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Fairey Aces Part II:  Commander Stanley Orr (Read 720 times)
Jun 2nd, 2004 at 6:26pm

denishc   Offline
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  Recently I posted a thread that asked if there were any pilots that scored five or more victories while flying either the Fairey Fulmar or Firefly and the name Stanley Orr came up.
  Well, last night I was reading a soft cover book titled 'Hellcat Aces of World War 2' and I came across a pilot profile on Commander Stanley Orr that reads as follows:

  "Stanley Orr, like Blyth Ritchie*, was also an ace, although he had achieved this status as early as November 1940, flying unwieldy Fairey Fulmar Is with No 806 Sqn in the Mediterranean aboard HMS Illustrious.  When his carrier was badly damaged by German divebombers on 10 Janurary 1941, Orr's squadron was put ashore at Malta, and he became one of the island's original defenders.  Fighting pitched battles against overwhelming numbers of German and Italian fighters and bombers, the sub-lieutenant's score had risen to six destroyed and four shared by the time he returned to the UK in late 1941.
  After a spell as an instructor, he was sent to America in August to take command on No 896 Sqn, which was forming on Martlets (F4F Wildcats).  Embarked aboard Victorious, the squadron sailed into the Pacific in March 1943, but Orr was struck down with polio(!!) and sent back to the UK.  He made a full recovery, and in August of the same year was sent to RNAS Eglinton, in Northern Ireland, to take charge of No 804 Sqn, which was in the process of exchanging its veteran Sea Hurricane IICs for the FFA's first Hellcat Is (then called Gannets)."


*Lt. Blyth Ritchie had been credited with 3.5 victories while flying in Sea Hurricane I and IICs in 1942.  Ritchie became an ace in May 1944 when he downed a Fw-190 and a He-115 while flying a Hellcat I.
 
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Reply #1 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 6:43pm

Hagar   Offline
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Very interesting Denis. So it was 896 Squadron after all. Having some knowledge of this terrible disease I'm surprised he made a "full recovery" from polio in 1943.
 

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Reply #2 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 7:01pm

denishc   Offline
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 Yes, that surprised me too and that he was able to return to flight status after his recovery also!!  It only goes to show that you can't keep a good man down.
 
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Reply #3 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 7:17pm

Felix/FFDS   Offline
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Or, if Bader, with no legs, could fly, then a "fully recovered"  proven fighter pilot could return to flight status, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)....

For my purposes, he was "fully recovered"  enough to fly and fight again.
 

Felix/FFDS...
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Reply #4 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 7:28pm

Hagar   Offline
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Quote:
Or, if Bader, with no legs, could fly, then a "fully recovered"  proven fighter pilot could return to flight status, (wink, wink, nudge, nudge)....

For my purposes, he was "fully recovered"  enough to fly and fight again.

It must have been a mild attack. My brother-in-law was struck down by polio during a local outbreak in the 1950s. He was very lucky to survive & is still affected by it. Gets worse as he gets older. The disease attacks the muscles, particularly the diapragm which obviously affects breathing. Before the Salk vaccine was developed most polio victims spent the rest of their lives in an iron lung.
 

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Reply #5 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 8:14pm

denishc   Offline
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  My father-in-law had a bout of polio as a youth that left him with a very slight limp, but this did not prevent him form serving in the US Navy during the early 1060s as an electronics tech.
 
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Reply #6 - Jun 2nd, 2004 at 10:01pm

Felix/FFDS   Offline
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Quote:
  but this did not prevent him form serving in the US Navy during the early 1060s as an electronics tech.


Let's see - might this be the 1960's?

Otherwise, I believe he would have probably helped William cross the Channel?
 

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Reply #7 - Jun 3rd, 2004 at 1:55am

denishc   Offline
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 Yes, yes, 1960s not 1060s!  My father-in-law is old (don't tell him that), but not that old!!



  Drat those 9s and 0s...........they look so much alike!!!
 
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