Cecil Lawrence Pashley (1891–1969) was a British aviation pioneer. Cecil Pashley was born in the

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth (), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town and unparished area in, and the main administrative centre of, the Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of ...

Norfolk Norfolk () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in East Anglia in England. It borders Lincolnshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the west and south-west, and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the Nort ...

on 14 May 1891 to parents Alexander and Cecilia (Ryan). He learned to fly in 1908 and, in partnership with his younger brother Eric, established a flight training school at

Shoreham Airport Brighton City Airport , also commonly known as Shoreham Airport, is located in the parish of Lancing in West Sussex, England. It has a CAA Public Use Aerodrome Licence that allows flights for the public transport of passengers or for flying ...

in 1913 when they founded the South Coast Flying club. Cecil's two brothers were both killed during the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...

; Herbert was a 2nd lieutenant observation balloon officer and died on Christmas Day in 1916, whilst Eric was a lieutenant flying Airco DH.2s with 24 Squadron

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

and died in an accident on 17 March 1917. One of Pashley's students was F. G. Miles with whom he later founded the Southern Aero Club which remained in business after his death. Pashley trained large numbers of pilots during both world wars. During the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Pashley was commissioned in the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

Volunteer Reserve. He was awarded the Air Force Cross in 1944 and a made a

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established ...

in 1948. Pashley was a

Flight Lieutenant Flight lieutenant is a junior commissioned rank in air forces that use the Royal Air Force (RAF) system of ranks, especially in Commonwealth countries. It has a NATO rank code of OF-2. Flight lieutenant is abbreviated as Flt Lt in the Indi ...

when he resigned his commission in 1954. In 1962 "Pash" (as he was popularly known) was presented with a special silver medal to mark his 50 years of active flying, which spanned the early days of aviation to the jet age, over which he had logged an astonishing 18,900 hours (13,000 of them on instruction) and had taught about 1600 people to fly. Cecil Lawrence Pashley died on 10 December 1969, aged 78, at Southlands Hospital, Shoreham. A proportion of his personal archive has been purchased by the

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

Record Office. A road at Shoreham Airport and a local bus have been named after him.

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External links

* https://web.archive.org/web/20100815210933/http://www.findon.info/sussex_sights/sussex_sights.htm
Shoreham had a role in aviation history
– ''The Argus'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Pashley, Cecil Members of the Order of the British Empire Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Royal Air Force officers English aviators Aviation pioneers 1891 births 1969 deaths People from Worthing

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