Involved in aviation almost all his life, Harold Best’s earliest flight training came in a World War I Avro 504 trainer. He built his first aircraft, a Mignet HM-14 Flying Flea, in 1935 while still a schoolboy and soon became involved with the British homebuilt movement, assisting in the development of several designs that were available prior to World War II.
During the war, Harold was involved in photo reconnaissance and converting Spitfires for photo recon service. In1942 he was secretly dropped into occupied France and worked with the French Resistance to sabotage German aircraft production in that country. After the war, he helped found the Popular Flying Association in the U.K. and maintained his close ties to the very active French amateur built aircraft movement. This connection was extremely valuable during his service with the British Air Registration Board, now the Civil Aviation Authority, where he was able to transfer the French acceptance of amateur built aircraft into the U.K.’s then restrictive regulations.
England’s Harold Best-Devereux, who was best known to U.S. EAAers as the eloquent master of ceremonies for the evening programs at Oshkosh until his untimely death from cancer in July of 1985, played a far more important role in the international affairs of UK homebuilders. The European Director of EAA for over 20 years, Harold worked tirelessly to make it possible for Europeans to build and fly their own aircraft, to make rules less restrictive in those nations that did allow homebuilding and to bring sport pilots of every nation together. Fluent in French, he and EAA Founder Paul Poberezny traveled extensively in France and other countries helping establish the legitimacy of amateur built aircraft throughout Europe. For these and other achievements, Harold was awarded the prestigious Paul Tissandier Diploma by the Federation Aeronautique Internationale and, although a citizen of the United Kingdom, was elected a member of a select group of French aviation pioneers.
An active pilot until his death, Harold owned a number of aircraft over the years, including a Tailwind he bought in the U.S. One of his most treasured aviation experiences came in the summer of 1977 when he and his son, Igor, flew a 1937 Miles Whitney Straight from Halifax, N.S. to Lake Tahoe, CA, with a stop at Oshkosh to participate in that year’s EAA Convention. At the time of his death, Harold was rebuilding a 1947 Miles Messenger and extensively researching the life of Henri Mignet.
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