R E C Penny received Royal Aero Club Certificate No 584 on 9 August 1913, from the Temple School at Hendon.
Can anyone confirm that this is Rupert E Penny who was commissioned into the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve and attached to the Royal Naval Air Service?
That Penny served on the seaplane Carrier HMS Campania in 1915 and 1916, and is known to have flown Sopwith Schneider seaplanes ??707??and ??796?? and Sopwith Baby ??125?? By December 1917, Penny had moved to HMS Renown as pilot for the Sopwith Pup designed to fly from a platform mounted on top of one of the battle cruiser?? turrets. One of these Pups was ??6448?? Penny at on an Admiralty Committee advising on the future design and adoption of land planes suitable for deck operations. This led to an involvement in air compressed catapult trials, including work at Hendon, in July 1918, with a modified Avro 504H and the Carey designed catapult.
After the War Rupert E Penny, by now a Major in the Royal Air Force, became a flying boat specialist for the Air Ministry. In this role he undertook evaluation trials of a number of new designs, notably for Short Brothers.