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Sir Geoffrey De Havilland was an aeronautical engineer and aviation pioneer. He constructed his first machine in 1909 without having seen an aeroplane in flight and remarkably taught himself to fly. De Havilland went on to design more than fifty aircraft, notably among these were the Mosquito, DH-2 fighter and the DH-4 light bomber, which saw worldwide service and played a major role in the establishment of U.S. Air Mail.

In 1951 the de Havilland Company gave land to Hertfordshire County Council for educational use as Hatfield Technical College. This life-size bronze statue was unveiled by HRH Prince Phillip, The Duke of Edinburgh in 1997. It accurately depicts Sir Geoffrey De Havilland within the conventions of traditional commemorative portraiture.

University of Hertfordshire

Hatfield

Title

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882–1965)

Date

1997

Medium

bronze

Measurements

H 150 x W 64 x D 110 cm

Accession number

HERUH299

Acquisition method

commissioned by the University of Hertfordshire

Work type

Statue

Inscription description

Sir Geoffrey de Havilland O.M. K.B.E A.F.C Hon.F.R.Ae.S. 1882-1965 Pioneer aeronautical engineer and aviator, who made Hatfield the centre of a world-renowned aviation enterprise; on plaque: From his first flight in 1910, with an aeroplane and engine of his own design, until his death in 1965, he and his team made outstanding contributions to the development of every aspect of aviation. / Prominent among his achievements were the Moth and the Gipsy engine, which together in the 1920s, led the club and private flying movement worldwide; the Mosquito, the Second World War bomber that was faster than any fighter; and the Comet, the world's first jet airliner powered by the Ghost, the world's first civil turbine engine. All bore the proud prefix D.H. / Geoffrey de Havilland, from his earliest days, encouraged the young in the new science of aeronautics, starting the D.H. Aeronautical Technical School, a forebear of the University of Hertfordshire. / The legacy of his achievement, with the team he inspires from the early powered flight through to supersonic speed and space travel, lives on long after his ashes were scattered from a de Havilland Trident airliner over the Hampshire field called Seven Barrows, where he made that first flight more than forty years before. / Unveiled by His Royal Highness / The Duke of Edinburgh KG KT / 30 July 1997

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