Tag Archives: Royal Air Force

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, County Durham, Great War, Hampshire, history, Lance Corporal, photography, Royal Air Force, Scotland, Second Lieutenant, story, United States of America, war

Second Lieutenant Walter Pawson

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Second Lieutenant Walter Pawson

Walter William Stead Pawson was born in South Shields, County Durham, on 7th October 1895. The second of six children, his parents were Albert and Louise Pawson. Albert was a joiner by trade, and his work took the family north for a while. The 1901 census found them living in Glasgow, but by the time Walter’s youngest sibling was born in 1905, they were back in County Durham once more.

Little further information is available about Walter’s early life, but in around 1912, he sought a new life for himself, and emigrated to California. When war broke out, however, he felt the need to serve his home country and enlisted on 5th June 1917. His US draft card show that he was working as a clerk at the Hotel de Luxe in Long Beach, California. He was noted as being tall and slender with blue eyes and light brown hair. The document also confirms two years’ voluntary service in the militia while in Scotland, during which time he reached the rank of Lance Corporal.

The next record for Walter is a second enlistment document, this time on 6th September 1917. Signing up in Toronto, Canada, he was now joining the country’s Royal Flying Corps. Whether he had been turned down for US service, of whether he felt joining the Canadian Expeditionary Force offered him better options is unclear.

Returning to Britain, he took a commission in the Royal Flying Corps, and was attached to the 70th Training Squadron based in Hampshire. His service papers do not give much detail of the man he had become, but do note his height as 6ft (1.83m).

Second Lieutenant Pawson spent the next few months training. On the 6th Mary 1918, he was piloting an Avro 504J biplane, when things went wrong. He was looping the aircraft, when it fell into a spin and he was unable to recover it. The aeroplane crashed to the ground and Walter was killed.

The RAF Casualty Card noted that: “The court having carefully considered the evidence and having viewed the wreckage are of the opinion that the accident… resulting the fatal injuries to the pilot… was due to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot who was under instruction at the time.”

Walter was 22 years of age when he died. An obituary stated that he was a “bright promising youth, and a splendid type of British manhood he us but one of the many precious lives lost through this terrible war.” [Jarrow Express: Friday 24th May 1918]

Walter William Stead Pawson was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, East Boldre, Hampshire, not far from the airfield he had so recently called home.

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, story, United States of America, war

Lieutenant Alexander Talbot

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Lieutenant Alexander Talbot

Thomas Alexander Talbot was born in Wellington, Ontario, Canada, on 16th February 1896. The youngest of seven children, he was one of two sons to Thomas and Jean Talbot. To avoid any confusion with his father, he was known by his middle name.

Before Joining the forces of the empire, Alex. Talbot was a student for three years at the University of Alberta. At the time of enlistment he was a student at law with A. G. MacKay, KC. He was well known in Edmonton and always took an active part in all sports connected with the university.

[Edmonton Journal: June 1918]

When war broke out, Alexander was keen to play his part. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in 1917, although as his service records no longer exist, the above newspaper expands on his military career: “He trained at Camp Mohawk, ON., and after receiving his commission was instructor at Camp Borden, later going in the same capacity to Fort Worth, Texas. In February last he went overseas where he was a most efficient and painstaking officer and gained promotion rapidly.”

By the spring of 1918, he had gained a commission in the Royal Flying Corps and was based in East Boldre, Hampshire.

On 3rd June, Lieutenant Talbot was piloting a Sopwith Camel, when the engine stalled. The RAF Casualty Card noted: “The cause of the accident was in our opinion due to the choking of engine after being opened out following an overshooting in landing and stalling in turn and spinning to earth owing to an error of judgement on the part of the pilot.”

Lieutenant Alexander Talbot was killed in the aircraft crash. He was 22 years of age. His body was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church in East Boldre, not far from the airfield which he called home.

Lieutenant Alexander Talbot
accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Ronald Brown

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Second Lieutenant Ronald Brown

In the churchyard of St Mary’s, East Boldre, Hampshire, is a headstone dedicated to Second Lieutenant RR Brown of the Royal Air Force, who died on the 18th June 1918, at the age of 24.

The Commonwealth War Graves Commission confirms his father as William Brown of Lynnville, Ontario Canada. The 1901 census return confirms his forenames as Robert Ray and his mother as Annie Brown. William was a general labourer, but there is little further information about his son’s early life.

