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The Men George Lee Temple Taught to Fly Only three people received Flying Certificates while training at the Temple School. These were : Maurice John Ambler Maurice Ambler was born on 22 September 1884, and educated at Uppingham School from May 1899 to July 1901. During this time his next-of-kin was listed as being his mother, who was then resident at Manningham near Bradford. On 16 January 1907, Ambler was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the 14 Hussars, joining from the Militia and thus avoiding the need to pass the entrance exam for Sandhurst. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 29 September 1909, and was still a serving officer when he enrolled in the Temple School to learn to fly a Caudron. He received his Royal Aero Club Certificate, No 550, on 10 July 1913. During the Great War, Ambler served with the 14th Hussars in Mesopotamia and in Persia. From 7 June 1915 to 22 November, he was attached to the Royal Flying Corps, possibly to serve with 30 Squadron, and then returned to the 14th Hussars. On 22 August 1916 Ambler was appointed as an Acting Captain, and remained so until 18 October. He was promoted Captain on 15 November. Sometime after 1 April 1918 Ambler was seconded to the newly formed Royal Air Force, probably to undertake staff officer duties. Certainly Ambler ended the War with the acting rank of Lieutenant Colonel in the RAF. Monsieur M Leverrier Little is known about Monsieur Leverrier, other than he received Royal Aero Club Certificate No 576 on 7 August 1913. R E C Penny Penny received Royal Aero Club Certificate No 584 on 9 August 1913. This is believed to be Rupert E Penny who was commissioned into the Royal Navy and later attached to the Royal Naval Air Service. Penny served on the seaplane Carrier HMS Campania in 1915 and 1916, and is known to have flown Sopwith Schneider seaplanes '3707' and '3796', and Sopwith Baby '8125'. By December 1917, Penny had moved to HMS Renown as pilot for the Sopwith Pup designed to fly from a platform mounted on top of one of the battle cruiser's turrets. One of these Pups was 'N6448'. Penny at on an Admiralty Committee advising on the future design and adoption of land planes suitable for deck operations. This led to an involvement in air compressed catapult trials, including work at Hendon, in July 1918, with a modified Avro 504H and the Carey designed catapult. After the War Rupert E Penny, by now a Major in the Royal Air Force, became a flying boat specialist for the Air Ministry. In this role he undertook evaluation trials of a number of new designs, notably for the Short Brothers. Following the death of Temple the Temple Flying School was taken over by J. L. Hall and continued as the Hall School of Flying. |
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