12 Facts About Henry Petre

Henry Petre led the Half Flight through the Battles of Es Sinn and Ctesiphon, and the siege of Kut.

Henry Petre resumed his legal practice in England, and continued to fly recreationally until his death in 1962, aged seventy-seven.

Henry Aloysius Petre was born on 12 June 1884 at Ingatestone, Essex.

Henry Petre was the son of Sebastian Henry Petre and his wife Catharine, nee Sibeth.

Henry Petre became an instructor at Brooklands' Deperdussin School, and later its head, before taking up employment as a designer and pilot with Handley Page Limited in 1912.

On Christmas Eve 1912, Edward Henry Petre, who was known as "Peter the Painter", was killed in an accident at Marske-by-the-Sea, Yorkshire, while attempting to fly from Brooklands to Edinburgh.

Henry Petre arrived in Australia in January 1913, his first task being to choose a site for the proposed Central Flying School, which he was to command.

Eight days later Henry Petre registered Australia's first military flying accident when he crashed a Deperdussin while trying to avoid telephone wires during landing; he escaped with bruising but the plane was wrecked.

Henry Petre was promoted to captain, so that his rank was the same as White's.

Henry Petre introduced Kathleen to racing cars and, as Kay Henry Petre, she became one of Britain's leading female drivers of the 1930s.

Henry Petre maintained his interest in aviation for the rest of his life, taking up competitive gliding and, according to historian Alan Stephens, more than thirty years after his first flight in 1911 still enjoyed "taking an Auster for a spin".

Henry Petre broke the British Gliding Duration Record in 1931, with a time of almost three-and-a-half hours, and served as gliding instructor with the Air Training Corps between 1943 and 1948.