Whitney Straight

Whitney Willard Straight (CBE, MC, DFC November 6, 1912 - April 5, 1979) was a descendant of the wealthy Whitney family of the United States who went with his mother to Britain aged 13, and became a racing car driver, flying club and airfield operator. During World War II he was a Royal Air Force pilot in the "No 601 Hurricane Squadron" with over 4 "kills" to his credit in the Battle of Britain, escaped when shot down and a POW in France. After the war be worked for British European Airways and British Overseas Airways Corporation, later becoming vice chariman of Rolls-Royce. He became a naturalised British citizen in 1936.

Born in New York, Michael Straight was the son of Willard Dickerman Straight and heiress Dorothy Payne Whitney. His father died in 1918 and his mother remarried in 1925, moving the family to England to live at Dartington Hall where he attended the progressive school founded by his parents. His education was completed at Trinity College, Cambridge.

Flying was his passion, and while 16 years old, still too young for a pilot's licence he had already achieved over 60 hours solo flight.

While still an undergraduate at Cambridge, he became a well known Grand Prix motor racing driver and competed at events in England and on the Continent. In 1933 driving a Maserati he won the Mountain Championship, and in 1934 formed his own motor racing team, personally driving to victory in the South African Grand Prix. He also gave public demonstrations at Brooklands Racing Circuit achieving a speed of 138.7 m.p.h., a record for 5 litre class cars.

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 was seriously wounded in Norway in 1940 while laying out an aerodrome on the frozen surface of a lake, and after convalescing he rejoined his suadron towrds the end of the battle of Britain. He was credited with four and a half kills and also recorded damage to many other planes.

He was shot down over France in August 1941, and initally evading capture made his way to Spain, where he was eventually captured and put in a German POW camp. However, he escaped and reached safety in Gibraltar.

He was sent to the Middle East in charge of RAF transport command operations there with the rank of Air Commodore, and in September of 1943 took over the newly made Cairo aeordrome.

After the war he became chairman of the Royal Aero Club.

In July 1947 still at the age of only 33 he became managing director and chief executive of BOAC. He reorganised the company and in 1949 became deputy Chairman of the board. In the United states, his cousin Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney was President of Aviation Corporation of America which became Pan American Airways.

Later Whitney Straight joined Rolls-Royce as deputy Chariman, and it was while visiting Peking, China in 1958 that Straight was horrified to discover that the Russian Mig 15 planes had counterfeit versions of the Rolls-Royce Derwent and Nene engines. Russia had been provided with 40 of these engines under an export license provided by the government of Prime Minister Clement Atlee after the war. Straight tried unsuccessfully to claim back £200m from Russia in royalties.

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

References

• Rolls Royce - Sunday Times 10 May 10 1987
• Obituary - The Times 10 April, 1979