Allan Deacon 1932-1990

Allan Deacon was an ex Royal Navy pilot who had also flown at Boscombe Down. He was Chief Test Pilot for Shorts in Belfast until his death. He ejected from ZH203 Tucano Mk 51 off Rathlin Island, Mull of Kintyre on 22/2/1990.He suffered only minor injuries but was drowned in the rough sea conditions without getting into his dinghy,he was not wearing an immersion suit. The aircraft was the first one destined for the Kenyan AF and was doing high speed flutter trials with underwing stores when the tail came off because of the effects of the stores damping the wing oscillations