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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