In 1911 Horatio Barber, who was a founder member of the Royal Aero Club, was given £100 for a commercial flight. Not wanting to tarnish his amateur status, he presented the money to the club for the trophy.[2]
The first award was presented in 1913 to Captain C.A.H Longcroft of the Royal Flying Corps for a non-stop flight from Montrose to Farnborough in a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2a.[2] The trophy has not been awarded every year, particularly during the first and second world wars, and has been awarded jointly and to teams, as well as individuals.
In 1952 the Royal Aero Club presented plaques to all the surviving holders who previously only held the trophy for one year and were not given a permanent memento.[2]
| Year | Recipient | Accomplishment | Aircraft |
|---|
| 1913 | Cptn C.A.H. Longcroft, Royal Flying Corps | Non-stop 445 miles, Montrose and Farnborough | RAE B.E.2a |
| 1914 | Sqn Cdr J.W. Sedden, Royal Naval Air Service | Non-stop flight of 325 miles, Isle of Grain to Plymouth | Maurice Farman Seaplane |
| 1915 - 1918 | Not Awarded |
| 1919 | Cptn Sir John Alcock | First trans-atlantic flight, (awarded posthumously) | Vickers Vimy |
| 1920 | Lt H.J.L (Bert) Hinkler | Non-stop flight of 650 miles, Croydon - Turin in 9 hr 35 minutes | Avro Baby |
| 1921 | Not Awarded |
| 1922 | F. P. Raynham | A soaring flight of 1hr 53 minutes from Firle |
| 1923 | Alan Cobham (later Sir Alan) | A flying tour of the Middle east and North Africa covering 12,000 miles in 130 hours | Airco DH.9C |
| 1924 | Wg Cdr Stanley Goble and Flt Lt Ivor McIntyre | Circumnavigation of Australia | Fairey III |
| 1925 | Alan Cobham | London to Rangoon and return, 17,000 miles in 210 hours flight time | de Havilland DH.50 |
| 1926 | Sir Alan Cobham | Empire route survey flight Rochester to Melbourne | de Havilland DH.50J |
| 1927 | Lt R.R. Bentley | London to Cape Town - 7,250 miles | de Havilland DH.60 Moth |
| 1928 | Lt H.J.L (Bert) Hinkler | First flight to Australia in a light aircraft. London to Darwin - 11,005 miles in 15 days | Avro 581E Avian |
| 1929 | Hon. Dame Mary Bailey | Return flight from Croydon to Cape Town, including a tour of South Africa - 18,000 miles | de Havilland DH.60 Moth |
| 1930 | Sqn Ldr Charles Kingsford-Smith | For two flights; a West bound trans-atlantic flight Dublin to Harbour Grace (Fokker) and Heston to Darwin (Avro) | Fokker F.VIIb/3m and Avro 616 Avian IVA |
| 1931 | Lt H.J.L (Bert) Hinkler | New York City to London via South America and the South Atlantic, 10,560 miles | de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth |
| 1932 | Capt. C.F. Uwins | Setting the Class C world altitude record height for aeroplanes of 43,976 ft | Vickers Vespa |
| 1933 | J.A. Mollison | A flight from Lympne to Port Natal, Brazil of 4,600 miles | de Havilland DH.80A Puss Moth |
| 1934 | C. W. A. Scott & T. Campbell Black | For winning the speed section of the MacRobertson Air Race from Mildenhall to Melbourne | de Havilland DH.88 Comet |
| 1935 | Jean Batten | A flight from England to South America including the fastest solo South Atlantic crossing and, the first by a woman | Percival Gull |
| 1936 | Jean Batten | A flight from England to New Zealand, 14,000 miles | Percival Gull |
| 1937 | Fg Off A.E. Clouston | For two flights; the Istres (Marseilles) - Damascus - Paris race where he came fourth, and for a London - Cape Town flight of 45 hours with a return of 57½ hours | de Havilland DH.88 Comet |
