On 3rd April 1933, two Scots pilots became the first to make a flight
over Mount Everest, the highest mountain on earth. Royal Air Force
Lieutenant David McIntyre and Douglas Douglas-Hamilton MP, Marquess of
Douglas and Clydesdale each piloted an open-cockpit biplane.
Douglas-Hamilton was the 14th Duke of Hamilton, born in London in
1903. He developed interests in flying during the early 1920s, becoming
a Squadron Commander in the Auxiliary Air Force (1927-36). As an aside,
he was involved in the flight of Rudolf Hess during World War II. Hess,
Adolf Hitler's deputy, flew to Scotland on the 10th May 1941, heading
towards Douglas-Hamilton's home at Dungavel Castle in an attempt to
involve the Duke in negotiating peace between Germany and Britain.
Churchill was not persuaded and Hess spent the rest of his life in
prison. The Duke died in 1973.
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