What can be confirmed is that, by the summer of 1918, Robert had stepped up to serve the Empire. He had gained a commission in the Royal Air Force, but it is unclear which part of the Canadian Expeditionary Force he had served with previously. Second Lieutenant Brown was, however, based at the 73rd Training Squadron in Hampshire.

On 18th June 1918, Robert was piloting a Sopwith Camel across the New Forest and out towards the Isle of Wight. His aircraft stalled, and fell into the Solent, and he was killed instantly. The RAF report card on the incident stated that: “The cause of the accident was, in our opinion, 1) The machine getting over the vertical in a dive. 2) Stalling on completion of a half-roll and nose diving into the Solent.”

The body of Robert Ray Brown was brought back to shore. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Mary’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield he had called home.

accident, Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Lance Corporal, photography, Private, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant John Morrison

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Second Lieutenant John Morrison

John Lindsay Morrison was born in Elma, Ontario, Canada, on 1st February 1894. One of eight children, his parents were farmers William and Elizabeth Morrison.

When John completed his schooling, he found employment as a bank clerk. He gave this up, however, when war broke out, enlisting in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 24th August 1915. His service papers show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall, with black hair, grey eyes and a dark complexion. No distinguishing marks were noted, but his religion was given as Presbyterian.

Private Morrison arrived in Britain on 11th April 1916. Assigned to the 32nd Battalion of the Canadian Infantry, he was billeted in Shorncliffe, Kent. His services records note that he arrived in France in June, and was promoted to Lance Corporal in February 1917. By May he was back in Britain, at Hursley Park, undertaking an aeronautics course with the Royal Flying Corps.

This seems to have been the route John wanted to take, and on 18th February 1918, he took a commission as a Second Lieutenant. He was based at the 29th Training Depot Station in East Boldre, Hampshire.

The role of a pilot was fraught with risk and, on 1st May 1918 – a month after the formation of the Royal Air Force – John was injured. His aircraft, an Avro 504, sideslipped while taking off from East Boldre airfield.

The court having viewed the wreckage at the scene of the accident, and having examined the wreckage area are of the opinion that 2nd/Lt. Morrison stalled Avro on a left hand turn and had not sufficient height to extricate the machine from the resulting spin.

Second Lieutenant Morrison would recover from his injuries, but more was to follow. Just three months later, on 31st July 1918, he had taken a Sopwith Camel up, and the aircraft crashed:

The cause of the accident was due to an error of judgement of pilot, in that he probably switched off at top of turn and had not time to get his nose down. Engine cut out at top of turn, causing machine to stall and then spin.

John was not to be so fortunate this time around. He was killed when the aircraft his the ground. He was 24 years of age.

Thousands of miles from home, the body of John Lindsay Morrison was laid to rest alongside colleagues from the squadron in St Paul’s Churchyard, East Boldre.

accident, Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, County Cork, Great War, Hampshire, history, Ireland, photography, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, story, war

Serjeant Jack Hogan

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Serjeant Jack Hogan

The personal life of Jack Hogan is a challenge to piece together, and much of the information is pulled from his service record. This confirms that he was born in 1890 in Cork, Ireland, and gives his next of kin as his mother, Annie Hogan, who was living in Southsea, Hampshire. He seems to have been born John Hogan, Jack being a common nickname, but there are too many census records with potential matches to narrow down a definite connection.

A Roman Catholic, Jack was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall. He had dark hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion. He was also noted as having two small moles on his left cheek. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class on 1st October 1915, leaving his job as a motor and cycle fitter to do so.

Jack seemed to have been proficient at what he was doing, and was promoted to Air Mechanic 1st Class less than a year after enlisting. On 5th February 1918 he rose again, taking the role of Acting Sergeant. When the Royal Air Force was formed in April that year, his rank was made permanent.

Sergeant Hogan was attached to the 29th Training Depot Station near East Boldre, Hampshire. On 4th August 1918, he was piloting an Avro 504, when it collided with another aircraft. There is little recorded about the incident, and his RAF Casualty Card does not give details of the other vehicle or its pilot. Jack’s biplane fell to the ground and he was killed. He was 28 years of age.

The body of Jack Hogan was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre, not far from the base that had become his home.