| 1938 | Sqn Ldr R. Kellett | Record long distance flight from Ismailia to Darwin | Vickers Wellesley |
| 1939 | Alex Henshaw | Record return flight - London to Cape Town | Percival Mew Gull |
| 1940 - 1944 | Not Awarded |
| 1945 | Grp Cpt H.J. Wilson | 606|mph|abbr=on}} at Herne Bay | Gloster Meteor IV |
| 1946 | Grp Cpt E.M. Donaldson | 606|mph|abbr=on}} at Littlehampton | Gloster Meteor IV |
| 1947 | Sqn Ldr H.B. Martin & Sqn Ldr E.B. Sismore | 279|mph|abbr=on}} | de Havilland Mosquito PR34 (a modified Mosquito with 1710 hp RR Merlin 113A engines for "dedicated photo-reconnaissance") |
| 1948 | Grp Cpt John Cunningham | 59445|ft|abbr=on}} | de Havilland Vampire (modified) |
| 1949 | Not Awarded |
| 1950 | P.A. Wills | On the occasion of his fourth victory in the British National Gliding Championships |
| 1951 | Captain Oscar Philip Jones | 3000000|miles|abbr=on}} |
| 1952 | Wg Cdr R.P. Beaumont, Flt Lt P. Hillwood and Sqn Ldr D.A. Watson | First double crossing of the Atlantic within 24 hours | English Electric Canberra B5 |
| 1953 | Sqn Ldr R.L.E. Burton & Flt Lt D.H. Gannon | 11781|miles|abbr=on}}) | English Electric Canberra PR3 |
| 1954 | Not Awarded |
| 1955 | Cpt J.W. Hackett and P.J. Moneypenny | Records set for a return London - New York flight with a total time of 14 hr 22 mins | English Electric Canberra PR7 |
| 1956 | L.P. Twiss | 1132|mph|abbr=on}}. First flight officially timed at over {{convert|1000|mph|abbr=on}} | Fairey Delta 2 |
| 1957 | M. Randrup and W. Shirley | 70300|ft|abbr=on}} | English Electric Canberra B2 |
| 1958 | Grp Cpt John Cunningham & P. Bugge | Development flying of the de Havilland Comet | de Havilland Comet |
| 1959 | No. 111 Squadron RAF | For aerobatic display formation works | Hawker Hunter F6 |
| 1960 | T.W. Brooke-Smith | For the first vertical takeoff, transition to normal flight and vertical landing in this aircraft | Short SC.1 |
| 1961 | Anne and D. Burns | For their achievements at the World Gliding Championships |
| 1962 | Not Awarded |
| 1963 | A.W. Bedford | Achievements as Chief Test Pilot of the Hawker Aircraft Company, particularly in development of VTOL aircraft | Hawker Siddeley P.1127 & Harrier |
| 1964 | Not Awarded |
| 1965 | The Red Arrows | Meritorious service as an aerobatic team | Folland Gnats |
| 1966 | Not Awarded |
| 1967 | Sheila Scott | On the establishment of over 100 point-to-point international records | reason=Unsure all records were in this aircraft|date=April 2013}} |
| 1968 | Sqn Ldr R.G. Hanna | Leadership of The Red Arrows for three seasons | Folland Gnat |
| 1969 - 1972 | Not Awarded |
| 1973 | D.P. Davies | As Chief Test Pilot of the Air Registration Board, granting airworthiness certificates to commercial aircraft for many years |
| 1974 - 1976 | Not Awarded |
| 1977 | N. Todd, B. Walpole and S. Bolton | The development, planning and flying of Concorde on its first supersonic trans-Atlantic passenger service | Concorde |
| 1978 | Sqn Ldr D.G. Lee | Twice winning the World Gliding Championships | Schleicher ASW 17[1] |
| 1979 | Not Awarded |
| 1980 | Julian Nott | 55134|ft|abbr=on}} | "Innovation" hot air balloon now on display in the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum Dulles Airport |
| 1981 | Sqn Ldr D. G. Lee | A further three victories at the World Gliding Championships | Schempp-Hirth Nimbus-3[2] |
