William Urquhart-Dykes
Captain William "Bill" Urquhart-Dykes (born September 4, 1897 in Hamilton , † 1979 ) was a British aviator, entrepreneur and racing car driver .
Aviator in World War I
William Urquhart-Dykes was a member of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War . In 1916 he joined the 3rd Battalion of The Cameronians , a battalion of the Scottish Rifles at Nigg in Ross and Cromarty of the Scottish Highlands . His father, who died in 1911, had already served as a career officer under his instructor Colonel Louard . He received his flight training with the 81st Squadron stationed near Newcastle .
In 1917 he came to France, where he was first a reconnaissance aircraft and later a fighter pilot . William Urquhart-Dykes was wounded in a crash in 1918 and saw the end of the war with the rank of captain .
Racing career
Together with his wife Ruth , née Hegarty (1894–1981), whom he had met in Ireland after the First World War , he competed as a men's driver in the 1920s and 1930s . He drove his races exclusively with Alvis vehicles . In 1927 he finished fifth in the Brooklands 6-hour race , a long-distance race that George Duller (Sunbeam Sports Model) won ahead of Sammy Davis ( Alvis 12/50 ) and the Tim Birkin / Frank Clement ( Bentley 3L Speed ) duo . He competed twice in the Le Mans 24-hour race . In 1928 he finished ninth overall with partner Sammy Davis. In 1929 , the operation ended prematurely after an engine failure on the factory Alvis 12/75 .
Entrepreneur
After the First World War, he and a partner Urquhart Dykes & Lord founded a company that still exists today that administers patents .
statistics
Le Mans results
| year | team | vehicle | Teammate | placement | Failure reason |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1928 |
 Alvis Car and Engineering Company
|
Alvis FA12 / 50 |
Sammy Davis
|
Rank 9 | |
| 1929 |
Alvis Car and Engineering Co.
|
Alvis FA8 / 15 |
Cyril Paul
|
failure | Engine failure |
literature
- Christian Moity, Jean-Marc Teissèdre, Alain Bienvenu: 24 heures du Mans, 1923–1992. Éditions d'Art, Besançon 1992, ISBN 2-909413-06-3 .
Web links
- William Urquhart-Dykes at Motorsport Magazine
- William Urquhart-Dykes as an aviator
- William Urquhart-Dykes at Racing Sports Cars
- Official website of Urquhart Dykes & Lord
Individual evidence
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Urquhart-Dykes, William |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Urquhart-Dykes, Bill (nickname) |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | British racing car driver and aviator |
| DATE OF BIRTH | September 4, 1897 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Hamilton |
| DATE OF DEATH | 1979 |