Aviator

  1932, aged 28

 1936, aged 32

b. 9 Aug 1904 in Wichelsea, E Sussex; son of the President of the Royal Academy.

An instructor at Hanworth.

With Mrs Jill Wyndham, broke the Cape Town-England record in 1935 (6 days 12hr 7min). [I say, who is this Mrs Jill Wyndham, and did Mr Wyndham know about this? ^*]

Apparently, they had intended also to lower the record for the outward trip. "... they were going strongly, but their chances were ruined by a forced landing in an African rice field. The aircraft was set down by the light of lamps carried by an Arab funeral procession."

He had also flown solo in a "little Aeronca" to Johannesburg, and here he is, in it:

[To be more precise, in the 23 days between the 7th February and 1st March 1936, he flew from Hanworth to Rand Airport, Johannesburg, to deliver the machine to a private buyer. The 2-cylinder engine of an Aeronca produced 40hp.]

Killed 21 September 1938 in an accident in a BA Swallow.

[ ^*It seems that Doris Jillian Wyndham

b. 11 May 1911,

was a former pupil of Mr Llewellyn. Or possibly of Tom Campbell Black, if we are to believe Harald Penrose.

Her son tells me that "she died in 1963 at the age of 52. Lt Cdr Wyndham did know about the record attempt!"]

  1916, aged 24

 'Scruffie' Longton, from Lancashire. 11 victories in WWI flying SE5s; DFC and bar.

Well known pre-war motor-cycling, and post-war aeroplane racer; whilst practising for the Bournemouth Air Meeting in April 1927, his aeroplane was hit by "one or two charges of shot from a sporting gun", possibly in protest at flying races on a Good Friday. A reward of £25 was offered for the detection of the culprit.

He was killed soon after - June 1927 - in a mid-air collision at the Bournemouth Whitsun Meeting, flying the prototype Bluebird.

"Every aircraft constructor knew that 'Longton's opinion' was worth having on anything new." C G Grey

Flying instructor at RAF Digby in 1925 (he taught Allen Wheeler to fly, who said of him "How lucky I was with my instructor George Lowdell! Apart from being a magnificent pilot he was the most inspiring teacher").

Instructor with Suffolk and Eastern Counties Aero Club in 1928; later a Wing Commander, and instructor with Shoreham School of Flying.

However, in 1932 he was convicted of drunk-driving:

"STUNT FLIER FINED

CLACTON CARNIVAL SEQUEL

George Edward Lowdell, 29, an airman instructor, of Belvedere Road, Ipswich, was charged at Colchester on Friday with being drunk in charge of a motor car.

Stanley Elgar, postmaster of Colchester, stated that he was driving his car from Walton-on-the-Naze to Colchester, and just after he had left Weeley he noticed a Morris car in front of him " performing a rather peculiar course all over the road, swerving frequently from the near side to the off.

Several times it mounted the margin of the road, and on one occasion two young ladies had to " skip " quickly out of the way. The speed was never excessive. Near Greenstead Rectory the car was pulled up, and witness went to the driver and said: "Do you realise what you have been doing? You have only just escaped death, and narrowly missed killing other people." Defendant seemed dazed, and when told that he could not go on he said he would have to go on, he had to get to Brooklands tnat night.

Two police-officers came, and defendant was arrested. Replying to Mr. Frampton, witness said the driver did not give him the impression that he was a very tired man. , Arthur Houston, commercial traveller, Thorpe Road, Tendring, who was proceeding in the direction of Colchester, said defendant's car was '' all over the place."

When charged, defendant's reply was so muddled that he could not be understood. Dr. William F. Payne said he came to the conclusion that defendant was drunk. Defendant said he had had some whisky and beer.

 Defendant, in the witness-box, said he was formerly chief instructor to the Suffolk Aero Club, and was now instructor at Brooklands. He had been giving a demonstration at Clacton. He flew to Clacton, and during the day gave exhibitions of trick flying and joy rides. In the morning there was an accident, and he was up in the air longer than usual at upside down flying in order to amuse the crowd. During the day he had nothing alcoholic to drink, but after he had finished flying at 6.30 p.m. he had five beers. He had had nothing to eat since luncheon, and left Clacton at 8 p.m. After a heavy day he felt queer when in the car, and kept dozing.

When he arrived at the police - station he felt 'dead tired," and his whole condition he put down to continuous flying, to having no food, and to the heat of the day.

