Harry Yates

Harry Alexander Yates, AFC (1 August 1896 – April 1968) was a Canadian pilot and chiropractor. He was best known for flying Lawrence of Arabia and Harry St. John Philby to Cairo, breaking a speed record for that flight. Early life Yates was born on 1 August 1896 in London, Ontario. As a young boy he and his family moved to Toronto when his father George was offered a job with the Toronto Globe. They later moved to Ottawa, where George became private secretary to Prime Minister Robert Borden. Harry attended Ottawa Collegiate Institute and joined cadets, learning telegraphy and automobile repair. He was nicknamed "Steamboat" because of his size: he was and . Wartime service During the First World War, Yates volunteered for the Canadian Army Service Corps in 1916 but switched to the Royal Naval Air Service after learning he was to be posted to a supply depot. He arrived in Liverpool on a troop convoy on 6 February 1917 and began basic training as a flying officer. He was among the 10 best candidates from the 65 in his training course and was sent for "phase-one" training at Vendôme. After a replacement instructor confused him with another H. Yates, he was allowed to fly solo after just over two hours of dual flight – a centre record. He underwent seven forced landings without causing any significant damage to his aircraft, which he compared to the other trainees who "had crashed up to five machines each". However, just two hours of flight time short of qualification for phase-two training, he was hospitalized for two weeks with ptomaine poisoning. Upon being released from hospital Yates completed his phase-one training and returned to England, where he was recommended for the top pilot rating. But he was again hospitalized, this time for eight weeks at Chatham Royal Naval Hospital, ten days before graduating from training. Doctors surgically removed half of his stomach, but still gave him only six months to live and forbade him from flying. His father appealed to Prime Minister Borden on his behalf, and the flight restriction was amended to allow him to fly bombers.