Orrell, Joseph Harold 1903 - 1988
Joseph Harold Orrell, known as Jimmy Orrell, was born in Liverpool in 1903. He attended Longmoor Lane Boys School. He left school in 1918 to become a draughtsman at C. & H. Crichton Ltd in Liverpool. As a school boy during the First World War, Orrell had watched the Avro 504K aeroplanes stationed at Shotwich Aerodrome. In 1919, Orrell joined the Boy Service branch of the Royal Air Force as an apprentice draughtsman. He altered his birth certificate in order to join up a year early. Draughtsman was a Grade I Trade, which allowed Orrell to apply to become a Trainee Pilot. He began his flight training in an Avro 504K in March 1926 and gained his wings in the following February. His first posting was as a sergeant with No. 25(F) Squadron.
Orrell left the Air Force in 1931 and joined the Midland and Scottish Air Ferries service. There he helped to pioneer airline and ambulance services to the Western Isles of Scotland. He also piloted pleasure flights from Barton airfield and was a 'barn stormer' (a performer of aerial acrobatics).
In 1934 Orrell took a job with A. V. Roe & Co. (Avro) as a draughtsman. His role at the company soon changed, and he became responsible for testing and delivering aircraft. A year later, he joined Imperial Airways Ltd as a pilot. Air travel had expanded rapidly after the end of the First World War and companies such as Imperial Airways Ltd operated flying boats and large passenger aircraft across the British Empire.
At the beginning of the Second World War, Imperial Airways Ltd seconded Orrell to the War Office. His job was to fly a converted Hudson aircraft between Scotland and Stockholm. The trip became known as the ball-bearing run, as the pilots transported gun parts from Sweden to Scotland.
In March 1942 Orrell returned to Avro as a test pilot. He became a member of the team responsible for the development of the Lancaster bomber. He impressed the company’s managers with his skills as a test pilot. When Bill Thorn, the Chief Test Pilot at Avro, died during a test flight at Woodford in 1947, Orrell took over his job. As Chief Test Pilot he was responsible for testing the Tudor VIII, the Athena and the Shackleton aircraft.
In 1949 Avro sent Orrell to Canada, where he tested a brand new prototype, the Jetliner C-102. The maiden flight went well but the second flight was more difficult. On the approach to landing, the aircraft’s undercarriage failed to lower and only the nose wheel came down. The loss of hydraulic oil meant that Orrell not only had no wheels to land on but he had also lost control of some of the flaps and aileron assistors. Orrell had to crash-land the aircraft knowing that this would damage the $4,000,000 prototype and cause bad publicity for the company. Fortunately, his skills as a pilot meant there was little damage to the aircraft. The Jetliner was repaired and Orrell carried out ground tests. Five weeks later he flew the aircraft again.
On his return to Britain, Orrell tested the Avro 707A prototype. This prototype became the Vulcan high- altitude bomber. Avro built the prototype in 1948 to test how a delta wing performed at different altitudes and speeds. In 1952, the company built a second prototype, the 707B, for high- and low-speed testing. Jimmy flew the 707B prototype from Woodford to Farnborough in late 1952.
Orrell’s flying career spanned the early history of flight right through to flight at near supersonic speed. He flew a replica Avro 504K in 1955, bringing his flying career full circle from his RAF training in 1926. In 1956 he was awarded the OBE for services to aviation. Two years later, in August 1958, Orrell made his last flight in an Anson G-AGPG.
Orrell retired from Avro in 1969, but maintained his links with the company as a member of the Avro 504 Club. He died in Knutsford, Cheshire, in 1988.