LES HURST
Unit as an instructor. This was a hugely significant posting for Les. He had gone full circle from being a student on the OCU to being an instructor – a fitting end to his career in the RAF, which he left at the age of thirty-eight. “At that point I was very fortunate. I started a second flying
career with British Aerospace at their Warton fast-jet facility near Preston in Lancashire. In fact, they still build the Typhoon there today. I went there initially as the Project Navigator for the Air Defence Variant of the Tornado. So after leaving the RAF I was able to spend another fourteen years test flying the Tornado, as a civilian,” grins Les. Les retired from British Aerospace (now BAE Systems) in 1993 as the company’s Chief Test Navigator. His claim to fame is that he did eight hundred and ninety-nine Tornado test flights and a total of twelve hundred hours on the aircraft. Les also clocked the same number of hours on the Phantom out of a total of 6,500 flying hours. Perhaps even more impressive is another of Les’s
achievements whilst at British Aerospace: “We flew the Tornado from Goose Bay in Labrador to Warton, un-refuelled and unaccompanied. It was the only time a British fighter aircraft has ever crossed the Atlantic without being refuelled or escorted!” In the past, many of us will have been lucky enough to see the
‘swing wing’ Tornado in all its splendour above the Dart estuary as part of the Dartmouth Regatta air displays. For the past few seasons the Typhoon has replaced the Tornado on the roster. After Les retired in 2005, he and Linda moved down to
Dartmouth from Lytham St. Annes in the Northwest. I ask Les if he found it difficult leaving everything behind for the comparatively quiet Devon life: “It was one of those situations both for the RAF and for British Aerospace where someone paid you to do your hobby – the Queen for the first part and British Aerospace for the second. But having spent such a major part of my life flying a fast-jet aircraft, I didn’t miss it when I came down here and nor did I have any regrets. I was at the point when I would have been behind a desk anyway.” “We have some friends whom we met on holiday who lived in Dartmouth and it was coming to see them that I thought I would like to live here. Linda was not so keen to start with and felt we shouldn’t leave Lytham. But there’s a lot more to do in Dartmouth – sailing, Food festival, Music festival etc – there’s plenty to get involved in. Linda volunteers at reception for the Flavel and is a trustee of Dartmouth Caring.” Les himself acts as a race officer for the Royal Dart Yacht
Club, where he helps to run the racing on Wednesday nights. The role seemed a perfect way of getting involved with a club at the heart of the Dartmouth and Kingswear community. During the busy Regatta period, Les works together with an international race officer to take care of race management and ensure that everything runs smoothly. I ask the seasoned fast-jet navigator if he’ll be bringing home
any silverware in one of Regatta’s popular races. Les laughs: “Believe it or not, I’ve never sailed a day in my life!”
This interview and all previously published interviews in this magazine can be found on By The Dart’s website
www.bythedart.co.uk
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www.bythedart.co.uk - for everything & anything about Dartmouth
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