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, United States of America, war

Second Lieutenant Vernon Kidd

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Second Lieutenant Vernon Kidd

Vernon Monroe Kidd was born in Waco, Missouri, on 6th December 1896. One of nine children, his parents were William and Frances Kidd. William was a blacksmith and, by the time of the 1900 census, he had moved the family to Delaware, Indiana.

Details of Vernon’s life are a challenge to uncover, but a later newspaper report sheds some light on him:

Lieutenant Vernon Kidd, formerly of Yorktown, was killed August 30 in France, the news coming to Yorktown yesterday to his two brothers, J Wesley and William E Kidd. He was serving with the Canadian Aviation Corps and was but 21 years old. Only last April, while visiting Yorktown, Lieutenant Kidd spoke there at the ME Church. He sailed on June 18 for overseas service. He had tried numerous times to enlist in the United States army but was rejected and later went to Canada, enlisting at Toronto. He had another brother now serving in the army against Germany.

[The Star Press: 2nd September 1918]

Vernon’s service papers give a bit more information. He enlisted in Toronto on 12th October 1917, joining the Canadian Royal Flying Corps. He gave his next of kin as his father, who by now, was living in Port Angeles, Washington. Just short of his twentieth birthday, he was noted as being 5ft 9ins (1.75m) tall.

Sent to Britain, Vernon was based at the 29th Training Depot Station in East Boldre, Hampshire. When the Royal Air Force was founded in April 1918, he transferred across, and just a month later, he received his commission.

On the 30th August 1918, Second Lieutenant Kidd was piloting an Avre 504J biplane. It had just taken off, but the engine cut out. He had little choice but to crash land, and was killed in the impact. Vernon was 21 years of age.

Thousands of miles from home, the body of Vernon Monroe Kidd was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church in East Boldre.

Second Lieutenant Vernon Kidd
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Air Mechanic, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Arthur Belyea

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Second Lieutenant Arthur Belyea

Arthur Fred Belyea was born in Penetanguishene, Ontario, Canada, on 21st October 1894. The second of five children, he was one of three sons to John and Sarah. John was a farmer, and local to the area, but Sarah, who was sixteen years her husband’s junior, had been born in Pennsylvania, and lived in Kansas for twenty years before moving to Canada.

By the time of the 1911 census, the family had moved to Calgary, where John had taken up work as a horse dealer. Interestingly, the census also recorded the Belyeas’ racial background, which was German, although John and Sarah were at least second generation North American.

Arthur had finished school by this point, and had found employment as a bookkeeper for the Royal Bank of Canada. He was settled in for a career, and, by 1916 had achieved the role of assistant accountant. War was on the horizon, however, and life was to change.

Full details of Arthur’s military service have been lost to time, but it is clear that he enlisted in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps on 3rd December 1917. His service papers show that Air Mechanic 3rd Class Belyea was 5ft 5.5ins (1.66m) tall, with dark brown hair, hazel eyes and a medium complexion.

Arthur was sent to Britain and stationed at East Boldre, Hampshire. When the Royal Air Force was formed on 1st April 1918, he transferred across. He was obviously proficient at what he did, because at the end of May he earned a commission, and rose to the rank of Second Lieutenant.

Mr A C Hallett, Deputy County Coroner, held inquests on Tuesday, of Lieut. Austin Wyard Blackie, RAF, of California, and Second-Lieut. Arthur Fred Belyea, RAF, of Calgary, Canada, who met thwir deaths while flying. The evidence showed that their machines collided at a great height, and that death in each case must have been instantaneous. Verdicts of “Accidental death” were returned.

[Hampshire Advertiser: Saturday 21st September 1918]

The RAF report card on the incident noted that: “The cause of the accident was in our opinion an error of judgement on one pilot (unknown) in flying his machine into the other machine from the rear, causing the left hand frame of Camel C8322 and the right hand frames of Camel C96 to collapse, thus causing each machine to spin to the ground. The one pilot was probably attempting to obtain good photographs of the other machine.”

Arthur Fred Belyea was 23 years of age when he died on 17th September 1918. He was laid to rest alongside Lieutenant Blackie in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the airfield at which he served.

You can read about the life of Lieutenant Blackie here.

