Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton

Air Commodore Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton and 11th Duke of Brandon (3 February 1903 – 30 March 1973), was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and aviator. He was the first man to fly over Mount Everest.

When Rudolf Hess, the Deputy Führer of the Nazi Party, made his surprise landing in Scotland in May 1941, he claimed to know Hamilton, who denied knowing Hess, although both were believed to have met at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin and might have remained in contact. Hamilton was, however, declared in Parliament to be innocent of any breach of security.

Douglas Douglas-Hamilton was born in Pimlico, London, on 3 February 1903. He was the son of Alfred Douglas-Hamilton, 13th Duke of Hamilton, and his wife, Nina (née Poore). He was educated at Eton College and Balliol College, Oxford, where he gained a Blue in boxing and also rowed for the university. He later gained the Scottish Amateur Middleweight boxing title.

Styled Marquess of Clydesdale before he succeeded his father as the Duke of Hamilton and Keeper of Holyroodhouse, he was appointed as honorary colonel of the 7th (Blythswood) Battalion of the Highland Light Infantry in July 1931. In 1935, in order to experience the life of the employees in his family's coal mines, he worked for a time at the coal face as plain Mr Hamilton, joining a trade union. He was a prominent member of the Scottish Unionist Party during his time as Member of Parliament (MP) for East Renfrewshire from his victory in the 1930 by-election until 1940, when he succeeded to the peerages and joined the House of Lords.

Hamilton became interested in flying at an early age, and served in the Royal Auxiliary Air Force (RAuxAF). He was commissioned in the 602 (City of Glasgow) Squadron as a pilot officer on 4 July 1927, with subsequent and rapid promotions to flying officer (4 January 1929) and to flight lieutenant (15 January 1930). On 6 May 1931, aged 28, the Marquess became the youngest squadron leader of his day, commanding the squadron from 1931 to 1936.

He was involved in one of the more ambitious aeronautical flights of the early twentieth century, sponsored by Lucy, Lady Houston, the Houston-Mount Everest Flight Expedition. Flying in formation higher than any before; Lord Clydesdale, as he was then known, was chief pilot on the first flight over Mount Everest in 1933, flying a Westland PV-3 biplane. The extremity endured by the crews of these aeroplanes helped demonstrate the need for pressurised cabins in modern aircraft. It was also the first detailed and scientific survey of the Himalaya region. Indirectly, the expedition resulted in the formation of Scottish Aviation Ltd (now part of BAE Systems). A documentary film, Wings over Everest, by Ivor Montagu and Geoffrey Barkas, was made of the record-setting flight and won an Academy Award in the United States in 1936.

In recognition of his role in the expedition, he was decorated with the Air Force Cross in the 1935 New Year Honours. As a pioneering early aviator, he was regarded in much the same heroic way as the astronauts a generation later.

He relinquished command of his squadron on 2 September 1936, receiving a promotion to wing commander.