Father: John Dorrell, Kylemore, Avenue Rd, Malvern, Worcs. Ed. Bromsgrove School. Associate of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. "French - moderate", having lived in Paris for 6 months prev. Director and Secretary of the family drapery firm in Worcester; also Hon. Sec. of the Worcestershire Flying School RAF Oct 1939- Sep 1940, LAC Air Observer prev. exp. 20hrs on DH Moth Address in 1942: Link Elm, Malvern Rd, Worcester Originally joined ATA in 1941 as an Assistant Accountant, at £400 a year:
[He said he wsn't concerned about the salary] Postings: 3FPP, 1FPP, 2FPP To begin with, he was trained by Joan Hughes. "A very slow starter but made steady progress and reached a satisfactory standard. He has worked hard and his discipline has been good." 3 accidents, 2 his fault: - 16 Jun 1942, his Hart swung violently after landing, due to a technical defect - 21 Jul 1942, he "over-estimated his ability in adverse conditions" in landing a Gladiator, a type with which he was unfamilar, and it swung d. 1 Dec 1943 in Spitfire VIII JG546 which crashed nr Byron Hall Farm, Stag Lane, Lowton, nr. Warrington, Lancs. He was flying from Brize Norton to 18MU Dumfries. He dived out of low cloud but over-corrected, the tail struck the ground and the aircraft disintegrated. He was deemed to be at fault, having "persisted too far in a local patch of bad weather." His CO, Leonard Leaver, reported: "On being handed his chit by the Operations Officer in the morning, his remark was "Thank you very much indeed, this is just the sort of job I like". On the way to Brize Norton in the Anson, First Officer Coopper states that Dorrell was extremely bright and cheerful, and said to him, "This Spitfire job is the nicest job I have had given me this month."
Buried in Maidenhead Cemetery, Section D No 15W; his pall bearers were ATA First Officers KWD Jones, H Freemantle, P Cruttenden, FH Rooke, MB Steynor and J Joss ("or another") He left £7,265 11s 5d. Also commemorated on the Bromsgrove School WW2 Memorial, and Malvern WWII Memorial. Download ATA Pilot Personal Record (.zip file): |
1939
ATA
Alan's original ATA Identity Card
