Walter G. R. Hinchliffe

Captain Walter George Raymond Hinchliffe (10 June 1893 – 13 March 1928), also known as Hinch (the surname is often incorrectly given as Hinchcliffe) was a distinguished Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force flying ace in World War I who was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. A pioneering military and civilian flying career was cut short when he attempted a treacherous flight across the Atlantic Ocean with Elsie Mackay in a single engined Stinson Detroiter.

Private life Hinchliffe was born in Munich, Germany in 1893 to Richard George Hinchliffe (1868 - circa 1942) and Florence Williams. His younger sister Gladys was born in 1897 in Liverpool. He was educated at Liverpool College, where he was a member of the Officer Training Corps, then attended medical school, training as a dentist. He spoke four languages (including German ), was an avid reader, a skilled artist, an accomplished sportsman and a skilled mechanic. He met his Dutch wife Emilie Gallizien when he was Chief Pilot of the Royal Dutch Airlines (KLM) and she was assistant to the company's General Manager.

Gaining his Royal Aero Club Certificate in September 1916 as Flight Sub-Lieutenant, Royal Naval Air Service, he served as an Instructor at Cranwell before joining 10 Squadron RNAS in January 1918 to commence active service. During February and March his successful sorties in a Sopwith Camel named Allo Lil Bird included bombing raids and downing two enemy aircraft in dogfights at Rumbeke and Roulers. He was transferred to the RAF unemployed list on 21 August 1919. He was initially hospitalised on 23 June 1918 and then invalided home on 27 June and treated at a hospital in central Hampstead. In 1921 he made the first civilian passenger night-flights from Lympne to Amsterdam, and Amsterdam to Berlin. His new routes included Amsterdam-Gelsenkirchen-Dortmund-London-Amsterdam in 11 hours flying time and Berlin-Amsterdam-London-Lowestoft-Lympne in just over 12 hours flying time. During 1922-1923 he was Chief Pilot of KLM.

In 1923 he joined Instone Air Line covering Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, London and Paris, and after the merger into Imperial Airways he flew a De Havilland Hercules to Cairo and opened up the Imperial Airways Eastern route.

Transatlantic Flight

Hinchliffe's peerless reputation made him the natural choice for pilot when Elsie Mackay attempted to achieve her ambition to be the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean. The daughter of P & O chairman James Mackay, 1st Earl of Inchcape had bought a Stinson Detroiter, and had it shipped from the USA to England and delivered to the Brooklands motor racing track, which at the time was also used as an airfield. Named Endeavour, it was a monoplane with gold tipped wings and a black fuselage, powered by a 9 cylinder, 300 h.p. Wright Whirlwind J-6-9 (R-975) engine, with a cruising speed of 84 mph. near Grantham. The story was silenced by Elsie's threatened legal action as she intended to depart in secret while her father was in Egypt, having promised her family she would not make the attempt. Approximately five hours later, at 13.30pm the Chief lighthouse keeper at Mizen Head on the south west coast of Cork Ireland saw the monoplane over the village of Crookhaven, on the great circle course for Newfoundland. A French steamer later reported seeing them still on course, but nothing else is known. A crowd of 5,000 is reputed to have waited at Mitchel Field, Long Island. In December 1928, eight months later, a single piece of identifiable undercarriage washed ashore in North West Ireland.