David Looker (26 February 1913 – 13 January 1995) was a British bobsledder who competed in the late 1930s. He won two gold medals in the four-man event at the FIBT World Championships, earning them in 1937 and 1938.
Biography
Looker was born in London on 26 February 1913. After his education at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, he went on to enjoy a playboy lifestyle during the 1930s. Typically, he spent much of the summer in the south of France and the winter months in Switzerland. A capable skier, he joined The Alpine Ski Club, but it was with the St. Moritz Tobogganing Club (SMTC) that he demonstrated true sporting prowess, as a winner on the Cresta Run. After winning a sweepstake, he used the proceeds to purchase life-membership of the SMTC. However, his best performance was with the British Bobsleigh Association. He missed out on being part of the four-man bobsleigh team for the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany because he had already planned a round-the-world cruise for that year. He soon made up for his absence, becoming a double gold medal winner over two consecutive years for the four-man event at the FIBT World Championships: at St Moritz, in 1937; and, at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, in 1938.
In August 1938, Looker was commissioned into Auxiliary Air Force, joining 615 Squadron; whose honorary commander was Winston Churchill. He was a veteran of the Battle of France and was shot down flying over Belgium: he was forced to bail out of his aeroplane and was injured on landing. After a period of convalescence, he returned to active duties; just in time to take part in the Battle of Britain. On 18 August 1940 his squadron's aerodrome at Kenley was one of several attacked by the Luftwaffe. His own machine was under repair at the time; so, he had to requisition an older aircraft - a Mark I Hawker Hurricane - kept in reserve as a spare. Soon after engaging the enemy, however, his aeroplane was hit and badly damaged by cannon fire from a Messerschmidt 109, forcing him out of the battle. Unable to get back to base, he crash landed at Croydon Airport. After this, he did not return to active service; but was sent off to Canada, on training duties. During the latter part of the war, he returned home and was assigned to the Air Ministry; where, among other things, he worked on the preparations for the D-Day landings.
After the war, Looker got involved with a number of business ventures, including a project to develop a form of automatic transmission for the car industry. Despite coming up with a viable design, he and his partners where unable to convince any British car manufacturer of its potential; almost inevitably, it was the U.S. Auto Industry which made the breakthrough and went on to establish automatic transmission as a standard feature in car production. A lifelong passion for cars lead to employment with a number of leading motor distributors, and he eventually became Managing Director of H.A.Fox & Co. He married in 1953 and retired in 1980. After a short illness, he died on 13 January 1995.
Looker's name is listed on The Battle of Britain Memorial, Victoria Embankment, London. The Hawker Hurricane he flew was subsequently restored and is now on permanent display at The Science Museum, in South Kensington, London.
References
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- 1930: Italy (Franco Zaninetta, Giorgio Biasini, Antonio Dorini, Gino Rossi (bobsledder))
- 1931: Germany (Werner Zahn, Robert Schmidt, Franz Bock, Emil Hinterfeld)
- 1933: Not held
- 1934: Germany (Hanns Kilian, Fritz Schwarz, Hermann von Valta, Sebastian Huber)
- 1935: Germany (Hanns Kilian, Alexander Gruber, Hermann von Valta, Sebastian Huber)
- 1937: Great Britain (Frederick McEvoy, David Looker, Charles Patrick Green, Byran Black)
- 1938: Great Britain (Frederick McEvoy, David Looker, Charles Patrick Green, Chris Mackintosh)
- 1939: Switzerland (Fritz Feierabend, Heinz Cattani, Alphonse Hörning, Joseph Beerli)
- 1947: Switzerland (Fritz Feierabend, Friedrich Waller, Felix Endrich, Stephan Waser)
- 1949: United States (Stanley Benham, Patrick Martin, William Casey, William D'Amico)
- 1950: United States (Stanley Benham, Patrick Martin, James Atkinson, William D'Amico)
- 1951: West Germany (Andreas Ostler, Xavier Leitl, Michael Pössinger, Lorenz Nieberl)
- 1953: United States (Lloyd Johnson, Piet Biesiadecki, Hubert Miller, Joseph Smith)
