Capt Lionel Frank Hastings Orr

 

 

 b. 1910 in Dublin; Short Service Commission then Flt-Lt in the RAF (40 Sqn at Upper Heyford) in 1929-31, transferred to the Reserve List (Class C) in May 1934.

He joined Imperial in mid-1935 and "quickly proved himself a civil pilot of just the right calibre."

He was killed, together with Australian Stanley Miles Fergusson, and the two wireless operators, when Vickers Vellox G-ABKY crashed into the back gardens of houses in Hillside Gardens, Wallington, shortly after it had taken off from Croydon Airport on a 'technical' flight at 2 a.m. on August 10, 1936.

His home address was given as Craig-na-Baa, Blackrock, Dublin; he had a wife, Sheelagh, and a daughter Cherry, who "have been living at Worthing."

"Capt Fergusson, who was about 32, had "flown a great deal in America". 'Fergie' had recently gained the First Class Air Navigators Certificate, and was "looking forward to flying on the trans-Atlantic service".

The inquest returned a verdict of accidental death. 'Flight' said "The unhappy accident to Imperial Airways' Velox(sic) has cast a gloom over the airport, for both Orr and Fergusson were universally popular."

 

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