Aircrew Details

Aircrew Details

Louis McQuade
	Louis is our Chief Pilot and Military Head of Flying and one of only two MoD approved Instructors and Type Rating Examiners / Standard Evaluators on the Hunter ( the other being his HHA colleague Chris Carder) His 11,000+ hours of pilot in command time include extensive time on the Hawk, Phantom, Tornado F3 and F18 Hornet in addition to the Hunter and a multitude of historic types. A former RAF Squadron Leader, Louis joined the RAF in 1978, and, having completed flying training on the Hawk, was initially posted to 111 Squadron at RAF Leuchars flying the Phantom. At this time Louis met Mark Hanna and was introduced to low-level aerobatics in the Pilatus P2.
In 1985, he became a Qualified Weapons Instructor and was posted to 74 (Tiger) Squadron flying the F4J. Then, in 1987 Louis began an exchange tour with the United States Marine Corps (VMFA 212, Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii ) flying the F18. This included extensive operational flying during Operation Desert Storm & Desert Shield (Gulf War 1). His final tour was as a Squadron Leader flying the Tornado F3 on the Operational Evaluation Unit. Louis joined HHA in 1995.
Rolf Meum Rolf learned to fly at the age of 15, taught by his father who was an ex-Norwegian Air Force fighter pilot. In 1981, Rolf was the youngest operational pilot in NATO when flying air defence F-5s. He also flew T-38 Talons as an exchange instructor with the United States Air Force. Rolf started flying historic military aircraft in 1977 and in 1995 joined HHA. He has accumulated over 11,000 hours and has displayed at major airshows all across Scandinavia and Europe. Rolf is a CAA approved Display Authorisation Examiner and joined HHA in 1995.
Dave Bolsover Dave joined the RAF after university and has extensive experience (5,000 hours+ ) on both rotary and fixed wing types culminating in operational tours in both Gulf Wars, the first time round flying the mighty Buccaneer S2B and in Gulf War 2 the Tornado GR4. From a display flying point of view, arguably one of the highlights of his career was a tour as Wing Commander RAFAT (The Red Arrows) and Detachment Commander RAF Scampton – he is therefore superbly qualified for display flying. Dave’s fast jet experience includes the Buccaneer, Tornado GR1 & GR4, Canberra, Hawk and Hunter. In addition to displaying the Hunter MK 58, he is lead pilot designate on HHA’s Buccaneer and has been heavily involved in the operational certification process of the type for civilian display use. Indeed, HHA’s aircraft, XX885, is the one Dave flew in the Gulf War.
Chris Carder Chris Carder joined the Royal Air Force in 1983 and spent 22 years of continuous flying service, almost entirely on jets. A first tour on the Canberra was spent in the target facilities role, flying a number of variants; B2, T4, PR7, E15 and TT18. A tour as an advanced flying instructor followed at RAF Valley on the Hawk, where Chris was selected to be the solo Hawk display pilot. Following operational conversion training Chris joined 54(F) Sqn at RAF Coltishall flying the Jaguar in the attack role, seeing operational service on peace-keeping duties in Northern Iraq and Bosnia. From 54(F) Sqn Chris moved to the Jaguar OCU as an instructor, amassing over 1500 hrs on the Jaguar and displaying the Jaguar for the 1999 season. Chris was then selected to join the RAF Aerobatic Team, The Red Arrows, spending the next 3 years as Red 4 and then 8, completing over 240 public shows. Having been promoted to Squadron Leader, Chris spent his last tour in the RAF as the Chief Flying Instructor at the Defence Elementary Flying Training School at RAF Barkston Heath. Chris is the only MoD current Hunter Instrument Rating Examiner and one of only two MoD approved Instructors and Type Rating Examiners / Standard Evaluators on the Hunter. ( the other being his HHA colleague Louis McQuade)
AM Cliff Spink CBE Cliff is HHA’s Flight Safety Officer, a role to which he is superbly suited following experience gained in the course of a long flying career in the air force and extensive air display experience. After graduating from the RAF College Cranwell on the Jet Provost, he flew the Gnat and the Hunter before joining his first squadron, Treble One, on the Lightning F Mk 3. Cliff flew nearly 1400hrs on Lightning’s with 111 and 56 Squadrons. Later, Cliff returned to 111Sqn, this time on the F4K/M and went on to command 74(Tiger) Sqn on the F4J. In all, he flew 1400hrs on the F4 Phantom. In 1989 he took command of RAF Mount Pleasant, Falkland Islands, and, in addition to the F4, flew the C130 and Sea King helicopter. In 1990 he converted to the Tornado F3 and was almost immediately detached to Saudi Arabia, as the Tornado Detachment Commander for the duration of the Gulf War. In 1991, as Station Commander RAF Coningsby, he flew the Spitfires and Hurricanes of the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight. He went on to fly other types such as the Hawk, Nimrod, Squirrel and Wessex. In the last decade Cliff has flown most types of prop fighter aircraft including P51, Corsair, P47, Bf109, Sea Fury, Wildcat, Spitfire, Hurricane and has also recently been flying the T33 and F86. Cliff has been HHA’s Flight Safety and Standards Officer since 2001, and re-qualified on the Hunter for the 2004 airshow season, displaying it with much gusto at the Goodwood Revival meeting
Dave Southwood Dave started flying at the age of 17 then joined the RAF a year later in 1973. After completing flying training he flew Buccaneers and Hunters with 208 Squadron, becoming the squadron’s Qualified Weapons’ Instructor pilot in 1982. In 1983 and 1984 he flew on Operation Pulsator in Beirut for which he was awarded the Queen’s Commendation for Valuable Service in the Air. In 1984 Dave became the 208 Squadron Buccaneer display pilot, thus starting a long association with display flying. He trained as a test pilot at the Empire Test Pilots’ School (ETPS) during 1985, thereafter spending 5 years at Boscombe Down involved in many varied Military Aircraft Release programmes on fast jet and trainer aircraft. Much of this work involved the carriage and release of new weapons, both guided and unguided, on a variety of aircraft, and also many weapon development programmes flying a Buccaneer; for his work during this tour he was awarded the Air Force Cross. In 1991 he returned to ETPS as a flying tutor before being posted to Farnborough in 1993 as a Research and Development test pilot. On this tour Dave specialized in projects on night vision goggles, FLIR, targeting pods, helmet mounted sights and display systems, and integration onto aircraft such as the Jaguar and Tornado. In 1995 he returned to ETPS as a tutor from where he left the RAF as a Squadron Leader in 1999 to fly Boeing 747s for an airline. In 1999 he was given the Derry and Richards Memorial award by the Guild of Air Pilots and Air Navigators for his services to flight test, the first military pilot ever to be given this accolade. In 2002 he returned to ETPS as a civilian flying tutor where he is currently instructing on types including Tornado, Jaguar, Alpha Jet and Hawk. Dave started flying the Hunter in 1978 and remained current on it until 1999. In early 2007 he started flying it again for HHA, becoming the type standardization agent for the military flying regulatory organization. In addition, he has been displaying vintage World War II fighters since 1988, is a CAA Display Authorisation Evaluator and flies regularly for The Fighter Collection at Duxford. Dave has 8500 hours on well over 100 types of aircraft, ranging from the Spitfire to the Phantom, Wildcat to Tomcat, Bf109 to Gripen, Airacobra to F-117A. He has 1350 hours on the Buccaneer and almost 900 hours on his favourite aircraft, the Hunter.