John Habin |
He then joined Vickers Supermarine in Woolston on a five year toolmakers apprenticeship and qualified as an engineer at a time when the company built several well known flying boats including the
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By 1949, John had moved away from grass track racing and decided to race motor cars. He began in a Cooper Mk III and took a fourth place at Silverstone on the 9th July but failed to finish the 100 Mile Race. He had a respectable fifth at Goodwood in September. John took a year out in 1950 but returned in '51 with a new JBS, taking tenth in the Grand Prix in July then travelled to Zandvoort for a third, behind Moss and Leston. On In conjunction with Mike Erskine, who had been successful in speedway and had a factory in John also drove in Formula Libre, in which he drove the Maserati 4 He was elected a member of the British Racing Drivers Club during this time, a membership he proudly maintained for over 50 years, always wearing his BRDC lapel badge, and for which he received a commendation from the BRDC just a few years ago. He stopped racing in 1955, partly due to another bad racing accident and partly, no doubt, due to some encouragement on the part of his later wife and life long partner, Peggy, with whom he had had a second son, Geoffrey, on 17th December 1953. A third son, Simon, followed on
In 1964, whilst he was the director of the Hampshire Aeroplane Club Limited, he was responsible for building several replicas of the First World War Avro Triplane IV, which were flown by the actor, Terry Thomas, in the film “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines”. Three replicas were built at his hanger at |