew with 193 and 257 Squadrons,
from Normandy until the end of
hostilities in Europe, completing almost
150 sorties and being awarded an
immediate DFC. He took a leading part
in trials, demonstrations, and the early
operational use of Napalm. Almost shot
down on one reconnaissance flight, he
later devised and proved a camera
installation for low level close up target
photography which was an immediate
success. In the closing stages of the war
he was leading 193 Squadron on
shipping strikes in the Baltic.
After attending the first post war
course at The Empire Test Pilots School
he returned to University to complete
an engineering degree.
In the '50s he became a founder
member of the business which has
grown into the G.E.C. Avionics of
today working on the requirements
and marketing of flight control and
instrument systems. As part of the
senior management team, he played a
major role in establishing many of the
overseas links on which so much of the
company's future prosperity and success
was to depend.
David Ince holds the International
Gold C Gliding Certificate with three
diamonds. A past CFI of the Midland
Gliding Club, test pilot to Elliotts of
Newbury and one time National
Acrobatic Champion, he has flown over
a 100 different types of aircraft and
gliders, taken part in some thirty
contests, was reserve pilot for the
British team between 1952 and 1960
and a council member of the British
Gliding Association for many years.