Father: Sqn Ldr Courtney Napier Prentice, (RFC, RAF in WWI; Founder of Sun Petroleum & Prentice Aircraft and Cars Ltd, and the West Suffolk Aero Club), Mother: Ethel Mary 'Joy' [Gosling] Ed. Beaumont College, Windsor, Berks
prev. Oil Representative; Flying Club Director and Chief Instructor, West Suffolk Aero Club; Sgt Pilot, RAFVR No 22 ERFTS Sep 1938 - May 1940; Aircraft Inspector prev. exp. 700 hrs on light civil types RAeC Certificate 14830 dated 15 Apr 1937, taken at Ipswich Aero Club Address in 1937: The Seagulls, Undercliffe Drive, Felixstowe
m. 1939 in Bury St. Edmunds, Constance M [Quant] (2 children Denise b. 1940, Jennifer b. 1947) poss. owned a Piper Cub: G-AEIK, a 1934 Piper J-2 Cub, regstered to C N Prentice, scrapped during WWII
Address in 1941: 20 Alwood Ave, Prestwick, Ayrshire Postings: 1FPP, IFTS (as instructor)
Off sick from 15 Jun to 13 Jul 1943 with "burns of foot", and from 26 Feb to 15 Apr 1944 (unspecified). Posted to Medical Pool 5 Mar 1944. Suspended 20 Jul 1941 for 1 week without pay for "non-compliance with aircraft delivery instructions", and 1 day (28 Nov 1942) for Loss of Handling Notes
1 accident, his fault: - 6 Mar 1941, he misjudged a landing and his Magister struck an obstruction marker post
"A keen and efficient pilot" ... "A conscientious, painstaking instructor who has spared no effort in the interests of his unit"
d. 26 Apr 2009 - Woodbridge, Suffolk
"He was quite starved of love as a child and in later life by his parents. He was not particularly academic despite, or perhaps because of being sent away to a selection of boarding schools from the age of seven including Beaumont College near Windsor. After school, he learned to fly and soon became an instructor with light aircraft. He worked for the Air Transport Corps with the RAF [sic] during the war, flying bombers etc. from different stations around the UK, taking them from one location to another but not actually fighting. He passed his certificate to join the Royal Aero Club on 15th. April, 1937 at Ipswich Aero Club flying a D.H. 60 Gipsy III 105hp plane. His address at the time was The Seagulls, Undercliffe Drive, Felixstowe and he gave his profession as an Oil Representative. He became a Director of Prentice Aircraft and Cars from its outset and though he worked there until retirement he never really enjoyed the business side of things. He would have much preferred to be round at the back working on the car and lorry engines himself. He always had a passion for boats and sailing. Generally messing about with them was very important in his life. The family actually lived on board for three years when his daughter Jem was very small. At the age of seventy six he still had a little sailing/cabin cruiser. Also, having not done any flying for many years he started to have lessons in a Micro-light. After a while he decided that they were not really right for him at his age. Consequently, during 1993 he took up gliding at a club near Norwich. His wife was very long-suffering with her husband's hobbies even though she didn't really share his enthusiasm for them." - https://www.prenticenet.com/ Postscript: "Denise Wendy Prentice married Kenneth Stringer in 1961. They divorced in 1977 when she changed her name back to 'Prentice' and in 1994 she lived in Felixstowe but, sadly, was blind. This was the result of an attempt to kill herself with a gun after her marriage had broken down" - https://www.prenticenet.com/ Denise married Alexander Tillier in 1997 in Felixstowe Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file): |
1937
ATAM
