Family

He was the brother of Derek Tangye

Derek Tangye

Derek Tangye was a well-known author who lived in Cornwall for nearly fifty years. He wrote 19 books which became known as 'The Minack Chronicles'--they were about his simple life on a clifftop daffodil farm called Dorminack, affectionately referred to as Minack, at St Buryan in the far west of...

, and grandson of Richard Tangye

Richard Tangye

Sir Richard Trevithick Tangye was a British manufacturer of engines and other heavy equipment.-Biography:...

. He was married to the actress Ann Todd

Ann Todd

Dorothy Anne Todd was an English actress and producer.She was born in Hartford, Cheshire and was educated at St. Winifrid's School, Eastbourne. She became a popular actress from appearing in such films as Perfect Strangers and The Seventh Veil...

.

Career

Born in Kensington

Kensington

Kensington is a district of west and central London, England within the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. An affluent and densely-populated area, its commercial heart is Kensington High Street, and it contains the well-known museum district of South Kensington.To the north, Kensington is...

, Nigel Tangye started his career in the Royal Navy

Royal Navy

The Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...

, spending three years in the Mediterranean having graduated at the Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College

Britannia Royal Naval College is the initial officer training establishment of the Royal Navy, located on a hill overlooking Dartmouth, Devon, England. While Royal Naval officer training has taken place in the town since 1863, the buildings which are seen today were only finished in 1905, and...

 in Dartmouth

Dartmouth, Devon

Dartmouth is a town and civil parish in the English county of Devon. It is a tourist destination set on the banks of the estuary of the River Dart, which is a long narrow tidal ria that runs inland as far as Totnes...

. He then left the Navy and devoted himself to learning to fly. He soon earned a Professional Pilot's 'B' Licence, the Navigator's Licence and the Air Ministry Instructor's Licence. After that he performed aerobatic demonstrations and worked as a flying instructor at the London Aeroplane Club.

As the aviation correspondent for the London Evening News

Evening News (London)

Evening News, formerly known as The Evening News, was an evening newspaper published in London from 1881 to 1980, reappearing briefly in 1987. It became highly popular under the control of the Harmsworth brothers. For a long time it maintained the largest daily sale of any evening newspaper in London...

, Tangye covered the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

.

In 1938 he wrote Teach Yourself to Fly, a book designed to help flying students with the basics before entering an aeroplane. The book was sufficiently well-regarded that it became recommended by the British Air Ministry for pilots in the run up to and during the Second World War, and Tangye was asked to train prospective RAF pilots. In later life he became a hotelier at Newquay

Newquay

Newquay is a town, civil parish, seaside resort and fishing port in Cornwall, England. It is situated on the North Atlantic coast of Cornwall approximately west of Bodmin and north of Truro....

.

In later years he lived in Cornwall

Cornwall

Cornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...

 and died in Camborne

Camborne

Camborne is a town and civil parish in west Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is at the western edge of a conurbation comprising Camborne, Pool and Redruth....

, aged 79.

Works

• The Inconstant Sea ISBN 0-7183-0274-5
• A Girl, a Boy and a Gannet: a Tale of the Cornish Coast ISBN 0-902899-93-7
• The Blue Bays of Cornwall ISBN 0-7183-0595-7
• "Teach Yourself To Fly" by Squadron Leader Nigel Tangye, R.A.F.O. (1941) (Reprinted by Hodder, 2008; ISBN 978-0-340-96614-3)

• Contributions as Air Correspondent for the Evening News (from 1937)

Films

• Daybreak (1948) (composer, song "Daybreak")
• Conquest of the Air (1940) (technical advisor, associate producer)
• Things to Come (1936) (aeronautical advisor; designer of the 1970 Type swallow- winged aeroplane, Raymond Massey
  Raymond Massey
  Raymond Hart Massey was a Canadian/American actor.-Early life:Massey was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Anna , who was born in Illinois, and Chester Daniel Massey, the wealthy owner of the Massey-Ferguson Tractor Company. Massey's family could trace their ancestry back to the American...
  
  ’s one man flying wing from the film