Edwin Freshfield, an undergraduate, and a pupil of defendant, said the stunt flying defendant did that day imposed a great strain. When defendant left Clacton he was very tired, but not drunk. Mr. Frampton submitted that defendant's condition was due to absolute fatigue.

The Chairman (Mr. C. M. Stanford) said the Bench were unanimous in finding the case proved. While it might have been only an indiscretion, they had to take serious notice of it, and defendant would be fined £5, with £2/5/9 costs. The Bench appreciated the action of those witnesses who had come forward at their own expense and loss of time to protect the public, and to save the defendant himself from further danger. "

John McKinney kindly tells me that "George Lowdell was an instructor and CFI with the Southern Aero Club at Shoreham.  He was one of my instructors and took me for my GFT. 
On one occasion, when I had only recently gone first solo my instructor, who was a bit gung ho, let me go solo circuits and bumps.  The wind was blowing at 35kts + and I did a couple and decided I was pushing my luck! When I returned to the Clubhouse George asked me if I had been flying. I told him yes but had decided not to continue.  He made no comment. A few minutes later I saw him, through the glass office wall, apparently tearing a large strip of the said instructor although what was being said couldn’t be heard.
He had a bad hip and it was interesting to see this elderly gent hobble out to the aircraft using a stick and then put it through some of the smoothest rolls over the airfield.
I always held him in high regard."

  1932, aged 21

b. 15 Mar 1911 in London; "5ft 10ins, build: medium, eyes: hazel".

Father: William Thomas Lowe. Educated at Seaford College, Sussex.

A salesman in 1932, when 'Flight' said he was 'in the wholesale fish business' (in fact, he worked for Mac Fisheries Ltd).

For the 1938 King's Cup Race, (in which he came 9th out of 19), 'Flight' described him thus: "He has been a consistent competitor in air races, though last year - when he had the bad luck to retire at Glasgow in the eliminating contest - was his first King's Cup race. He won the 1937 Manx Air Derby. He lives at Twickenham, Middlesex, and plays golf and Rugby football."

   Flight

He also won the 1936 Portsmouth - Shoreham - Portsmouth race, averaging 126mph, in his Comper Swift (presumably the very lovely G-ABWE, although he later owned the Gipsy-engined [and therefore plug-ugly, imho] 'WW'):

    AJJ

He modified 'WW in 1938 to have a hinged racing windscreen and a fairing between the wing bracing struts, which are visible here. Them fairings must have made the visibility even worse...

He married Enid Eileen Thirlwell in 1939, and they had a daughter in 1943.

Air Transport Auxiliary in WWII - see https://www.ata-ferry-pilots.org/index.php/category-blog-1940/102-lowe-stanley

 d. 1993; Enid d. 2002.

25 May 1864 – 31 Aug 1927)

She was the second woman both to attemptand to perish in a transatlantic aircraft flight.

She owned the 1927 Fokker F.VIIa, G-EBTQ 'St Raphael' which was lost over the Atlantic in August 1927, with Leslie Hamilton and Fred Minchin.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Princess_Anne

Imperial Airways from 1931

b. Norwich 16 Dec 1903

based in Kisumu, Kenya

  1922

 b. 4 Aug 1897

 2nd Lieut, RFC in WWI (Date of graduation 20 Aug 1916)

d. 25 Jun 1985 - Maidenhead, Berks

 The Hon. Elsie Mackay  (a.k.a. Poppy Wyndham)

 1922

b. Simla, India, in 1893, the third daughter (of four, plus one son) of Lord and Lady Inchcape; the "friendly, sociable and unpretentious" Miss Elsie from Glenapp Castle in south-west Scotland.

One of the richest women in Britain, and therefore a member of the Court and Social whirl: e.g. aged 19 or so, she was at Mrs Tennyson d'Eyencourt's dance in 1912: "The drawing room in which the dancing took place was decorated with tulips in different shades of yellow" and all that.

Became a nurse in her mother's hospital for wounded soldiers (this is all sounding a bit Downton Abbey, sorry) and in 1917 nursed a certain wounded South African soldier Mr Dennis Wyndham, in civilian life An Actor. She told her father she wanted to marry him; Daddy strongly opposed the marriage; they ran away to Glasgow (Glasgow??), took apartments and got her landlady and someone else to act as witnesses; went to the registrar... hang on, this is Downton Abbey!

