Edward Donaldson (RAF officer)

Donaldson's medals and flight books were sold at auction for £4,800 in June 2004.

Donaldson was brought up at 86 Grafton Road, Selsey, where during 2000 a blue plaque was placed as part of the Selsey Heritage trail.

Donaldson retired as an air commodore in 1961, and became the Air Correspondent for The Daily Telegraph, until 1979. He retired to his home in Selsey, and died at the Royal Naval Hospital Haslar on 6 June 1992. Donaldson is buried at St Andrew's Church, Tangmere.

Donaldson's "Star" Meteor is on display at the Tangmere Military Aviation Museum, together with that of later 1953 record holder, Squadron Leader Neville Duke, who flew a Hawker Hunter at 727 miles per hour (1,170 km/h).

During the early 1950s, Donaldson served in West Germany and commanded RAF Fassberg and RAF Wunstorf airfields, gaining appointment to Commander of the Order of the British Empire in June 1953, and advancement to air commodore in July 1955 after attending the Joint Services Staff College. From 1956 to 1958 he served as Deputy Commander of Air Forces in the Arabian Peninsula. On return to England, his final appointment was as Commandant of the RAF College, Manby.

During the Second World War, most of the pre-war airspeed records had been broken. The RAF decided to recapture the flight airspeed record with its new generation of jet aircraft, and set up a new High Speed Flight squadron. Group Captain Donaldson was selected to command the Air Speed Flight, established at the start of 1946. On 7 September 1946, he established a new official world record of 615.78 mph (991.00 km/h; 535.10 kn) in a Gloster Meteor F.4 over Littlehampton, although some unofficial Me 262 and Me 163 flights in the Second World War achieved higher speeds. As a result, he was awarded a Bar to his Air Force Cross.

On his return to England in 1944, he converted to jet aircraft and commanded the first operational Gloster Meteor squadron, at RAF Colerne.

Donaldson married Winifred Constant in 1936, and the couple had two daughters. After they were divorced in 1944, in the same year he married Estellee Holland, an American nurse, and the couple had one son, David. After they divorced in 1954, he married Anne Sofie Stapleton in 1957, whom he divorced in 1982.

In 1932 he was runner up in the R.A.F. Wakefield Boxing Championship, which he won the following year. In 1933 the crack-shot won the RAF's Gunnery Trophy One, known as the Brooke-Popham Air Firing Trophy, and won it again in 1934. In 1935 he became a stunt pilot as a member of the No. 3 Squadron aerobatic team of five Bulldogs, which he led in 1937 and 1938 at the International Zürich Rally.

Donaldson joined two of his brothers in the RAF in 1931, granted a short service commission his first posting being to No. 3 Squadron flying Bristol Bulldogs.

Air Commodore Edward "Teddy" Mortlock Donaldson, CB, CBE, DSO, AFC & Bar (12 February 1912 – 2 June 1992) was a Royal Air Force (RAF) flying ace of the Second World War, and a former holder of the airspeed world record.