Eustace Loraine

Eustace Broke Loraine (3 September 1879 – 5 July 1912) was a pioneer British aviator and the first Royal Flying Corps officer to be killed in an aircraft crash.

Eustace Loraine was the first child of Rear-Admiral Sir Lambton Loraine, 11th Baronet and his wife Frederica Mary Horatia (née Broke).

ervice in Africa

Loraine served in South Africa as a Lieutenant in the Grenadier Guards and returned to Great Britain in the summer of 1902. He later served in Nigeria on the headquarters staff in Lagos and as a section commander on Colonel Trenchard's 1907 / 1908 expedition to the Munshi tribe. [cite book |last=Boyle |first=Andrew |authorlink=Andrew Boyle |title=Trenchard Man of Vision |origyear=1962 |publisher=Collins |location= St. James's Place London |pages=88 to 90|chapter=Chapter 4] In 1909 whilst Loraine was still in Nigeria, reports reached him of Louis Blériot's flight across the English Channel. This news stirred Loraine's curiosity and he decided to find out more about flying.cite book |last=Boyle |first=Andrew |authorlink=Andrew Boyle |title=Trenchard Man of Vision |origyear=1962 |publisher=Collins |location= St. James's Place London |pages=95|chapter=Chapter 5]

Pioneer aviator

The War Office was content to pay for Loraine's flying training and he was seconded from the Grenadier Guards in order that he might learn to fly. Loraine successfully completed his flying training and was granted Royal Aero Club certificate number 154 which was dated 7 November 1911. [ [http://content-delivery.co.uk/aviation/airfields/aviators/ Great Britain's Earliest Aviators ] at content-delivery.co.uk]

Loraine was in correspondence with Trenchard, who was now serving in Ireland, and he kept Trenchard informed about his progress as an aviator. On one occasion in Spring / Summer 1912, Loraine wrote to Trenchard urging him to learn to fly. Trenchard was greatly impressed by Loraine's words which read "You've no idea what you're missing, ... Come and see men like ants crawling." At that time Trenchard was looking for a new direction and after reading Loraine's letter he decided to try and learn to fly. Trenchard went on to command the Flying Corps in France during World War I and then serve as the Royal Air Force's first Chief of the Air Staff.

At some stage in 1911 or early 1912, Lorraine was attached to No. 2 Company of the Air Battalion which was based at Larkhill on Salisbury Plain. On 13 May 1912, with the establishment of the Royal Flying Corps, No. 2 Company was redesignated No. 3 Squadron RFC and Loraine remained at Larkhill.

Less than two months later, Loraine and his observer Staff Sergeant R H V Wilson were flying a Nieuport Monoplane out of Larkhill on a routine morning practice sortie. They were executing a tight turn when the aircraft fell towards the ground and crashed. Wilson was killed outright and Loraine succumbed to his wounds not long after the crash. [http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9D04E2D61F31E233A25755C0A9619C946396D6CF] Loraine and Wilson were the first Flying Corps personnel to die in an aircraft crash. Later in the day an order was issued which stated "Flying will continue this evening as usual", thus beginning a tradition.

The site of the crash, near the intersection of the A344 and the A360 roads and less than a mile west of Stonehenge, is now known as 'Airmen's Cross'. There is a stone cross memorial in middle of the grass island at the junction and its inscription reads:

'To the memory of Captain Loraine and Staff-Sergeant Wilson who whilst flying on duty, met with a fatal accident near this spot on July 5th 1912. Erected by their comrades'.

References