- Andy Green
Wing Commander Andy D. Green OBE BA RAF (born 1962) is a British
Royal Air Force pilot and WorldLand Speed Record holder.RAF career
Green was educated at
St Olave's Grammar School and then gained a RAF scholarship toWorcester College, Oxford , where he graduated in 1983 with first class honours inmathematics . [ [http://www.ox.ac.uk/gazette/1997-8/weekly/061197/news/story_2.htm Oxford University Gazette, 6 November 1997] ] He qualified as a fighter pilot onF-4 Phantom andTornado F3 aircraft, and later becameOfficer Commanding Operations Wing atRAF Wittering .peed records
upersonic
Andy Green is the current holder of the World
Land speed record , and the first person to break thesound barrier on land. On 25 September 1997 inThrustSSC he beat the previous record inBlack Rock Desert , USA, reaching a speed of 714.144 mph (1149.30 km/h). On 15 October, exactly 50 years and 1 day after the sound barrier was broken in aerial flight byChuck Yeager , Andy Green reached 763.035 mph (1227.99 km/h), the firstsupersonic record (Mach 1.016). Hiscall sign was "Dead Dog".Road car
His next land speed attempt was for MG in a specially modified
MG F called the MG EX255, except due to the time needed for modifications, the project was never finished on time and the attempt never happened.Diesel power
Since then, Andy Green's most recent challenge was the driving of the
JCB Dieselmax car, attempting to take the DieselLand Speed Record over convert|300|mi/h|km/h|abbr=on. Having trialled the vehicle on his own RAF base, Wittering, on 22 August 2006, he broke the previous record of 236 mph (380 km/h) (set in August 1973), after attaining an average speed of 328.767 mph (529 km/h) during two runs on theBonneville Salt Flats ,Utah . 24 hours later, Andy Green broke his own record, achieving a speed of 350.092 mph (563.418 km/h) on 23 August 2006.Honours and awards
He was created an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in the 1997 New Year's Honours List. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/43542.stm BBC News] ] He was awarded the Segrave Trophy by the
Royal Automobile Club in 1997. In 2006 he was awarded the John Cobb Trophy by theBritish Racing Drivers' Club for "a success of outstanding character". [ [http://www.brdc.co.uk/sub_page.cfm/title/BRDC%20Awards/section/aboutus/editID/58 BRDC] ]ee also
*
ThrustSSC
*JCB Dieselmax References
External links
* [http://www.europeancarweb.com/features/0612_epcp_andy_green_profile/index.html European Car Magazine profile]
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