Unfortunately for them, they hadn't been resident in Scotland for the required 15 days, and the marriage was declared null and void. The judge was very put out... "This sort of thing will not do. People must realise this is a solemn act dealing with the question of marriage and the future of a man and woman... I am going to report the whole of this matter to the Lord Advocate".

Elsie reverted to her maiden name, went back to the family home and to the endless balls, dinner-parties, at-homes, receptions, hospital ward-openings, society weddings and cruises. "Miss Mackay wore a Victorian picture dress of pink and gold brocade over an underskirt of silver lace"... She became quite a well-known interior designer for P&O. Lord Inchcape was chairman of P&O but that was just a coincidence, probably.

Meanwhile... in April 1920 a certain Miss Poppy Wyndham appeared in a horsey silent picture movie called 'A Dead Certainty'... June 1920, Poppy Wyndham (again on a horse) in "A Great Coup"... August 1921, Poppy Wyndham in "A Tidal Wave". As 'Poppy', Elsie appeared in at least 8 movies between 1919 and 1921.

 In June 1924, Elsie sold programmes at a charity matinee at the Aldwych Theatre; the following month, presided at the Catholic Stage Guild, and in June 1926, she sold "sweets and programmes under Lady Alexander's direction" at another charity matinee.

On the 9th March 1928, she denied rumours that she was going to accompany one-eyed Imperial Airways pilot Captain Walter George Raymond Hinchliffe on a transatlantic flight; she knew him, of course, but only had "a very small financial interest in [his flight]".

Sure enough, on March 14th, the black and gold Stinson-Detroiter aeroplane 'The Endeavour', containing Capt Hinchliffe and Elsie Mackay, took off from Cranwell. It was spotted 170 miles off the west coast of Ireland, heading out over the Atlantic. They were never seen again...

...except...

1) a note, found in a bottle at Flint, North Wales, saying "Goodbye all. Elsie Mackay and Captain Hinchcliffe. Down in fog and storm". Pity the handwriting was nothing like Elsie's, and the writer spelt Hinchliffe's name wrong, but anyway...

2) A London spiritualist received a message from the dead Mr Hinchliffe in July: "We landed on the water. We did not crash... I swam for 20 minutes but the currents were too strong and I became unconscious and drowned. Mackay's end was peaceful". I only report this stuff...

3) Finally, in December an identifiable wheel from the aircraft was found washed up in Ireland (which rather settled it).

Lord and Lady Inchcape generously put Elsie's £521,101 13s 4d in trust for the nation for about 50 years, after which time they hoped it "should be used to reduce the National Debt". They also gave Capt Hinchliffe's widow Emilie (sometimes known as Eileen) £10,000, his estate being a rather more modest £32.

In 1977, when the Elsie Mackay Fund matured, it had grown to over £4.5 million; the National Debt had also grown a bit, however. To £66.8 billion. Or, to put it another way, just another 99.993% to go...

See also:http://www.elsie-mackay.co.uk/ and 'A Flight Too Far', by Jack Hunter/Stranraer and District Local History Trust, 2008.

There is a memorial window to Elsie in Glenapp Church.

[p.s. this is not the same actress, called Elsie Mackay, who was married to actor Lionel Atwill; she was American]

Elsie owned a 1916 Airco DH.6 (C5220, G-EAGF)

  1917, when a Captain in the RFC, aged 25

'author and outstanding pilot', the chief test pilot of Fairey Aviation from 1924.

Later flew the Fairey Long-range monoplane on its world flight.

Originally from Glasgow.

WWI ace with 11 victories; later Wing Commander, and the first person to land at Heathrow (before it was an airport).

Winner of the speed prize (at 76.1 mph!) in the Lympne Motor Glider competition of October 1923, in the Parnall Pixie.

d. 1976

b. 30 Jun 1901 in London

a solicitor

d. 1991

  1916, when a Lieut, 15th Hussars, aged 27

 b. Sydney, NSW; wounded during the Battle of the Somme.

Later Air Commodore; died 1957

  1912, aged 19

b. 14 Sep 1893 in Sheffield, an 'Engineer's Improver' in 1912, later an instructor at Hendon for Grahame-White - he applied for the RFC but was rejected on medical grounds.

After WWI he was a test pilot for Samuel White and English Electric; he also became interested in gliding and became a member of the London Gliding Club and a founder-member of the British Gliding Association. In WWII he was with Armstrong Whitworth as Service Liaison Officer.

