Speed of Sound Trivia Quiz

Answer: Tennis

The stadium in Paris where the French Open tennis championships are held is Le Stade de Roland Garros, and the event is often referred to by his name. Garros himself was shot down and killed only one month before the end of the war, on 5 October 1918, which was the day before what would have been his thirtieth birthday.

The airport in Réunion, and island in the Indian Ocean, is also named after him and Peugeot branded some of their models to bear his name.

Answer: Per Lindstrand

In 1991, Branson and Lindstrand completed a flight of more than 6700 miles from Japan to Canada in their balloon 'Virgin Pacific Flyer', which was the first flight across the Pacific. They had previously made the first cross Atlantic flight in 1987. They also, with Steve Fossett, attempted to make the first circumnavigation of the world, but were beaten to this record by 'Breitling Orbiter 3'.

The other Swedes are an actor (von Sydow), the founder of IKEA (Kamprad) and a skier (Stenmark).

Answer: Both legs

In 1931, when Bader was aged twenty-one, he was in training for the Hendon Air Show while in the RAF. Despite having been warned not to undertake aerobatics, following the deaths of two other pilots, he attempted a low roll which caused the wing of his aircraft to hit the ground. Both legs had to be amputated, and Bader was invalided out of the armed forces in 1933.

He re-entered the RAF on the outbreak of war and fought in the Battle of Britain. Bader was shot down over France and became a prisoner of war in August 1941.

He made several attempts to escape and was moved to Colditz in 1942 as a result. Bader survived the war and died from a heart attack in 1982.

Answer: Brian Trubshaw

Concorde was a joint venture between the UK and France. The first flight was made by the French pilot, André Turcat, with Trubshaw making the first flight in the UK in April 1969. He had flown with Bomber Command during World War II before going on to pilot the Royal family. He became chief test pilot for Vickers Armstrongs and died in 2001 at the age of 77.

The first Concorde flight in the UK was made from Filton (Bristol), where it was built, to RAF Fairford in Gloucestershire, which gave me two of the incorrect answers, and Cosford is an RAF base near Wolverhampton, which gave me the final one. As far as I know, the names exist nowhere but in my imagination.

Answer: John and Arthur

John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown flew from Newfoundland in Canada to Connemara in Ireland in June 1919 in a modified Vickers Vimy bomber. They had both served as aviators in World War I, and both finished the war as prisoners. They won a prize of £10,000, put up by the newspaper 'Daily Mail', which was presented to them by Winston Churchill.

They were each knighted in recognition of their achievement by King George V, and there is a statue of them at London's Heathrow Airport. Alcock was killed in an aircrash in December 1919 while en route to the Paris airshow.

Answer: Geoffrey de Havilland

Geoffrey de Havilland was chief designer for Airco until the company was sold in 1920. This prompted him to set up his own company based in Edgware. Among his designs were the 'Moth' and the 'Mosquito', which was used extensively during the Second World War due to its versatility. The 'Comet' came into use in 1949, but suffered several crashes caused by metal fatigue. Following a re-design, the aircraft continued in use for several decades. The military version, named 'Nimrod', remains in use (with modifications) and is intended to remain so until at least the 2020s.

The other names are all well known aircraft British designers, who set up their own companies.

Answer: Finland

Rust flew from Hamburg to Finland on 13 May. He left Helsinki airport on 28 May in a Cessna light aeroplane, having filed Stockholm as his destination. However, he flew to Moscow and landed on a bridge near St. Basil's Cathedral. Rust's first intention was to land in the Kremlin itself but decided against this as he believed that the Russians would simply deny the incident if he was not in full sight. He was sentenced to four years in prison but released early as a goodwill gesture.

The incident was used by Gorbachev as a catalyst for his reforms, as the military had clearly failed in its defence of Moscow, enabling Gorbachev to remove many die-hard military leaders.

Answer: Helen Sharman

Helen was a member of a team who visited the Mir Space Station in May 1991. She was chosen for the British 'Project Juno' which was privately funded via sponsorship and a lottery. Despite the scheme's failure to raise the full amount needed, the Russians proceeded with the mission although some of the planned experiments had to be abandoned.

Helen returned to earth on 26 May 1991, having spent eight days in space. The three men are British born astronauts who have flown on American space missions.

Answer: Jeana Yeager

The aeroplane was the Rutan Model 76 Voyager, designed by Burt Rutan, brother of Dick with fuel stored in its wings. It flew from Edwards Air Force Base on 14 December 1986 and landed back there on 23 December 1986. The flight took over nine days, and they had covered 24,986 miles (40,211 km). Jeana Yeager is not related to Charles Yeager, and the other options are made up names.

Answer: Richard Todd

The film was based on the books by Paul Brickhill, called 'The Dambusters', and Gibson's own account of his wartime career, 'Enemy Coast Ahead'. The raid involved the use of the 'bouncing bomb' developed by the scientist Barnes Wallis to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley in the hope of disrupting the German war effort. Gibson himself died in September 1944 when his aircraft crashed in the Netherlands, possibly due to a fuel problem.

Richard Todd appeared as Gibson in the film and had served in the war himself. Michael Redgrave played Barnes Wallis. Robertson and Chakiris both featured in '633 Squadron', a 1964 film based on a fictitious RAF squadron.