- 1954: Switzerland (Fritz Feierabend, Harry Warburton, Gottfried Diener, Heinrich Angst)
- 1955: Switzerland (Franz Kapus, Gottfried Diener, Robert Alt, Heinrich Angst)
- 1957: Switzerland (Hans Zoller, Hans Theler, Rolf Küderli, Heinz Leu)
- 1958: West Germany (Hans Rösch, Alfred Hammer, Theodore Bauer, Walter Haller)
- 1959: United States (Arthur Tyler, Gary Sheffield, Parker Vooris, Charles Thomas Butler)
- 1960–61: Italy (Eugenio Monti, Sergio Siorpaes, Furio Nordio, Renzo Alverà)
- 1962: West Germany (Franz Schelle, Josef Sterff, Ludwig Siebert, Otto Göbl)
- 1963: Italy (Sergio Zardini, Ferruccio Dalla Torre, Renato Mocellini, Romano Bonagura)
- 1965: Canada (Vic Emery, Gerald Presley, Michael Young, Peter Kirby)
- 1966: West Germany (Toni Pensperger (posthumous), Ludwig Siebert, Helmut Werzer, Roland Ebert)
- 1967: Cancelled to weather conditions
- 1969: West Germany (Wolfgang Zimmerer, Peter Utzschneider, Walter Steinbauer, Stefan Gaisreiter)
- 1970: Italy (Nevio de Zordo, Roberto Zandonella, Mario Armano, Luciano de Paolis)
- 1971: Switzerland (René Stadler, Max Forster, Erich Schärer, Peter Schärer)
- 1973: Switzerland (René Stadler, Werner Carmichel, Erich Schärer, Peter Schärer)
- 1974: West Germany (Wolfgang Zimmerer, Peter Utzschneider, Manfred Schumann, Albert Wurzer)
- 1975: Switzerland (Erich Schärer, Peter Schärer, Werner Carmichel, Joseph Benz)
- 1977: East Germany (Meinhard Nehmer, Bernhard Germeshausen, Hans-Jürgen Gerhardt, Raimund Bethge)
- 1978: East Germany (Horst Schönau, Horst Bernhard, Harald Seifert, Bogdan Musioł)
- 1979: West Germany (Stefan Gaisreiter, Dieter Gebard, Hans Wagner, Heinz Busche)
- 1981: East Germany (Bernhard Germeshausen, Hans-Jürgen Gerhardt, Henry Gerlach, Michael Trübner)
- 1982: Switzerland (Silvio Giobellina, Heinz Stettler, Urs Salzmann, Rico Freiermuth)
- 1983: Switzerland (Ekkehard Fasser, Hans Märcy, Kurt Poletti, Rolf Strittmatter)
- 1985: East Germany (Bernhard Lehmann, Matthias Trübner, Ingo Voge, Steffen Grummt)
- 1986: Switzerland (Erich Schärer, Kurt Meier, Erwin Fassbind, André Kiser)
- 1987: Switzerland (Hans Hiltebrand, Urs Fehlmann, Erwin Fassbind, André Kiser)
- 1989–90: Switzerland (Gustav Weder, Bruno Gerber, Lorenz Schindelholz, Curdin Morell)
- 1991: Germany (Wolfgang Hoppe, Bogdan Musioł, Axel Kühn, Christoph Langen)
- 1993: Switzerland (Gustav Weder, Donat Acklin, Kurt Meier, Domenico Semeraro)
- 1995: Germany (Wolfgang Hoppe, René Hannemann, Ulf Hielscher, Carsten Embach)
- 1996: Germany (Christoph Langen, Markus Zimmermann, Sven Rühr, Olaf Hampel)
- 1997: Germany (Wolfgang Hoppe, Sven Rühr, René Hannemann, Carsten Embach)
- 1999: France (Bruno Mingeon, Emmanuel Hostache, Éric Le Chanony, Max Robert)
- 2000: Germany (André Lange, René Hoppe, Lars Behrendt, Carsten Embach)
- 2001: Germany (Christoph Langen, Markus Zimmermann, Sven Peter, Alex Metzger)
- 2003: Germany (André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, Carsten Embach)
- 2004: Germany (André Lange, Udo Lehmann, Kevin Kuske, René Hoppe)
- 2005: Germany (André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, Martin Putze)
- 2007: Switzerland (Ivo Rüegg, Thomas Lamparter, Beat Hefti, Cédric Grand)
- 2008: Germany (André Lange, René Hoppe, Kevin Kuske, Martin Putze)
- 2009: United States (Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steve Mesler, Curtis Tomasevicz)
- 2011: Germany (Manuel Machata, Richard Adjei, Andreas Bredau, Christian Poser)
- 2012: United States (Steven Holcomb, Justin Olsen, Steven Langton, Curtis Tomasevicz)
- 2013: Germany (Maximilian Arndt, Marko Hübenbecker, Alexander Rödiger, Martin Putze)
- 2015: Germany (Maximilian Arndt, Alexander Rödiger, Kevin Korona, Ben Heber)
- 2016: Latvia (Oskars Melbārdis, Daumants Dreiškens, Arvis Vilkaste, Jānis Strenga)
- 2017: Germany (Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp, Thorsten Margis) & (Johannes Lochner, Matthias Kagerhuber, Joshua Bluhm, Christian Rasp)
- 2019: Germany (Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp, Thorsten Margis)
- 2020: Germany (Francesco Friedrich, Candy Bauer, Martin Grothkopp, Alexander Schüller)
- 2021: Germany (Francesco Friedrich, Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer, Alexander Schüller)
- 2023: Germany (Francesco Friedrich, Thorsten Margis, Candy Bauer, Alexander Schüller)
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