A NAVIGATOR of Bomber Command’s Pathfinder Force Mosquitoes during the Second World War, Don Gannon wrote his name into the record books in 1953 as a member of the two-man crew of the record-breaking Canberra jet bomber that won the London-New Zealand air race that year. Gannon navigated the RAF Canberra piloted by Flight Lieutenant Roland Burton, which touched down at Christchurch 41 minutes ahead of its closest rival — a Canberra of the Royal Australian Air Force — after 23hr 51min in the air.

Even today, the London-Christchurch race catches the imagination as the last of the great air races in a tradition that harks back to the pioneering aviation exploits of the 1930s. The field was a heterogeneous one, with the handicap section featuring such propeller-driven transport aircraft as a New Zealand Air Force Handley Page Hastings, a KLM Royal Dutch Airlines Douglas DC6 and a prototype Viscount turboprop airliner lent by Vickers and flown by a British European Airways team enthusiastically led by one of its senior executives, the late Sir Peter Masefield (obituary, February 16, 2006).

But the ultimate triumph belonged to the remarkable English Electric Canberra, a fast and versatile reconnaissance bomber, which had entered RAF service two years before, and was to fly operational sorties at Suez and (licence-built in America as the Martin B57) during the Vietnam War and, in highly modified form, as an ultra-high altitude strategic reconnaissance aircraft for the USAF.

At the end of a race halfway round the globe it was a desperately close-run thing — and the RAF was the beneficiary of a burst tyre suffered by one of the Australian Canberras on landing at an intermediate stage. But it was a remarkable achievement in 1953 to fly more than 12,000 miles (19,313km) at an average speed of 495mph, including stops.

Burton and Gannon were both awarded the Air Force Cross for their feat.

Donald Herbert Gannon was born in 1923 in Walthamstow and educated at Enfield County School. Called up for war service in 1943 he joined the RAF and, after training and gaining his navigation “wing”, was posted to 139 Squadron.

This unit was operating Mosquito bombers equipped with onboard H2S radar with which they added a new dimension to Bomber Command’s effectiveness at night, flying ahead of the main bomber stream to mark targets with coloured flares. As part of the Light Night Striking Force No 139 also acted as a bombing unit in its own right, attacking targets other than those being singled out by the Main Force, and thereby creating a maximum of confusion for both the night fighter and flak defences of the Third Reich. Gannon flew 56 sorties as a navigator and was awarded the DFC.

He was demobbed in 1946, but was re-engaged in 1949, and posted to 540 Squadron flying Mosquitoes in the photo reconnaissance role. From this in 1953 he teamed up with Burton and the Canberra PR3 for the London-Christchurch air race. The flight was planned as an affair of five stages with stops at Shaibah in Iraq, Ceylon, the Cocos Islands and Perth, the last and longest leg being the 3,150 miles from there to Christchurch.

Three RAF Canberras took off from London airport at 5pm on October 8, competing against two Canberras from the RAAF. At one point it looked as if the Burton-Gannon bid might be aborted on the first stage, since as they approached Shaibah, the hydraulics failed and the landing gear would not come down. Gannon pumped it down manually and they were able to touch down safely. Defects to the braking system caused a further delay on the ground, but the Canberra got airborne on its way to Ceylon without too much time being lost.

At the end of the third stage the RAAF entrant was not so lucky, bursting a tyre in a fast and heavy landing at the Cocos Islands airstrip, which cost the aircraft the race. Another RAAF Canberra, that of Squadron Leader Raw, was the first to make it over the Australian coastline, but damaged its nosewheel on landing at Woomera, which lost it precious time.

Burton and Gannon landed at Christchurch in a heavy storm at 5.36am local time 41 minutes ahead of Raw, to claim the £10,000 prize (paid by the Treasury to the RAF Benevolent Fund). In spite of the atrocious weather a crowd of several thousand had gathered at Harewood Airport, Christchurch, to cheer the aviators on their arrival.

Gannon’s RAF career was to be associated with the Canberra for several years thereafter. He flew sorties to measure fallout pollution levels in clouds after nuclear tests, and then had a period with the Meteorological Research Flight. He retired from the RAF in 1966 but continued as a navigation specialist with the Civil Aviation Authority. There, among other things, he was involved in the development of instruments and navigation aids for Concorde, making numerous proving flights to this end. He was also a qualified pilot, and maintained his licence until he reached the age of 70.

Gannon married, in 1949, Joan Cazaly. She died in 1982, and he is survived by a son and daughter.

Flight Lieutenant Don Gannon, DFC, AFC, RAF navigation specialist, was born on August 5, 1923. He died on September 21, 2006, aged 83.