I am a little late in wishing Charles ‘Sox’ Hosegood a happy 92nd birthday! He was a friend on my dad Donald, a fellow golfer at Weston-super-Mare Golf Club and helicopter test pilot.
Charles Hosegood, nick-named Sox, served in the Fleet Air Arm during the war and was appointed to the first armed merchant cruiser which was fitted with a catapult. Towards the end of the war, he was one of the first British helicopter pilots to be trained in the USA and when he returned to the Britain , his skill as a pilot enabled him to serve in different experimental units. This included the Experimental Unit at Beaulieu.
After the war Sox worked at the Bristol Aeroplane Company, testing and helping develop helicopters; he became the Chief Helicopter Test Pilot in the initial stages of developing the Sycamore.
This helicopter became the first British certified helicopter, and Sox flew many, many hours in BAC’s Mk.3 demonstrator which coincidentally was known as SX – because of its registration, not because Sox was flying it! he later tested the tandem-rotor Type 173 which was the first British twin-engine helicopter, and the also the Type 192 Belvedere. The Belvedere is interesting because it was the ancestor of the Chinook. BAC Helicopter Division relocated to Weston-super-Mare, which is where Sox became a member of the golf club; the Belvedere was first flown at the local airfield in 1957 by Sox, and the following year he demonstrated it at the Farnborough Air Show.
Lois Elsden 
Good to find his photo. Knew him for many years, firstly at Beaulieu Aerodrome, Became almost another son for my Mother. After the war he had a sort spell employed in Trinidad Petroleum as minimubs in UK. Whilst there with my Father, on business, Sox flew me over island in 2 seater plane.. At the first opportunity he returned to UK and helicopter work.
My sister and I attended his wedding and I think I stayed more than once at their house near Bristol. He was at Farnborough when John Derry died and was worried for me and my husband as he knew where my husband and I regularly watched the displays from. By good fortune we had moved down to buy an ice cream as it was a very hot day. The “through the sound barrier ” display started so we stayed down at the edge of the runway. One engine ploughed through where we had been sitting ,killing many.. Sox rang my parents next day fearing to hear we were among the casualties.
Lost touch over the years but good to remember Sox – a good friend.
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Thank you – he was a lovely, kindly man and a real character (in the best way!) He was a good friend to my father or many years.
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