Wilfred Parke

Wilfred Parke
Born	1889
Died	1912 Wembley, London
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1905–1912
Rank	Lieutenant

Lieutenant Wilfred Parke RN (1889–1912) was a British aviator who was the first pilot to make an observed recovery from a spin.

Parke was the son of Alfred Watlington Parke, the Rector of Uplyme, and Hilda Fort. He was the grandson of Charles Joseph Parke of Henbury in Dorset, a former High Sheriff of the county, and was a great nephew of General William Parke as well as being great great grandson of the Reverend Charles Wicksted Ethelston, who read the riot act at the Peterloo riots and signed the arrest warrant for the speakers.

Parke became a midshipman in the Royal Navy in September 1905, was promoted to sub-lieutenant in 1908 and lieutenant in 1910. He had his first flying lesson at the Avro school at Brooklands on Sunday 11 April 1911. At that time dual-control instruction was almost unknown, and Parke was in sole charge of the aircraft, in which he had been told to try taxying. To the surprise of all, he opened the throttle, and made series of short hops, managing to land successfully. The following Wednesday Parke, at his third attempt, succeeded in flying a half-circle in a stiff breeze, landing with minor damage to the undercarriage. The following Monday he successfully took the test for his pilots license in a Bristol Boxkite, and was awarded Royal Aero Club flying license no.73, awarded in a RAeC meeting that also awarded licenses to the pioneer naval aviators C. R. Samson and Arthur Longmore.

In October 1911 he was taken on as a demonstrator and instructor by the Grahame-White flying school at Hendon, doing this when not engaged on naval duties. In May 1912 he was posted to HMS Actaeon (part of the Royal Navy's torpedo school HMS Vernon) as an officer of the Naval Wing of the R.F.C.

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