Sir Alan John Cobham
(1894-1973), Pioneer aviatorSitter in 29 portraits
Cobham joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and was commissioned as an instructor. After the war he worked for De Havilland as a test pilot, and made his name in long-distance flights to Rangoon, Burma (present-day Yangon, Myanmar, 1924), the Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (1925-6) and Australia (1926), establishing air routes for Imperial Airways. From the 1930s he pioneered the development of in-flight refuelling, and set up a company to develop its potential. As a taxi-pilot giving commercial 'joyrides', and through his air display company of 1934, he spread interest in aviation and contributed to the popularisation of air travel. He wrote several books including an autobiography, A Time to Fly (1978).
Sir Charles Cheers Wakefield; Sir Alan John Cobham and eight unknown others
by Fred Roe
pencil, 4 October 1926
NPG D43179b
by Alexander ('Alick') Penrose Forbes Ritchie
colour relief halftone cigarette card, 1926
NPG D2665
by Unknown photographer, issued by Carreras Tobacco Company
colour relief halftone cigarette card, 1935
NPG D49310
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