Frank Griffiths (pilot)

Frank Cromwell Griffiths, DFC, AFC, (1 May 1912 – 27 March 1996), nicknamed 'Griff', was a special duties pilot in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War who flew over 60 types of aircraft as a test pilot. In August 1943, Griffiths was shot down delivering supplies to the French Resistance near Annecy in southeast France. The only survivor, he spent the next three months escaping via France, Switzerland and Spain, before returning to Britain and to test piloting in early 1944. In 1945, as part of the Blind Landings Experimental Unit, he recorded the world's first auto landing, a forerunner of autopilot. He retired from the RAF in 1962 as a Group Captain.