Second Lieutenant Arthur Belyea
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Canada, Canadian Infantry, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, Sergeant, story, war

Lieutenant Austin Blackie

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Lieutenant Austin Blackie

Austin Wyard Blackie was born in Spring Bay on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island on 17th November 1895. The seventh of eight children, his parents were farmers John and Mary Blackie. John took the family to where the work was: by the time of the 1901 census they had relocated to Algoma, 190km (120 miles) to the north west.

Little further information is available about Austin’s early life. When war broke out, he stepped up to play his part. His military records take a bit of unpicking, but he joined the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 10th April 1916, and was assigned to the 227th Battalion as a Sergeant. He was dismissed from service on 15th December 1916, as he was deemed medically unfit.

Undeterred, Austin’s service papers confirm that he re-enlisted on 7th March 1917, and that he was a student at the University of Toronto Officers’ Training Corps at the time. This document also gives his year of birth incorrectly as 1894.

Austin’s medical in 1917 confirmed that, at 22 years of age (based on the incorrect year of birth), he was 5ft 7.5ins (1.71m) tall and weighed 143lbs (64.9kg). He had fair hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion, good hearing and 20/20 vision. He was also recorded as having a number of scars: two either side of his stomach from an operation, and a third on the right side of his left ankle.

Sergeant Blackie’s time in the army was not destined to be a lengthy one, and there is a sense of his determination to better himself. On 5th May 1917, he was discharged from service again, but this time because he mad the transfer to Canadian Royal Flying Corps.

At this point, Austin’s trail goes frustratingly cold. He was shipped out to Britain, and was based at the 29th Training Depot Station in East Boldre, Hampshire. When the Royal Air Force was formed, he transferred across, and, at some point during this time, he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant.

Mr A C Hallett, Deputy County Coroner, held inquests on Tuesday, of Lieut. Austin Wyard Blackie, RAF, of California, and Second-Lieut. Arthur Fred Belyea, RAF, of Calgary, Canada, who met thwir deaths while flying. The evidence showed that their machines collided at a great height, and that death in each case must have been instantaneous. Verdicts of “Accidental death” were returned.

[Hampshire Advertiser: Saturday 21st September 1918]

The report’s suggestion that Austin was from California is incorrect, although his parents had, by this point, moved there from Canada.

The RAF’s own report gave a little more detail on what happened:

The court considered the evidence, found that the cause of the accident was entirely due to misadventure in that the [Lieutenant Blackie’s] foot became entangled behind the rudder bar, the machine thus being our of control.

It appears that Austin had been offered a different aircraft to the Sopwith Camel in which he he had been killed. “He apparently took his machine up without asking his Flight Commander’s permission or his Instructor’s, contrary to standing orders.”

Second Lieutenant Belyea’s report card adds a stark twist to the crash: “The cause of the accident was in our opinion an error of judgement on one pilot (unknown) in flying his machine into the other machine from the rear, causing the left hand frame of Camel C8322 and the right hand frames of Camel C96 to collapse, thus causing each machine to spin to the ground. The one pilot was probably attempting to obtain good photographs of the other machine.”

Austin Wyard Blackie was just 22 years of age when he died on 17th September 1918. He was laid to rest alongside Second Lieutenant Belyea in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the base in which he had served.

You can read about Second Lieutenant Belyea’s life here.

Lieutenant Austin Blackie
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Army Pay Corps, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lieutenant, photography, Royal Air Force, story, Sussex, war, Warwickshire

Lieutenant Frederick Bravery

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Lieutenant Frederick Bravery

DISASTROUS FLYING ACCIDENT

Seven Airmen Killed

Lieutenant FJ Bravery’s “Great Skill and Fearlessness”

A sad bereavement has just been sustained by Mr & Mrs T Bravery, of 83, Chapel-road, in the death of one of their soldier sons, Lieutenant FJ Bravery, of the Royal Air Force, as the result of a flying accident near Birmingham in the early part of last week.

Together with a young Canadian Officer, Lieutenant Macbeth, of Toronto, and five air mechanics, Lieutenant Bravery was testing a large aeroplane, when, according to a farmer who was an eye-witness of the accident, the machine was seen to come nose down out of a cloud at great height.

The machine then righted itself and went about a mile, when it turned over while flying at a comparatively low altitude, and fell straight to earth, all seven occupants being instantaneously killed.

