Peter Egbert Cadbury (6 February 1918 – 17 April 2006) was a British entrepreneur.
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Early life and education
Cadbury was born at Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, the son of Sir Egbert Cadbury and his wife, Mary Forbes, the daughter of Rev. Forbes Phillips of Gorleston in Suffolk. His father was a World War I flying ace and managing director of Cadbury Brothers, the chocolate enterprise. Cadbury was educated at Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading, Berkshire founded by his grandfather, George Cadbury, and at Trinity College, Cambridge.
Career
Cadbury never worked in the family business. He followed his father into flying, with an early career as a test pilot for jet fighters during World War II.
In 1993, he recounted his first flight ever in a jet, the pioneering Gloster Meteor, in late 1943. There were no two-seat versions of the Meteor, which was still under development, so his first solo in a Meteor would also be his first flight in one:
"When [check pilot] Michael Daunt was satisfied that I knew enough about the Meteor to be trusted to fly it, I was put in the cockpit . . .'Line up, set the rpm at 14,000, watch the jet pipe temperature and good luck,' he said, slapped the side of the aeroplane and walked away. I did as I was told and released the brakes . . . It was a thrill I shall never forget, as the aircraft accelerated down the runway . . . My immediate reaction was the lack of noise or vibration . . . The Meteor project was Top Secret and we were told not to fly out of the Moreton Valence area and avoid having to force-land anywhere else."