In the early days of aviation, both the manufacturers and the pilots were finding their way to improve the capabilities of aircraft and their handling.
One of the young aviators was George Lee Temple. He was born in ‘Solheim’ a house in Cumberland Park Acton on 11 August 1892, the youngest son of Lieutenant George Theodore Temple RN (retired). His mother was Norwegian, and his father was awarded the Knight of the Order of St Olaf for surveying the Norwegian Coast.
George Lee Temple was educated at the Trent College public school in Long Eaton, Gresham’s School in Norfolk, and then did an engineering apprenticeship with the Singer motor factory in Coventry which built cars and motorcycles. In 1910 he was a successful motorcycle racer for their works team. But after a motorcycle accident in 1912 he became interested in aviation, and in September he opened a flying school at Hendon with a partner, Mr F. Jameson. They purchased two secondhanded Bleriot monoplanes, and Temple taught himself to fly, gaining Royal Aero Club Certificate No.424 on February 18, 1913 at Hendon.
He soon realised he could make more money by giving exhibition flights than teaching. So, in the summer of 1913 he sold his interest in the Hendon flying school and began making exhibition flights up and down the country, as well as taking part in several air races for prize money.
In September he travelled to Issy-les-Moulineaux, near Paris, to buy a Bleriot two-seater which was previously flown by Roland Garros, the famous French aviator; (the tennis stadium in Paris is named after him). Temple flew the plane back to England, but bad weather with fog and strong winds meant he had to do the difficult cross channel flight with a series of landings in France and England.
On 15 November 1913 in France, Bentfield Charles Hucks became the first Englishman to loop the loop. Ten days later Temple attempted to do it at Hendon using the Bleriot XI-2 that he had flown over from France. Temple attempted the loop by going into a steep dive from a turn. But the tail of the plane continued to swing over after the machine had passed beyond the vertical and this caused it to fly upside down in a sideslip. Temple did not know how to control it. Luckily the nose swung downwards of its own accord and the machine resumed a normal vertical dive, from which he was able to pull out with a few feet to spare. He had managed to fly upside down but had not looped the loop.
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George Lee Temple (NPG)
On Sunday 25 January 1914, against his father’s advice, Temple went to Hendon to make an exhibition flight, despite the cold and gusty weather. He was still recovering from a bad case of influenza with tonsilitis, which had kept him in bed for two weeks. Temple took off in front of a crowd of approximately 100 spectators. For ten minutes he flew round the enclosures at 500 feet, and then came down to 150 feet. He flew level for about 200 yards when the engine suddenly stopped. The plane went into a steep dive and crashed upside down in the middle of the aerodrome. Poor Temple died from his injuries, aged just 21.
Richard Gates, the general manager of Hendon aerodrome, witnessed the crash and said;
‘I was standing at the door of my office watching Mr Lee Temple making one of his customary daring descents. The flying was practically over for the day, and the public was leaving the ground. I noticed that Mr Lee Temple had descended to about 100 yards from the ground in an almost perpendicular position, and just as he was about to make a turn for landing a gust of wind caught the tail part of the 50hp Bleriot monoplane in which he had been flying and turned it completely over. The monoplane struck the ground rather heavily. When we got to the scene it was found that the machine was very little damaged, but poor Mr Lee Temple was lying in his seat dead.
Dr A B Leakey, who was on the ground on behalf of the St John’s Ambulance Association, hurried to the scene in a motorcar, and after a cursory examination of Mr Lee Temple, pronounced life extinct. His neck and an arm were broken, but the body was not crushed or mangled in any way. The doctor expressed the opinion that Lee Temple’s neck was broken by the sudden jar when the monoplane struck the ground. Lee Temple had gone up about 4 o’clock for ten minutes, and the highest point he reached was around 500 feet. Had he been higher when the mishap occurred, it is almost certain he could have righted himself. In fact, the machine would probably have righted itself without any assistance from Lee Temple, as the way the 50hp Bleriot monoplanes were constructed would practically have assured it. This was the first fatal accident at the Hendon Aerodrome since it opened to the public, although two deaths had occurred when it was in its experimental stage as a flying ground. That was in 1911, when Lieutenant Cammell and Mr Benson were killed’.
The report by the Public Safety and Accidents Investigation Committee of the Royal Aero Club concluded that the medical evidence established beyond reasonable doubt that Temple had lost consciousness in the air. Dr Leakey stated, in his opinion, Temple had incurred the gravest risk by flying in his then state of health and concluded that he was in no doubt that Temple had fainted from the cold and fallen forward on to the control column.
In their obituary, The Times on the 26 January 1914 referring to the attempted loop flight in November said: ‘The performance was an extremely plucky one, considering that he had carried out the necessary alterations to the machine himself with the aid of a mechanic, but he was generally considered to have been lucky to escape with his life on that occasion. He was a clever pilot, with unlimited nerve, but used to say jokingly that he was sure that he would kill himself some day.
A 2017 flight of an old Bleriot XI-2
On 31 January 1914, a large crowd assembled at Acton Cemetery to watch the funeral as Temple was buried in a family plot. Two men walked in front of the motor hearse carrying a large model of his upside-down monoplane. The mourners followed in a fleet of motor cars and taxis.
For more information about George Lee Temple see Nick Forder’s excellent essay:
George Lee Temple (earlyaviators.com)
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