An inquest was held at a small town in the vicinity of the accident on Thursday afternoon, when evidence was given that both Lieutenant Macbeth (who was in charge of the machine) and Lieutenant Bravery were experienced pilots and accustomed to the type of machine they were flying, and that tests made with the machine before the flight was started were all satisfactory.

The Jury, in returning their verdict of “Accidental death” were unable to state the specific cause of the accident.

Lieutenant Bravery, who was only twenty-two years of age, joined the Army Pay Corps at the end of 1914, bur subsequently transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, where he had been engaged in flying for a little more than a year. A capable and experienced pilot, he had latterly been attached to the Central Dispatch Pool, where his duties mainly consisted of ferrying machines over to France; and his Commanding Officer, in a letter of sympathy to the bereaved parents, wrote that “he had done excellent work by his great skill and fearlessness. He was always popular and loved in his mess; and was absolutely unselfish, and a very brave gentleman.”

The funeral of the other victims of the tragedy took place on Friday near the scene of the accident: but the body of Lieutenant Bravery was brought home to Worthing, and was buried yesterday afternoon, at Broadwater Cemetery, with full Military honours.

[Worthing Gazette: Wednesday 28th August 1918]

Frederick James Bravery was born on 4th January 1896 in Brighton, Sussex. One of seven children, his parents were Thomas and Eugenie Bravery. Thomas was a pork butcher, and the 1901 census found the family lived at 3 Grenville Street in the centre of the town. Frederick and two of his sisters, meanwhile, were staying with their paternal grandparents on New Church Road in Aldrington.

By the time of the 1911 census, the Bravery family had taken a massive step up. They were now living in a 10-roomed Victorian villa at 15 Clermont Terrace in the Preston area of Brighton. Thomas was noted as having no occupation, and while three of Frederick’s older sibling were working – one as a milliner’s assistant, one as a chemist’s cashier and one as a clerk for a piano shop – their salaries would not have been enough to support such a change in status.

There is little that can be added to the newspaper’s account of Frederick’s military service. He seemed keen to enlist, and what remains of his army and air force documentation suggests that he added two years to his age. He was, therefore, just 22 years of age when he died, on 19th August 1918.

The body of Frederick James Bravery was laid to rest in Broadwater Cemetery, Worthing, Sussex, just a short walk from where his parents were now living in Chapel Road (Thomas now listed as being a sauce maker and pork butcher).

The newspaper report only highlighted the deaths of the two Lieutenants killed in the fatal accident. Alongside Lieutenant Bravery, the full list of crew lost were Air Mechanic 3rd Class George Greenland (buried at Tower Hamlets Cemetery Park, London); Air Mechanic 1st Class James May (buried in Basford Cemetery, Nottinghamshire); Air Mechanic 3rd Class Charles Offord (buried in Acton Cemetery, Middlesex); and Aircraftman 2nd Class Horrace Simmonds. Simmonds and Lieutenant Robert Macbeth were both laid to rest in St Michael’s Churchyard, Maxstoke, not far from the site of the crash.

accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, war

Second Lieutenant Frank Reid

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Second Lieutenant Frank Reid

Frank Rice Reid was born on 1st September 1898 in Toronto, Canada. One of four children, his parents were Nova Scotians George and Annie Reid. George was a commercial traveller, and the family had moved back to Nova Scotia by the time of Frank’s youngest sibling’s birth in 1910.

When Frank finished his schooling, he found work as a clerk, but was drawn to the excitement of flight and, soon became an aviation cadet. War was raging across Europe by this point, and, on 9th October 1917, he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps. At 19 years and one month old, his service papers show that he was 5ft 7ins (1.7m) tall.

By the spring of 1918, Frank was in Britain, and had been a commission to Second Lieutenant. Assigned to the newly-formed Royal Air Force’s No. 1 Training School in Beaulieu, Hampshire, within a matter of months he was working as an instructor, flying Sopwith Camels.

On the morning of the 30th September 1918, Second Lieutenant Reid was flying his aircraft, when it crashed into the ground and he was killed. He had not long turned 20 years of age. The report of the incident noted that “the cause of the accident was an error of judgement on the part of the pilot in doing a half-roll too near the ground and not having enough height to come out of the dive.”

The body of Frank Rice Reid was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Paul’s Church, East Boldre, not far from the base he had called home.

Second Lieutenant Frank Reid
(from finagrave.com)