Charles Leonard Palmer was among the passengers of the ill-fated flying boat ‘Clare’ which was lost in September, 1942*. He was in his 47th year, and was the son of Mr. Robert E. Palmer, O.B.E., Past-President of the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy.
He entered the Royal School of Mines in 1913, but in the following year his studies underwent an interruption of five years during which he served in H.M. Forces as an officer in the Royal Engineers. In 1919 he re-entered the R.S.M. for a second year’s course, but before completing it he went to Canada and enrolled at the McGill University, Montreal, where he graduated with the B.Sc. in mining, with honours.
After holding relatively small positions in mines in the Dominion, including the Sullivan and Hollinger properties, he went to Chile early in 1922, where he was employed as mine surveyor, efficiency and tonnage engineer by the Braden Copper Company, Rancagua, for a period of six years.
In 1928 he went to Spain, first as mine superintendent with the Tigon Mining and Finance Corporation, and in the following year in that connexion and on behalf of a London syndicate he visited for purposes of investigation mines in Austria, Spain, Chile, Mexico, Ireland, Sicily and Cyprus. In 1931 he was appointed safety and efficiency engineer at the Rio Tinto mines, and two years later became chief of classification and subsequently special assistant to the management for examination of economy and efficiency. Leaving Spain in 1937, he was appointed consulting engineer to the Eti Bank at Ankara, on behalf of the Turkish Government, to advise on the development of various minerals, including iron, copper, chrome, and sulphur.
At the time of his death he was returning to England, at the request of the British Government and with the consent of the Turkish authorities, to advise on the possibilities of increased development of mines in Turkey.
Mr. Palmer was admitted to Studentship of the Institution in 1919; he was elected an Associate in 1924 and was transferred to Membership in 1936.
Vol. 52, Trans I.M.M., 1942-43, p.398
*Dawson, L. Fabulous Flying Boats: A History of the World’s Passenger Flying Boats
A Shorts G-Class Flying boat – Clare left Lagos early in the morning of 14 September 1942 with six crew, thirteen passengers and cargo, the flying boat had refuelled at Freetown and had changed crews at Bathurst before leaving for Lisbon. Sixty minutes later, three messages were received; the first reporting a return on three engines, followed by a request for flares (to light the approach) and then a terse SOS announcing a fire on board. Aircraft and launches were sent to the last reported position but it was only on the second day that floating wreckage was sighted by a Catalina, all that remained of a forced landing on high seas.
