Tony Blackman
Anthony Lionel Blackman (born April 1928) is a British aviator, and former Chief Test Pilot for Avro. Early life Blackman was the son of the radiologist Dr Sydney Blackman (7 December 1898 - 1971) of Kensington Court, one of the principal developers of panoramic radiography in dentistry, and the son of Polish emigrants, educated at the Grocers' Company School (later known as Hackney Downs School). His father, when a local GP, was at the birth of the playwright Harold Pinter. His parents Sydney and Lena Goodman had married in 1923 in Hackney. His sister Rita Mason (1925- 25 March 2008) was also a dental radiologist (oral and maxillofacial radiology), with her father at the Royal Dental Hospital, attending Henrietta Barnett School in Hampstead Garden Suburb. His father helped to found the British Society of Dental and Maxillo-facial Radiology. Blackman attended Oundle School. When at Oundle he saw many damaged US bombers returning to RAF Polebrook and RAF Deenethorpe in Northamptonshire. Later he studied Physics at Trinity College, Cambridge. Career Royal Air Force From October 1948 Blackman started his National Service at RAF Padgate near Warrington. He joined the RAF, in December 1948 as a Pilot Officer, training for 12 weeks