Henry Petre
Henry Aloysius Petre, DSO, MC was an English solicitor who became Australia’s first military aviator and a founding member of the Australian Flying Corps. Born in Essex, Petre forsook his early legal career to pursue an interest in aviation, building his own aeroplane and gaining employment as an aircraft designer and pilot. He led the Mesopotamian Half Flight through the Battles of Es Sinn and Ctesiphon, and the Siege of Kut.
About Henry Petre in brief
Henry Aloysius Petre, DSO, MC was an English solicitor who became Australia’s first military aviator and a founding member of the Australian Flying Corps. Born in Essex, Petre forsook his early legal career to pursue an interest in aviation, building his own aeroplane and gaining employment as an aircraft designer and pilot. In 1912, he answered the Australian Defence Department’s call for pilots to form an aviation school, and was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Australian Military Forces. The following year, he chose the site of the country’s first air base at Point Cook, Victoria, and established its inaugural training institution, the Central Flying School. Petre was appointed commander of the Mesopotamian Half Flight, the first unit of the newly formed Australian Flying corps to see active service. He led the Half Flight through the Battles of Es Sinn and Ctesiphon, and the Siege of Kut. His actions in the Middle East earned him the Distinguished Service Order, the Military Cross, and four mentions in despatches. Transferring to the Royal Air Force as a major in 1918, he commanded No.
75 Squadron before retiring from the military the following year. He resumed his legal practice in England, and continued to fly recreationally until his death in 1962, aged seventy-seven. He was married to racing driver Kay Petre and they had a son and a daughter, both of whom died in childhood. He is buried in the Petre family cemetery in Ingatestone, Essex, where he is buried with his wife Catharine, née Sibeth, his brother Edward and his sister-in-law, Mary Petre. He died in 1962 at the age of 77, and is survived by his wife Kay and their two sons, Peter and David. He also leaves behind a son, Peter Petre Jr, who was a successful businessman and businessman in the United Kingdom and a step-son, David Petre III, who is also a well-known aviation designer and aviator. The Petre brothers were known as ‘Peter the Monk’, after their brother Edward’s death on Christmas Eve 1912, when he was killed in an accident at Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire, while attempting to fly to Edinburgh.
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This page is based on the article Henry Petre published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 29, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
