View source for John Lankester Parker

{{Short description|Chief Test Pilot for short Brothers}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2018}}
{{Use British English|date=January 2018}}
[[File:John Lankester Parker in 1938.jpg|thumb|Parker in 1938]]

'''John Lankester Parker''' [[OBE]] [[FRAeS]] Hon. [[MSLAE]]<ref>'Member of the [[Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers]]', later '[[Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers and Technologists]]', later incorporated into the '[[Royal Aeronautical Society]]'</ref> (1896 – 22 August 1965) was Chief [[test pilot|Test Pilot]] for [[Short Brothers]] from 1918 until his retirement in 1945. He joined Shorts in [[1916 in aviation|1916]] as a part-time test pilot and assistant to then Chief Test Pilot [[Ronald Kemp]],<ref>[http://earlyaviators.com/ekemp.htm Ronald Kemp; earlyaviators.com]...Retrieved September 22, 2018</ref> having been recommended for the post by [[Captain (Royal Navy)|Captain]], later Admiral Sir, [[Murray Fraser Sueter|Murray Sueter]], [[RNAS]].<ref>Barnes & James, p.127.</ref> By the time he retired he was a director of the company.

==First flying experience==

He gained his first flying experience as a pilot and instructor flying for the [[Lakes Flying Company|Northern Aircraft Company]]'s Seaplane School based in [[Windermere, Cumbria (town)|Windermere]], where he flew, first as a pupil<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1915/1915%20-%200229.html?search=lankester%20parker ''Flight'' Magazine archive 2 April 1915 (as pupil)]</ref> and then as an instructor,<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1915/1915%20-%200615.html?search=lankester%20parker ''Flight'' Magazine archive, 20 August 1915]</ref> between 1914 and 1916. It was during this time that he made the acquaintance of [[Murray Sueter]], [[Ronald Kemp]] and [[Oscar Gnosspelius]], all of whom would figure later in his work at Shorts.

In 1916, he joined the [[Prodger-Isaacs Syndicate]] of freelance test pilots, working for several British aircraft manufacturers.

==Shorts==
His first assignment with Shorts began on 17 October 1916, when he was asked by [[Horace Short]] to test fly a batch of six [[Short Bomber]]s from the [[Eastchurch]] airfield. In spite of his relative youth, his flying skills impressed Horace Short, who soon offered him a permanent position as assistant to Ronald Kemp.

He became Chief Test Pilot for Short Brothers in 1918 as successor to Ronald Kemp.
Between 1918 and his last official flight as Chief Test Pilot on 22 August 1945 he flew every Shorts prototype on its maiden flight, ranging from the diminutive [[Short Satellite]] (640&nbsp;lb (290&nbsp;kg)) to the very large [[Short Shetland]] (75,860&nbsp;lb (34,410&nbsp;kg)). During the course of his long association with the company, especially during the early pioneering years, he survived numerous forced landings, both on land and on water.

He was awarded the OBE in June 1942.<ref>[http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/ViewPDF.aspx?pdf=35586&geotype=London&gpn=2491&type=ArchivedIssuePage&all=parker%20john%20lankester London Gazette, 11 June 1942]{{Dead link|date=November 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

In 1943 he became a Director of Short Brothers and Harland Ltd., Belfast,<ref>Barnes & James, p.31</ref> resigning from the Board in 1958.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1958/1958%20-%200606.html?search=lankester%20parker ''Flight Magazine'' archive, 9 May 1958]</ref>

==Other activities==

Parker was a long-time member of the [[Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators]], serving as its Master from 1951 until 1953 and again from 1956 until 1957.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.gapan.org/guildinfo/75history.pdf |title=75th Anniversary History of the Guild, p.16. |access-date=10 March 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061230200915/http://gapan.org/guildinfo/75history.pdf |archive-date=30 December 2006 |url-status=dead }}</ref>  In 1948 he was the first recipient of the Guild's Brackley Memorial Trophy, "awarded to a transport pilot(s) or navigator(s), for outstanding flying, contributing to the operational development of air transport, or transport aircraft, or of new techniques in air transport flying."<ref>[https://archive.today/20070624192051/http://www.gapan.org/Awards/05brack.htm Brackley Memorial Trophy]</ref>

In 1964 he succeeded [[Lord Douglas of Kirtleside]] as President of the [[Seaplane Club of Great Britain]].<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1964/1964%20-%201699.html?search=lankester%20parker ''Flight'' Magazine archive, 4 June 1964]</ref>

In memory of his long association with the Medway area, a road in [[Rochester, Kent]] was named after him.

==References==

<references/>

==External links==
* {{cite book
  | last = Barnes C.H. & James D.N
  | author-link =
  | title =Shorts Aircraft since 1900
  | year =1989
 | publisher =Putnam
  | location =London
  | pages =560
  | url =
  | doi =
  | isbn = 0-85177-819-4}}
* [http://www.gapan.org/ The Air Pilots' and Air Navigators' Guild] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070307164945/http://www.gapan.org/ |date=7 March 2007 }}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, John L}}
[[Category:English aviators]]
[[Category:British test pilots]]
[[Category:Officers of the Order of the British Empire]]
[[Category:People from Medway]]
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]