Jon Gowdy started flying as a 14 year old teenager with the South Down Gliding Club. It was at the age of 18 that he was introduced to display flying as the tow pilot for a glider/tug display. A year later, he began with Air Atlantique at Coventry. In addition to his commercial survey flying on various Cessna twins and the DC3 Dakota, he rose to become the Deputy Chief Pilot on the ‘Classic Flight’. Although young in years, he had already been identified as a skilful and highly professional pilot, and he started to amass experience displaying such aircraft as the Dragon Rapide, De Havilland Devon, Pembroke, Twin Pioneer, Percival Prentice, and Chipmunk. His skill as a display pilot was complemented by his approach to safety and his drive to develop better procedures in airshows. He was selected at this time to display the Vampire jet aircraft. His move into Commercial Aviation on such aircraft as the Airbus 320,  B747/B767 and eventually the Boeing 787 with British Airways did not preclude his continued involvement in display flying, particularly formation aerobatics with Silence Twister aircraft and his own team flying Vans RV4s. In the latter team he was to give thrilling displays throughout the UK and Europe, and he paved the way for evening pyrotechnic displays, which were to add a new and dramatic extension to display flying. Although his ‘day job’ was flying Commercial Jets, it is indicative of his desire to experience aviation in all its guises that, still only 27, he took a year in Antarctica flying for the British Antarctic Survey on DHC-6 Twin Otter, on almost entirely single-pilot operations.

Inevitably, his skill and maturity as an exceptional aerobatic and formation pilot were rewarded with being invited to fly warbird aircraft, starting with the Spitfire. Since that time, he has not only become one of the foremost display pilots of that genre of aircraft, but he has also trained and mentored many others on these high-performance aircraft. His mastery of these aircraft in the air is matched by his deep technical understanding of these complex machines. He is a CAA Display Authorisation Evaluator for display aerobatics on a comprehensive range of aircraft. He is now the Chief Pilot for the Aircraft Restoration Company at Duxford, where he is responsible for overseeing all flying operations for the business. This not only includes display flying but also film and TV work, pilot selection, pilot training, and test flying. He is acknowledged as the ‘go-to’ pilot to plan, choreograph, and lead large formations of WW11 aircraft. Aside from flying and displaying various marks of Spitfire, he has similarly displayed P47 Thunderbolt, Hurricane, Mustang, Lysander, Harvard, Messerschmitt 109, Beaver, Chipmunk, and the world's only airworthy Blenheim. 

Jon has now been display flying for 24 years, and his reputation is one of exemplary skill and leadership in his field, particularly with vintage aircraft. At only 42 years of age, he has already amassed a total of 11,600 hours in a total of 82 types. He is accordingly a very deserving recipient of the Hanna Trophy.

2013  John Romain

2014  John Beattie MBE

2015 Squadron Leader Duncan Mason RAF

2016  Flight Lieutenant "Charlie" C V Brown

2017  Brian Smith

2018  Lee Proudfoot

2019  Nigel Lamb

2020  Air Marshal Cliff Spink CB CBE RAF(Retd)

2021  not awarded

2022  Stuart Goldspink

2023  Paul Stone

2024  Captain Frédéric Akary