Flight Lieutenant Haliburton Hume Leech (1908-1939) was a Royal Air Force

Royal Air Force

The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

 aviator, air racer and test pilot.

Leech was born on 16 April 1908 in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Northumberland the son of Joseph William Leech a surgeon and later mayor and member of parliament for Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

Leech joined the Royal Air Force in 1925 as a cadet and on 10 April 1926 gained his Royal Aero Club Aviators Certicate (No. 7993) at the Newcastle-on-Tyne Aero Club using a De Havilland Moth

De Havilland Moth

The de Havilland Moths were a series of light aircraft, sports planes and military trainers designed by Geoffrey de Havilland. In the late 1920s and 1930s they were the most common civil aircraft flying in Britain and during that time every light aircraft flying in the UK was commonly referred to...

. Commissioned in 1927 he left the Royal Air Force College Cranwell

Royal Air Force College Cranwell

The Royal Air Force College is the Royal Air Force training and education academy which provides initial training to all RAF personnel who are preparing to be commissioned officers. The College also provides initial training to aircrew cadets and is responsible for all RAF recruiting along with...

 and was posted to RAF Tangmere

RAF Tangmere

RAF Tangmere was a Royal Air Force station famous for its role in the Battle of Britain, located at Tangmere village about 3 miles east of Chichester in West Sussex, England. American RAF pilot Billy Fiske died at Tangmere and was the first American aviator to die during World War II...

 in 1927.

In 1930 he moved to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at Farnborough as a test pilot and he was selected for the High Speed Flight

High Speed Flight RAF

The RAF High Speed Flight, sometimes known as 'The Flight' , was a small flight of the Royal Air Force formed for the purpose of competing in the Schneider Trophy contest for racing seaplanes during the 1920s....

 to compete in the Schneider Trophy Race, but after training with too many pilots being selected he returned to Farnborough without joining the team. He was a keen air racer and entered the King's Cup Race

King's Cup Race

The King's Cup Race is an annual British handicapped cross-country air race, first contested on 8 September 1922. The event was open to British pilots only, but that did include members of the Commonwealth....

 every year between 1929 and 1934, with his experience as a test pilot he performed the first flights of the RAE Scarab

RAE Scarab

The RAE Scarab was a light single-engined single-seat parasol winged modification of the de Havilland Humming Bird, flying in the United Kingdom in 1932. Only one was built.-Development:...

 and the Arrow Active

Arrow Active

The Arrow Active is a British aerobatic aircraft built in the 1930s.-Design and development:The Arrow Active is a single-seat biplane of conventional configuration, with single-bay, staggered wings of unequal span. The upper and lower wings are joined by a single interplane strut. The...

.

He married in 1937 in Eyke in Suffolk to Ruth Elliot. In September 1938 he retired from the Royal Air Force due to ill-health. Leech died on 5 May 1939 at St Bartholomews Hospital in London, aged 31.