Whitney Straight

Air Commodore Whitney Willard Straight CBE, MC, DFC (6 November 1912 – 5 April 1979) was a Grand Prix motor racing driver, aviator, businessman, and a member of the prominent Whitney family of the United States.

Personal life
Born in New York, Whitney Straight was the son of Major Willard Dickerman Straight and heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney. He was almost six years old when his father died in France of influenza during the great epidemic while serving with the United States Army during World War I. Following his mother's remarriage to British agronomist Leonard K. Elmhirst in 1925, the family moved to England. They lived at Dartington Hall where he attended the progressive school founded by his parents. His education was completed at Trinity College, Cambridge.

On 17 July 1935 he married Lady Daphne Margarita Finch-Hatton, daughter of the 14th Earl of Winchilsea, and they had two daughters.

Whitney Straight was also the father of Barney Barnato Walker (born 1947), whose mother was noted aviatrix Diana Barnato Walker, MBE, the first British woman to break the sound barrier (Source - "Spreading My Wings" by Diana Barnato-Walker) and the daughter of another famous racing driver (Woolf Barnato).

Motor racing
While still an undergraduate at Cambridge, he became a well known Grand Prix motor racing driver and competed at events in the UK and Europe. He competed in more Grands Prix than any American until after World War II. Straight started competing in 1931 with a Brooklands Riley competing at Shelsley Walsh, Southport and Brooklands circuit.

In 1933 driving a black and silver Maserati he won the Mountain Championship at Brooklands, the Mont Ventoux Hill Climb (3 September) and the Brighton Speed Trials (16 September). He also won the 1100 c.c. class in the Coppa Acerbo, held at Pescara, Italy, driving an M.G. Magnette. In 1934 he formed his own motor racing team, personally driving to victory in the South African Grand Prix, held on the 16-mile Buffalo circuit in East London. He also gave public demonstrations at Brooklands Racing Circuit achieving a speed of 138.7 mph, a record for 5 litre class cars.

Flying
Flying was also a passion, and while 16 years old (still too young for a pilot's licence) he had already accumulated over 60 hours solo flight. In his early 20s, as head of the Straight Corporation Limited, he operated airfields throughout Britain and ran flying clubs. In 1936 he helped develop the Miles Whitney Straight aircraft. He became a naturalised British citizen that year. On 18 October 1938 the Straight Corporation purchased control of Norman Edgar (Western Airways), Ltd. and renamed it Western Airways Ltd.

During World War II, Whitney Straight served as a Royal Air Force pilot. He was sent to Norway in April 1940 to find frozen lakes suitable for use as airfields. Lake Lesjaskog was utilised by 263 Squadron during the Norwegian Campaign as a result. Straight was seriously wounded during a German bombing raid in Norway.

For his service in Norway we was awarded the Norwegian War Cross with sword in 1942.

After convalescing he next served with No. 601 Squadron RAF in the Battle of Britain. From September 1940 until April 1941 he was credited with two aircraft destroyed. He then became CO of 242 Squadron, bringing his total to 3 and 1 shared ( with 2 'probables') by late July 1941. Early in 1941 he was awarded a Military Cross for his work in Norway.

He was shot down by flak over France on 31 July 1941 and initially evaded capture. Through the French Underground, he made his way to unoccupied Vichy France where he was captured and put in a POW camp. However he escaped on 22 June 1942 and with the aid of the French Resistance reached safety in Gibraltar.

In September 1942, now as an Air Commodore, he was sent to the Middle East joining HQ, No. 216 Group, as AOC.

At war's end, he returned to the UK becoming AOC, 46 Group in June 1945. He was released from the RAF in late 1945, and he became chairman of the Royal Aero Club. With the establishment of the British European Airways corporation in 1946, Straight was its deputy chairman. In July 1947 he became managing director and Chief Executive Officer of British Overseas Airways Corporation.

In 1949 was appointed deputy Chairman of the board. In the United States his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was the President of Aviation Corporation of America which became Pan American Airways.

Later Whitney Straight joined Rolls-Royce as deputy Chairman, and it was while visiting Peking, China in 1958 that Straight was horrified to discover that the Russian MiG 15 planes were powered by Soviet-built versions of the Rolls-Royce Derwent and Nene jet engines. Russia had been provided with 40 of these engines under an export license provided by the Labour government of Prime Minister Clement Attlee after the war. Straight tried unsuccessfully to claim back £200 million from Russia in royalties.

He donated the Whitney Straight Award in 1967 to the Royal Aeronautical Society to recognise the achievement and status of women in aviation.

Whitney Straight died in Fulham in 1979 at the age of sixty-six.

Honours and awards

 * Commander of the Order of the British Empire - 8 June 1944
 * Military Cross - 1 January 1941
 * Distinguished Flying Cross - 8 August 1941
 * Mentioned in Despatches - 1 Jan 1943
 * Norwegian War Cross with Sword (Norway) - 18 Dec 1942
 * Officer of the Legion of Merit (United States) - 15 Mar 1946
 * Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts
 * Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society