View source for T. Neville Stack

{{for|his son and RAF Air Officer|Neville Stack}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
Captain '''Thomas Neville Stack''' [[Royal Victorian Order|CVO]], [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|AFC]] (1 April 1896<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aviators/s |title=A fleeting peace – aviators |access-date=25 February 2015 |archive-date=25 February 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150225160210/http://www.afleetingpeace.org/index.php/aviators/s |url-status=dead }}</ref> –  22 February 1949) was a 1920s test pilot, air racer and aviation pioneer. He served in both the First and Second World Wars and in all three services. His son [[Neville Stack]], born in 1919, became an Air Chief-Marshal in the Royal Air Force.

==First World War==
Thomas Neville Stack left the Army to join the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, at the end of the war he became a flying instructor. In 1921<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=32476 |date=4 October 1921 |page=7766 }}</ref> he re-joined the Royal Air Force and served in Iraq leaving in 1925 to become chief flying instructor with the [[Lancashire Aero Club]].<ref name="flight251" />

==England to India==
On 15 November 1926 Stack left England in at attempt to reach India in a [[De Havilland DH.60]], he was accompanied by [[Bernard Leete]] in another Moth, they reached Karachi on 8 January 1927.<ref name="flight251" /><ref>[http://www.bp.com/sectiongenericarticle.do?categoryId=4503657&contentId=57676 AirBP Developments in Flight 1922-1927]</ref> In June 1927 Stack and Leete were each awarded the [[Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)|Air Force Cross]], ''Air Ministry, 3 June 1927, The King had been graciously pleased to approve the award of the Air Force Cross to Mr. Thomas Neville Stack (Flying Officer, Reserve of Air Force Officers), in recognition of the distinguished service rendered to aviation by his recent flight in a light aeroplane from London to Delhi.''<ref>{{London Gazette |issue=33280 |date=3 June 1927 |page=3620 |supp=y }}</ref>

==England to Australia==
In 1934, to enable him to compete in the England-Australia [[MacRobertson Air Race]], Stack together with Sidney Lewis Turner had a specially modified long-range version of the [[Airspeed Envoy]] (AS.6) built. It was named the [[Airspeed Viceroy]] (AS.8).

The Airspeed Viceroy started the race from RAF Mildenhall, England, but after several reliability problems including with the mainwheel brakes and the electrical systems, it was withdrawn from the race at Athens. The pilots concluded that it would be unsafe to proceed and they would probably be unable to finish the race. Subsequently, Stack started litigation against Airspeed, refusing to pay the balance outstanding on the aircraft. The Court found in essence that his claims of defects were a ruse to try to avoid payment, and he lost both his claim and Airspeed's counter-claim for the balance of the price of the aircraft and Stack & Turner were forced to return the aircraft (which later served in the [[Spanish Civil War]]) and pay substantial monies to Airspeed.<ref>Nevil Shute : Slide Rule</ref>

==Second World War==
In the 1940s, he was Chief Test Pilot at Austin Motors where he flew new aircraft straight from the production lines. He later joined the [[Fleet Air Arm]] and commanded 742 Naval Air Squadron in Southern India.<ref name="flight251" />

==Death==
Stack was a manager at Orient Airways when he died near [[Karachi]], Pakistan on 22 February 1949.<ref name="flight251">Flight 3 March 1949, page 251</ref> Newspaper reports that he was killed when he was run over by a lorry. The police alleged he threw himself under the vehicle. Stack had recently been interned by the Pakistan authorities (with regard a sale of a Dakota to India) but was allowed a daily visit to see his priest at Mauripore Airport and he is alleged to have thrown himself under the lorry while walking to the house of the priest.<ref>[http://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/691027 ''Canberra Times'' 24 February 1949]</ref> However, an inquest into his death – conducted by a local magistrate and Royal Navy medical officer – revealed Stack had suffered an [[aortic aneurysm]] prior to being struck by the lorry. His death was ruled to be by natural causes. The inquest was requested by his sons Anthony and [[Neville Stack]], who flew to Pakistan after the local authorities alleged their father had committed suicide.<ref name="times">{{cite news |title= Captain Neville Stack's Death: 'Natural Causes' Verdict |work=[[The Times]] |page=3 |date=22 March 1949 }}</ref>

==See also==
* [[MacRobertson Air Race]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stack, Thomas Neville}}
[[Category:1896 births]]
[[Category:1949 deaths]]
[[Category:British test pilots]]
[[Category:British aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Royal Air Force officers]]
[[Category:Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)]]
[[Category:British World War II pilots]]
[[Category:Royal Navy captains]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm aviators]]
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:British Army personnel of World War I]]
[[Category:People educated at St Edmund's College, Ware]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Pakistan]]
[[Category:Fleet Air Arm personnel of World War II]]