Captain Sir Geoffrey de Havilland, OM, CBE, AFC, RDI, FRAeS (27 July 1882 – 21 May 1965) was an English aviation pioneer and aerospace engineer.

The aircraft company he founded produced the Mosquito, which has been considered the most versatile warplane ever built,[1] and his Comet was the first jet airliner to go into production.

He took an apprenticeship with engine manufacturers Willans & Robinson of Rugby, after which he worked as a draughtsman for The Wolseley Tool and Motor Car Company Limited in Birmingham, a job from which he resigned after a year.

He married in 1909 and almost immediately embarked on the career of designing, building and flying aircraft to which he devoted the rest of his life.

He was commissioned a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps on 2 September 1912,[4][5] was appointed a reserve officer in the RFC on 24 November and was confirmed in his rank on 25 December.

Large numbers of de Havilland-designed aircraft were used during the First World War, flown by the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force.

[15] With the help of former Airco owner George Holt Thomas he formed de Havilland Aircraft Company employing some former colleagues.

In 1928, the subsidiary company De Havilland Canada was created to build Moth aircraft in North America.

When World War II arrived, production expanded to augment British aircraft factories, without any possible threat from enemy bombers.

After the Second World War, De Havilland Canada went on to design and produce a number of indigenous types,[16] some of which proved highly successful.

[19] He was decorated with the Air Force Cross (AFC) in the 1919 New Year Honours, in recognition of his service in the First World War.

[24] A statue of de Havilland was erected in July 1997 near the entrance to the College Lane campus of the University of Hertfordshire in Hatfield.

He was a benefactor of the university, having given land adjoining the A1 to Hertfordshire County Council in 1951 for its precursor, the Hatfield Technical College.

Geoffrey Jr carried out the first flights of the Mosquito and Vampire and was killed in 1946 flying the jet-powered DH 108 Swallow while diving at or near the speed of sound.