Edwin Harris Dunning

Squadron Commander Edwin Harris Dunning, DSC (17 July 1892 – 7 August 1917), of the British Royal Naval Air Service, was the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship.

[2] Dunning landed his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious in Scapa Flow, Orkney on 2 August 1917.

A plaque in the church states: The Admiralty wish you to know what great service he performed for the Navy.

It will make Aeroplanes indispensable to a fleet;& possibly, revolutionise Naval Warfare.

[5] In the 1950s and 1960s it was awarded to Royal Air Force squadrons which achieved the highest standard on courses at the Joint Anti-Submarine School.

Dunning's Sopwith Pup veering off the flight deck of HMS Furious during his fatal attempt to land on the carrier while underway, August 7, 1917
Colour drawing of the Beardmore-built Sopwith Pup N6453, flown by Sqn Cmdr Dunning for the first aircraft landing on an aircraft carrier, on 2 August 1917
A memorial to Edwin Harris Dunning in St Lawrence's Church, Bradfield, Essex