Geoffrey de Havilland was born on 27 July 1882 at Magdala House, Terriers, High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, the second son of The Reverend Charles de Havilland, the curate of Hazlemere, and Alice Jeannette de Havilland (née Saunders). His father gained his own parish in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, shortly afterwards, and it was here that Geoffrey spent most of his childhood. He was educated at Nuneaton Grammar School and St Edward's School, Oxford.

Geoffrey's mother disliked living in towns so they moved to a parish at Crux Easton, Hampshire, where the family could return to a rural life. They moved in 1896 but not before Geoffrey and his elder brother Ivon (b. 9 April 1879 in Wycombe, Buckinghamshire – d. 3 December 1905 in Brentford, Middlesex) had installed the first of many generators in the rectory to provide electricity. The two brothers were very close and together they developed an interest in mechanics.

Like his father before him, it was expected that when Geoffrey left St Edward's School, he would train for the clergy. His interest in mechanics, however, showed him that another career could be open to him. In 1900 he began training at the Crystal Palace Engineering School and, after various adventures with Ivon in motor cars, they began to build their own, hoping to compete in the 1903 Gordon-Bennett Race. The car was not finished so they could only spectate.

The Crystal Palace School provided Geoffrey with a sound grounding in mechanical engineering and he built his own motorcycle. After three years he moved to an apprenticeship at Willans and Robinson of Rugby, Warwickshire. While there he constructed a second, more successful, motorcycle which eventually passed to his younger brother, Hereward (b. 2 December 1894 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire - d. 12 September 1976 in Morn Hill, Victoria, Australia), and ran for many years. Indeed when short of money he sold the drawings and patterns for £5 to two student friends who went on to form the Blackburne motorcycle company.

1905 saw Geoffrey move again. He became a draughtsman at the Wosleley Tool and Motor Car Company at Adderley Park, Birmingham, but became bored and left after a year. Ivon had worked for the Daimler Motor Company in Coventry before designing the Iris car which was manufactured by the Iris Motor Company of Willesden, London. This was unveiled at the 1905 motor show shortly before Ivon died. Although his life was short Ivon had introduced Geoffrey to a number of people who would assist him in the future.

Geoffrey resumed work by designing buses for the Motor Omnibus Construction Company in Walthamstow. While there, he met a young engineer from Cornwall named Frank Trounson Hearle (b. 1886 in Penryn, Cornwall - d. 1 September 1965 in Watford, Hertfordshire), who worked in the bus garage at Dalston, and was later to become a director of the de Havilland Company. They moved into a flat in Kensington together in 1907 with de Havilland's sister Ione as housekeeper. She later became Mrs Hearle. While there he designed his first aero engine, the de Havilland Iris, a four-cylinder, liquid-cooled, horizontally opposed unit, and had the first prototype made by Iris Motor Company.

Built with £1000 borrowed from his maternal grandfather, de Havilland's began construction of his first aircraft in 1908 at a workshop in Bothwell Road, Fulham, assisted by Hearle, and powered by de Havilland's Iris-built engine. Even de Havilland's wife Louise took a part in the construction for she was given the job of stitching every seam in the stiff linen cover for the wings. During a visit to his family at Crux Easton, Hampshire, Geoffrey discovered that J T C Moore-Brabazon had decided not to use two sheds three miles away at Seven Barrows on Lord Carnarvon’s estate. He inspected them in August 1909 and acquired them for £150. Lord Carnarvon, famous later for funding the Tutankhamun expedition, gave his permission to fly from his land. The aeroplane was finished at Fulham by November 1909 and was transported to Seven Barrows. Problems prevented flying for some weeks and eventually in December, frustrated, Geoffrey forced the machine into the air, only for it to rise too quickly and collapse. Frank Hearle and Hereward de Havilland rushed to the wreckage and found Geoffrey unhurt. Undeterred they loaded the remains onto a lorry and returned to Fulham.

De Havilland then built a fresh biplane, again using the Iris engine, making his first flight in it from a meadow near Newbury on 10 September 1910. He had no experience of flight and so he had to learn very quickly “on the job”. Indeed de Havilland had only seen one aeroplane in flight when Claude Grahame-White competed for the £10,000 London to Manchester prize. Gradually, however, he acquired experience and confidence so that by November he considered himself an experienced pilot.

On the suggestion of a friend, de Havilland approached Mervyn O’Gorman, Superintendent of the Balloon Factory at Farnborough, with a view to selling his aeroplane to the Army. Just before Christmas the War Office agreed to the purchase and to employ de Havilland with Hearle as his mechanic.

In December 1910, de Havilland joined the Balloon Factory, which was to become the Royal Aircraft Factory, and sold his second aeroplane to his new employer for £400. It became the F.E.1, the first aircraft to bear an official Royal Aircraft Factory designation. He gained his RAeC Aviator's Certificate on 7 February 1911 flying this second biplane at Farnborough.

For the next three years de Havilland designed, or participated in the design of, a number of experimental types at the Factory. He was commissioned as a 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps, Special Reserve of Officers, on 16 October 1912, antedated to 2 September. He was confirmed in rank on 24 December and his appointment to the Reserve antedated to 24 November.

In 1912, one of de Havilland's designs, the B.E.2, established a new British altitude record of 10,500 feet, with his brother Hereward was the test pilot.

1913 saw de Havilland’s first “flying crash worthy of that name”. The BS.1, also known as the SE.2, first flew in March. It was fast for its time, achieving a speed of 91.7 mph, and was one of the first single-seat scouts. Unfortunately its rudder was too small and de Havilland crashed while trying to recover from a spin.

