George Lee Temple
George Lee Temple (1892-1914)
1914. 25th January. Died at Hendon in a Bleriot monoplane (50 hp Gnome engine). Apparently he was unwell, fainted while flying and fell forward on the control column while at 150 feet. The plane flipped over and he was killed.
1914 Obituary [1]
GEORGE LEE TEMPLE was born at Acton, London, on 11th August 1892.
His education was obtained at Trent College and Gresham's School, Holt, Norfolk, and from January 1910 he was a pupil for 2 years at the works of the Singer Motor Co., and Messrs. White and Poppe, Coventry. During this time he attended classes in motor engineering, heat engines, etc., at the Coventry Technical Institute, and incidentally won some distinction as a daring motor-cyclist on the racing track.
When his time was completed he came to London and taught himself to fly at the Hendon Aerodrome. He then established a school of aviation, but gave it up in favour of exhibition flying, with a view to becoming a pilot-constructor of aeroplanes and aeroplane engines.
As an expert aviator he was the first British airman to fly upside down in this country and the youngest to fly from Paris to London. A career of brilliant promise was cut short by his untimely death. It was proved by the official inquiry and the post-mortem that the fatal accident was caused by his losing consciousness in mid-air owing to recent illness, while making an ordinary flight at Hendon at a height of about 500 feet. Being out of control the machine dived, turned over, and crashed to the earth, the pilot's neck being broken by the jar.
His death occurred on 25th January 1914, in his twenty-second year.
He was elected a Graduate of this Institution in 1912, and read a Paper in November of that year before a Meeting of the Graduates' Association, on "Standard and Racing Motor Engines."
See Also
Sources of Information
- The History of British Aviation 1908-14 by R. Dallas Brett. Published c1930.