Duncan Pitcher

Air Commodore Duncan le Geyt Pitcher, CMG, CBE, DSO (31 August 1877 – 1 September 1944) was an infantry and cavalry officer in the British Indian Army.

Pitcher attended the Central Flying School as a pilot under training in 1913 and once he had completed his course, he remained on the staff until the summer of 1914 when he was attached to No 4.

Immediately following the New Year of 1915, Pitcher took up instructional duties before being appointed a squadron commander at the Central Flying School in late January.

They had been in a West End production together in 1902 in London,[6] they were both veterans of the RFC (and its successor, the Royal Air Force) and were both flying and making films in Hollywood in the 1930s.

Loraine knew both Duncan, his best man, the Air-Commodore who had been in charge of the RFC radio control weapons that led to the first powered military drone aircraft [7] and Denny, a fellow actor who became interested in radio controlled aircraft and started the first US military drone work at the start of WWII.