Desmond "Dizzy" Addicott
Desmond "Dizzy" Addicott sadly died of an aneurism while driving his car on the M11 near Stansted on Dec 10th 2005, aged 85.
Dizzy joined Vickers (later BAC) as a test pilot and then as an air display pilot which involved some film work. He flew the Junkers Ju 52 in "The Dirty Dozen", Mosquitos in "Mosquito Squadron", various WW1 replica aircraft in "The Blue Max" and the B-25 camera aircraft in the "Memphis Belle" remake in 1990. He was also in the 1986 release, "Biggles: Adventures in Time". He flew a wide variety of aircraft and became well known on the air show circuit. In his 'daytime job' he flew well known production aircraft ranging from Viscounts and Vanguards to the VC-10 and BAC One-Eleven.

In 2003 Dizzy appeared as himself in a Canadian TV documentary, "The Great Atlantic Air Race". He was one of the real characters of both aviation and motor sport, and a great raconteur. He was nicknamed "Dismal Desmond" at school but this became "Dizzy" when he joined the RAF in 1941. Following his demob in 1957 he joined the Royal Navy as a civilian ferry pilot which enabled him to fly a wide variety of aircraft prior to their introduction into service. Following this Dizzy became a senior test pilot for Percival Aircraft at Luton where he worked on the Jet Provost.

Addicott was a keen racing driver, and in the early 60s he raced an Elva-DKW alongside such names as Jim Clark, Mike Spence, Hugh Dibley (another pilot), Peter Arundell, Frank Gardner and Tony Maggs. He even had plans for a go at Craig Breedlove's 407mph land speed record using a vehicle based on a Swift fighter!

Having acquired a damaged Mini Van for £5, Dizzy and a colleague set about modifying it for racing. The upper bodywork was removed and replaced with a much more streamlined aluminium superstructure, which thanks to Dizzy's aviation contacts was tested in the wind tunnel at Weybridge. Known as the DART because of the initials of "Dizzy Addicott Racing Team" emblazoned across the bonnet, the car was shown at the 1964 Racing Car Show in the Horticultural Halls in London.

It suggested that the car should be manufactured as a fibreglass monocoque. It was going to be made by Marcos but following some problems with the original shells (and maybe other difficulties) the project was cancelled by Jem Marsh and Dizzy returned to his aviation career. Marcos went on the produce the Mini Macros and the original shape subsequently emerged as the Mini Jem. The Jem was further modified to create the Kingfisher Sprint.

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