In December 1913, de Havilland was appointed an inspector of aircraft for the Aeronautical Inspection Directorate under the Chief Inspector, Major J D B Fulton. Unhappy at leaving design work, in May 1914 he was recruited to become the chief designer at the Aircraft Manufacturing Company (aka Airco), in Hendon. He designed many aircraft for Airco, all designated by his initials, DH. Large numbers of de Havilland-designed aircraft were used during the First World War, flown by the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force.

Following the outbreak of WWI, de Havilland was called up for duty. On 5 August 1914, he was promoted to Lieutenant and appointed a Flying Officer from the same date. His earlier crash injuries prevented him from going overseas; he was briefly stationed in Montrose on the east coast of Scotland as an officer on war duty. Flying a Blériot, he was to protect British shipping from German U-boats. After a few weeks he was released from this duty and returned to Airco. However, he nominally remained in the service until after the end of the war. On 30 April 1916, he was promoted to Captain and appointed a Flight Commander. On its formation on 1 April 1918, de Havilland received a temporary commission in the RAF with the rank of Captain. Appointed an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 7 June 1918 Birthday Honours, and awarded the Air Force Cross on 1 January 1919, he was placed on the RAF unemployed list on 24 November 1919.

became prosperous and he bought a large house in Edgware. The pressure of work, however, took its toll and de Havilland suffered a nervous breakdown late in 1918. In an effort to find peace the family moved to Balcombe in Sussex, but de Havilland had overlooked the problems of commuting and so returned north, this time to a house in Stanmore, Middlesex.

Airco was bought in early 1920 by armaments group Birmingham Small Arms Company but, discovering it was less than worthless, BSA shut down Airco in July 1920. With the help of former Airco owner George Holt Thomas he formed the de Havilland Aircraft Company on 15 September 1920, employing some former colleagues. He leased the former London and Provincial Flying School site at Stag Lane, near Edgware, for his factory. It was decided that the company should concentrate on civil aircraft for the growing airline market. There was, as yet, no real market for privately owned aircraft. In 1921, however, the company was approached by Alan Samuel Butler (b. 22 November 1898 – d.24 May 1987) who wanted a new aeroplane built for him. This was a turning point for de Havilland as Butler invested heavily in the company, providing the capital to buy premises and then the airfield at Stag Lane Aerodrome, and by 1924 was its chairman.

The Moth series of biplanes, first flown by Geoffrey de Havilland on 22 February 1925, was one of their most successful products. The pressure of business, however, meant that de Havilland had to reduce the amount of test flying he did and also employ more designers as aircraft became more complicated.

Frank Bernard Halford (b. 7 March 1894 – d. 16 April 1955) had designed the Airdisco Cirrus engine using World War One engine components. In 1926 Halford was requested to design a new engine which became the de Havilland Gipsy, and the Engine Division of the de Havilland Aircraft Company was formed to produce it the same year. In 1944 de Havilland bought out Halfords's consultancy firm, forming the de Havilland Engine Company with Halford as head. The company was officially formed at Stag Lane in February 1944 and later moved into a factory leased by the government in 1946 at Leavesden, which had earlier been a site for Handley Page Halifax production.

In March 1927 the de Havilland Aircraft Company established de Havilland Australia (DHA)in Melbourne, its first overseas subsidiary, manageed by Hereward de Havilland. DHA was set up to sell de Havilland products in Australia, to assemble aircraft that had been sold, and to provide repair and spare parts services. In 1930 DHA relocated to Mascot aerodrome in Sydney. In March 1928 the subsidiary company De Havilland Canada was created to build Moth aircraft for the training of Canadian airmen. After the Second World War it went on to design and produce a number of indigenous types, most of which proved highly successful.

In 1933 the de Havilland Aircraft Company moved to Hatfield Aerodrome in Hertfordshire. On 4 June 1934 de Havilland was appointed Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (CBE). When World War Two started the company was producing Tiger Moth and Dragon Rapide biplanes. Their most important contribution, however, was the Mosquito. This was one of the fastest and most versatile aircraft of the war. On January 1944, de Havilland was conferred with a Knighthood. When the war finished the de Havilland Company was working on a number of new aircraft. Some were very advanced and at the forefront of research.

De Havilland's increasing age, along with the complexity of modern aircraft design, reduced his direct contribution to the aircraft company and he retired from active involvement in his company in 1955, becoming President of the de Havilland Group. In 1959 his younger brother, Hereward retired as Managing Director of the Airspeed Division further diminishing the family's participation and when the de Havilland Group was acquired by Hawker Siddeley in 1960 Geoffrey's role in the company ceased. On 23 November 1962 he was appointed to the Order of Merit.

De Havilland continued flying up to the age of 70 making his final flight in a DH.85 Leopard Moth, G-ACMA.

Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, OM, CBE, AFC, RDI, FRAeS died of a cerebral hemorrhage on 21 May 1965 at Watford Peace Memorial Hospital, Hertfordshire. After cremation his ashes were scattered over Seven Barrows in Hampshire where he had made his first flight.

Biography References

1. Wikipedia
2. de Havilland Aircraft Since 1909, A.J. Jackson (Putnam, 1978)
3. Captain Sir Geoffrey De Havilland
4. https://www.ctie.monash.edu/hargrave/de_havilland.html
5. de Havilland Aircraft Museum
6. Century of Flight - Aircraft Designers of WWI
7. ancestry.co.uk