And he was remembered for wearing "startling socks".

d. May 1968 in Bridport, Dorset

 b. Beryl Clutterbuck 26 October 1902 in Rutland but moved to 'British East Africa' (Kenya) when she was 4.

Married three times; the second of these was to Mansfield Markham in 1927, although she was briefly engaged to the Hon. Robert Fraser Watson, later of the ATA:

see https://www.ata-ferry-pilots.org/index.php/category-blog-1941/1141-watson-robert-fraser

"A serial story with the facts set down, but with all the explanations provocatively left out, has been running since Friday of last week in newspaper columns. It is a disappointing story in one way, for the last chapter leaves the reader with an unsatisfied middle-chapter curiosity.

The first instalment appeared on Friday 22 April 1927. Here it is:— “The Hon. R. F. Watson and Mrs. Purves. “The engagement is announced between the Hon. Robert Fraser Watson, second son of the late Lord Manton and Claire Lady Manton, of Offchurch, Bury, Leamington Spa, and Beryl, only daughter of Mr, C. B. Clutterbuck, late of Njoro, Kenya Colony, and of Mrs Kirkpatrick, of Sey, Kenya Colony.”

Tuesday's instalment (23 August) brought a complication, for it announced that “the marriage arranged between the Hon. R. F. Watson and Mrs. B. Purves will now not take place.”

The serial concluded yesterday, only three days later, with the announcement :— “Mr. M. Markham and Mrs. Purves. “The engagement is announced from Kenya Colony between Mansfield Markham, second son of the late Sir Arthur Markham, Bt., and Beryl, only daughter of the late Mr, C. B. Cluttterbuck and Mrs. Kirkpatrick, of kenya Colony.”.

Began flying in 1931, but it wasn't until 1936 that she made headlines by being the first person to fly solo from England to North America. Her autobiography, West with the Night, sold over a million copies.

d. 3 August 1986, aged 83

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beryl_Markham

photo: 1928, aged 25

 Sir Arthur, the engineer who founded Marshalls of Cambridge; 'Chariots of Fire' Olympic athlete; died 2007 (sad, but then he was 103)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arthur_Marshall

  1917

b. 1 May 1899, Nottingham

RFC in France and Italy during WWI 

Pilot-Instructor for the Nottingham Aero Club 1924-29

Emigrated to Canada in May 1929. Joined Canadian Airways as a mail pilot in October until the contract was cancelled.

1930 - Bernard Martin 2nd left at Walker Airport, Ontario (the aircraft is a Pitcairn Mailwing)

He then did 'crazy flying' for a while, as "Doctor Dore", wearing a long beard and carrying a cane.

d. 17 Jun 1933 when Chief Pilot for the Fairchild Aircraft Co., Montreal. His plane burst into flames on landing. 

"Killed in Canada While Testing ’Plane 

MONTREAL

Mr. Bernard Martin, one of Canada's best known air pilots, was killed when a new aeroplane, which he was testing for commercial flying, crashed near here, bursting into flames. He was born at Nottingham, England, where his father is said to be still living. In 1917, Martin was the youngest flyer in the R.A.F. unit with which he served on the French front. After the War, he was a flying instructor in England for several years before coming to Canada and joining the Commercial and Air Mail Service."

 Buried in Montreal.

  1930, aged 24

an Army Officer. Address c/o the Guards Club, London

b. South Australia in 1883

Joined the 9th Australian Light Horse in 1914, took part in the disastrous Gallipoli Campaign, then joined the Australian Flying Corps.

From 1923, joined QANTAS as a pilot (mainly on the Charleville to Cloncurry route) and then, in 1930, set up Matthews Aviation Pty. They originally had an Airco DH.4 (VF-UBZ), then a series of DH Moths (several of which they crashed), and finally a Saunders-Roe A.17 Cutty Sark VH-UNV and a Saunders-Roe A.21 Windhover VH-UPB, which they used on a regular service from Melbourne to Tasmania.

Here is his Cutty Sark coming ashore at Hobart in December 1930:

However, the Windover drifted onto the rocks of King Island, Tasmania on the 13 May 1936.

Became a Wing Commander in the RAAF in WWII.

d. 27 Jan 1958

  1929, aged 38

a 'Merchant'. Address c/o the Naval and Military Club, London

"Joined the RAF in 1930. Learned to fly at Sealand. Flew Bulldogs with No 17 (Fighter) Squadron at Upavon and finished with two years as test pilot at Martlesham. Instructor at the Phillips and Powis Civil Training School."