RAF Top Gun known as The Prof couldn’t stop taking risks
NICKNAMED The Prof, former RAF top gun Andrew Hill enjoyed a stellar flying career. Described as ‘having aviation fuel running in his veins’, the Cambridge computer science graduate began flying in his teens.
Racking up a total of 1 ,2 9 of flying hours after almost 0 years in the cockpit, he even built a plane in his garage.
But that glittering career was to end in tragedy on August 22, 2015 when his Hawker Hunter jet crashed and killed 11 men at the Shoreham Airshow.
Last night it emerged that Mr Hill began winding up his finances after he was charged over the disaster amid speculation that he could be convicted or sued.
He was the director of a number of successful businesses, including a manufacturing firm called Marindus Group, which had an annual turnover of £9million.
According to Companies House documents, the airman resigned from the business just three days after he was charged with manslaughter in March 2018. He sold the firm to a Swedish business in December, weeks before the trial. It is unclear how much Mr Hill and his two siblings – who were joint majority shareholders – made from the deal.
He and his wife of more than 20 years Ellen also liquidated an aviation software company during the seven-week trial, pocketing more than £ 30,000 in January alone.
It is understood the families of the victims have already settled compensation claims with aircraft owner Canfield Hunter Ltd. Before flying passenger jets for British Airways and Virgin Atlantic, Mr Hill was one of the RAF’s elite Harrier jump jet pilots. Posted to the West Germany during the final throes of the Cold War, he also flew sorties over Iraq after the First Gulf War.
Sean Maffett, an air show commentator who worked with Mr Hill for much of his career, said: ‘He has aviation blood running through his veins. He is an extraordinary man, there is no question about it.’
Born in March 196 and educated at the prestigious Tonbridge School in Kent, Andrew Grenville Hill was a gifted A-grade student who won a place at Christ’s College, Cambridge, to study computer science without even having to take an entrance exam.
But he was also quickly marked out as an elite pilot in the making.
He began flying at the age of 17 when he won a Royal Navy scholarship.
He joined the RAF in 198 after being part of Cambridge University Air Squadron. Quickly showing his rare ability while training on the Hawk T1 jet, he was selected – or ‘creamed off’ – to be an instructor. He won an RAF competition and became the RAF Linton-on-Ouse display pilot before he was selected to fly Harriers – one of the most difficult jets to master because of its vertical take off and landing capability.
Bob Marston, a former Harrier instruc-
tor and RAF pilot for more than 40 years said: ‘The Harrier Force was the top of the pile – that’s where the best guys went.’
It was also in the RAF that he was given the nickname ‘The Prof’ – because of his background in computers – which would stick with him for the rest of his career.
Mr Hill displayed plenty of bravery as well as skill. His missions included policing no-fly zones over northern Iraq to protect Kurds from Saddam Hussein’s forces after the First Gulf War. But Mr Hill’s expertise in computing – which has also seen him dubbed ‘nerdy’ by his peers – continued to set him apart from most of his fellow pilots.
He designed a software package that allowed BA pilots to automatically book their desired shifts. Years earlier he had developed a digital version of the Harrier’s operating manual that was cleared for use by the Ministry of Defence.
Mr Hill really showed off his technical credentials in 200 when he and his wife, a BA pilot at the time, built a single-engine kit plane in the double garage of their home in Sandon, Hertfordshire.
After completing it in two years, he gained permission from the Civil Aviation Authority in 2008 to perform aerobatic displays at air shows.
The next phase of his career – which was to end in tragedy at Shoreham – began when he launched a two-man formation flying team with experienced display pilot Alister Kay. Over four years the duo flew in front of an estimated three million people, dazzling large crowds with their ‘daredevil’ performances.
The money would have helped the Hills buy their sprawling detached property in Sandon for £87 ,000 in 2009.
Known by team mates for his diligence, Mr Hill was categorised as cavalier and a risk taker by the prosecution during his trial. The jury heard how in 2014 the organiser of an airshow in Southport was forced to issue a rare ‘stop stop stop’ radio call because he felt Mr Hill, 4, had flown too close to spectators.
Mrs Hill, 6, supported her husband throughout the trial. He would put his head between his knees when footage of the crash was shown in court.
The pilot was advised not to watch the final moments over concerns of what it may ‘trigger’.
Friends say that in the first year after the crash he was ‘in a very dark place.’
‘He knew he had no right to survive that accident himself – and had caused the deaths of all those people,’ said one.