Robert Loraine

Robert Loraine was a British stage actor, actor-manager and soldier who later enjoyed a side career as a pioneer aviator. He made his first stage appearance in the English provinces in 1889. Loraine served as a volunteer in the British Army during the Second Boer War between 1899 and 1901. He piloted one of the two Bristol Boxkites which took part in the British Army manoeuvres on Salisbury Plain. During the First World War, he flew with the Royal Flying Corps and its successor the Royal Air Force, shooting down an Albatross biplane.