Alumnus to be proud of No. 141 has this week sent an RAF officer across the Nevada desert faster than he could have travelled in most aircraft. Richard Noble, an expert in extracting old aircraft engines from the Ministry of Defence and attaching wheels to them for attempts on the land speed record, finally saw his car Thrust SSC go through the sound barrier this week, a feat he managed despite eschewing a university education for fear it might be too dull. But he did attend school at Winchester, evidently a useful start for networking among corporate sponsors.