Damer Leslie Allen

Damer Leslie Allen

Damer Leslie Allen in his aircraft

Portrait in Flight magazine, 27 April 1912[1]
Born About 1878
County Limerick, Ireland
Died 18 April 1912(1912-04-18)
Irish Sea
Cause of death Air accident
Nationality British
Aviation career
Known for Disappeared on 18 April 1912 while attempting to fly from Wales to Ireland[1][2]
Flight license 20 February 1912[3]
London

Damer Leslie Allen was an Irish-born[4] early twentieth-century aviator. He disappeared on 18 April 1912, while attempting to fly from Holyhead, Wales, to Ireland in a Blériot monoplane. He had initially set off from Hendon Aerodrome together with his friend and fellow pilot Denys Corbett Wilson who successfully completed his flight to Ireland, the first complete flight between Great Britain and Ireland, on 22 April.[1] Although it was reported that their flights were the result of a wager between the two men,[5] this was subsequently denied.[1]

The following week, on 26 April, Vivian Hewitt successfully completed a flight between Holyhead and Dublin, landing in the Phoenix Park. Interviewed by the press, he expressed the view that Allen had been insufficiently experienced as an aviator for a flight of such difficulty.[6]

On 24 June 1912, the High Court in London made an order that Allen should be presumed to have died on or after 18 April 1912.[7] A consulting engineer by profession,[4] Allen left an estate valued at £6,923 15s 8d.[8] At the time of his death, Allen was being sued in the English courts for the recovery of a portrait of Lady Anne Ponsonby by Thomas Gainsborough,[9] which he had sold at Christie's for 8,300 guineas (£8,715). On 11 February 1913, after a seven-day trial, the jury returned a verdict for the defendants, including the executors of Allen's will.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Flying the Irish Channel" (PDF). Flight Magazine. London: Reed Business Information. IV (17): 379. 27 April 1912. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  2. ↑ "Irish Aviator's Feat: St. George's Channel Crossed". Irish Times. Dublin. 27 April 1912. p. 23.
  3. ↑ Flight 23 Feb. 1912
  4. 1 2 A Correspondent (1 May 1912). "Obituary: Damer Leslie Allen". Irish Times. Dublin. p. 9.
  5. ↑ "Missing Aviator: Not Heard of for Five Days" (JPG). Slough Chronicle. Slough (17): 10. 26 April 1912. Retrieved 18 June 2011.
  6. ↑ "Aviation: Flight from Holyhead to Dublin – Mr Hewitt descends in the Phoenix Park". Irish Times. Dublin. 27 April 1912. p. 7.
  7. ↑ "Missing Aviator's Death Presumed: Allen's Attempt to Cross Irish Sea". Irish Times. Dublin. 25 June 1912. p. 8.
  8. ↑ "Aviator's Estate and Bequests". Irish Times. Dublin. 19 October 1912. p. 5.
  9. ↑ "Action to Recover a Gainsborough: Missing Irish Family Portrait: Interesting Case from County Carlow – Air Tragedy Recalled". Irish Times. Dublin. 4 February 1913. p. 5.
  10. ↑ "Gainsborough Picture Case – Mr Burton's Claim Fails – Verdict for Defendants". Irish Times. Dublin. 15 February 1913. p. 11.


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