| 1982 - 1983 | Not Awarded |
| 1984 | St John Ambulance air wing | Outstanding service since 1972 by their team of 165 volunteer pilots in transporting over 700 heart and liver transplants with accompanying medical staff |
| 1985 | date=April 2013}} |
| 1986 | J. Egginton & D. Clews | 401|kph|abbr=on}} | Westland Lynx |
| 1987 | P. Lindstrand & R. Branson | 3075|miles|abbr=on}} in 31 hrs 41 mins. | Virgin Atlantic Flyer |
| 1988 | Not Awarded |
| 1989 | date=April 2013}} |
| 1990 | date=April 2013}} |
| 1991 | Not Awarded |
| 1992 | D. Cameron & R. Bayly | 4823|km|abbr=on}} in 124 hrs 34 min | Cameron R-77 Rozière balloon |
| 1993 - 1994 | Not Awarded |
| 1995 | Chris Rollings and Chris Pullen | 1000|km|abbr=on}} glider flight in the UK. | Schleicher ASH 25E |
| 1996 | Not Awarded |
| 1997 | David Bareford | Twenty years of competition in hot air ballooning, British, European and World Champion and bronze medal at the World Air Games |
| 1998 | Brian Milton | Round the world flight in a flex-wing microlight. This flight crossed 25 countries and took four months and 400 hours flying time | Pegasus Quantum 912 |
| 1999 | Brian Jones & Bertrand Piccard | 40814|km|abbr=on}}, an endurance of nearly 20 days | Breitling Orbiter 3 |
| 2000 | Jennifer Murray & Colin Bodill | A microlight versus helicopter race around the globe in support of the charity Operation Smile | Robinson R44 (Murray - helicopter) & Mainair Blade (Bodill - microlight) |
| 2001 | date=April 2013}} | Winning the second World Air Games & eighth World Microlight Championships |
| 2002 | Not Awarded |
| 2003 | Andrew Davis | Meritorious performances in competitions as a glider pilot, including being, from 1981, a member of the British Gliding Team for and unprecedented twelve World Championships |
| 2004 | Richard Meredith-Hardy | Flying over Mount Everest in a weight-shift microlight | Pegasus Quantum (with a turbo-charged Rotax 914 engine) |
| 2005 | David Hempleman-Adams | 21830|ft|abbr=on}}) |
| 2006 | Manuel Queiroz | First British pilot to circumnavigate the world in a homebuilt aircraft | Van's RV-6 |
| 2007 | John Williams | 1020|km|abbr=on}} to {{convert|1540|km|abbr=on}} |
| 2008 | David Hempleman-Adams & Jonathan Mason | Winners of the Gordon Bennett race |
| 2009 | Cpt Paul Bonhomme | Winner of the Red Bull Air Race World Championship | Zivko Edge 540 |
| 2010 | Cpt Stephen Noujaim | 1000|kg|abbr=on}} | Van's RV-7 |
| 2011 | David Sykes | First paraplegic to fly solo from England to Australia | P&M Aviation Quik |
| 2012 | Gerald Cooper | Meritorious performances in aerobatics culminating in 2012 becoming the European Unlimited Aerobatic Champion | Xtreme Air XA-41 |
| 2013 | Jon Hilton | First flight by Microlight from Britain to Canada and returning to Britain | Flight Design CTSW |
1. ^{{cite web|title=Flight International Archive|date=29 December 1979|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1979/1979%20-%204695.html|accessdate=9 June 2012}}
2. ^{{cite web|title=Flight International Archive|date=18 December 1982|url=http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1982/1982%20-%202741.html|accessdate=9 June 2012}}
3. ^1 2 3 {{Cite newspaper The Times|articlename=The Britannia Trophy Milestones In British Flying For Forty Years |section=Obituaries|author=|day_of_week=Monday|date=22 December 1952|page_number=7|issue=52501|column=F}}