Air vice-marshal Michael Keith Adams CB, AFC, FRAeS (23 January 1934 – 30 August 2022) was a senior Royal Air Force officer and test pilot.[1][2]
Biography
Born in 1934 in Woolwich, Michael Adams was educated at City of London School. He had an older brother, Frank Adams, who became an accomplished mathematician, known for the Adams spectral sequence, Adams operations and Adams conjecture. Michael joined the Royal Air Force in 1952.[1] He became Air officer commanding Royal Air Force Training Units between 1983 and 1984, Assistant Chief of the Air Staff for Operational Requirements at the Ministry of Defence between 1984 and 1986,[3] and Senior Directing Officer at the Royal College of Defence Studies between 1987 and 1988.[4]
As a test pilot, he worked on the Tornado fighter, the Puma helicopter, and the European Fighter Aircraft (Eurofighter Typhoon). He was supposed to be one of two pilots to fly a Harrier jump jet in the 1969 Daily Mail Trans-Atlantic Air Race, but was injured before the competition when the nosewheel collapsed on a Harrier he was testing.[1]
Adams was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath in the 1986 New Year Honours.[5] He retired from the Royal Air Force in 1988.
Adams died on 30 August 2022, at the age of 88.[6]
References
- ^ a b c d "AVM Mike Adams, test pilot who flew and did weapons trials on new aircraft including Lightning, Phantom and Jaguar – obituary". The Telegraph. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 3 May 2024.
- ^ Mackie, Colin (April 2017). "Senior Royal Air Force Appointments" (PDF). British Armed Forces (1860–).
- ^ Mackie, Colin (April 2017). "Ministry of Defence and Tri-Service Senior Appointments" (PDF). British Armed Forces (1860–). Archived from the original (PDF) on 17 November 2015.
- ^ "Adams, Air Vice-Marshal Michael Keith". Who's Who.
- ^ "No. 50361". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1985. p. 2.
- ^ "ADAMS AVM (retd) Michael Keith CB, AFC, FRAeS". The Times. 10 September 2022. Retrieved 10 September 2022.
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