caption image_size alt license_date image article_title license_place name
portrait 1912 in '' flight '' magazine , 27 april 150px damer leslie allen in his aircraft 20 february 1912 damer leslie allen.jpg damer leslie allen
 london damer leslie allen
damer leslie allen

damer leslie allen was an irish-born early twentieth-century aviator .
he disappeared on 18 april 1912 , while attempting to fly from holyhead , wales to ireland in a blériot monoplane .
he had initially set off from hendon aerodrome together with his friend and fellow pilot denys corbett wilson who successfully completed his flight to ireland , the first complete flight between great britain and ireland , on 22 april .
although it was reported that their flights were the result of a wager between the two men , this was subsequently denied .
the following week , on 26 april , vivian hewitt successfully completed a flight between holyhead and dublin , landing in the phoenix park .
interviewed by the press , he expressed the view that allen had been insufficiently experienced as an aviator for a flight of such difficulty .
on 24 june 1912 , the high court in london made an order that allen should be presumed to have died on or after 18 april 1912 .
a consulting engineer by profession , allen left an estate valued at # 6,923 15s 8d .
at the time of his death allen was being sued in the english courts for the recovery of a portrait of lady anne ponsonby by thomas gainsborough , which he had sold at christie 's for 8,300 guineas -lrb- # 8,715 -rrb- .
on 11 february 1913 , after a seven-day trial , the jury returned a verdict for the defendants , including the executors of allen 's will .
