Tag Archives: Royal Flying Corps

Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Kent, London, Middlesex, photography, Royal Air Force, story, war

Air Mechanic 2nd Class Ernest Dean

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Air Mechanic 2nd Class Ernest Dean

Ernest James Dean was born in the autumn of 1898 in St Pancras, Middlesex. The older of two children, he was the only son to Ernest and Caroline Dean. Ernest Sr was a bootmaker, and the family lived at 51 Lismore Road.

Ernest Jr found work as a clerk when he completed his schooling. However, when war broke out, he was keen to play his part. He enlisted on 6th February 1917, joining the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic 3rd Class. His service record shows that he was 5ft 6ins (1.67m) tall, and he must have proven to be a keen student: within four months he had been promoted to Air Mechanic 2nd Class and was being trained as a wireless operator.

When the Royal Air Force was formed on 1st April 1918, Ernest’s transfer was automatic. It is unclear exactly where Air Mechanic Dean served, but he seems to have been based in Kent by that autumn.

In October, Ernest was admitted to the Lees Court Hospital in Faversham, Kent, having come down with pneumonia. The condition, sadly, was to prove fatal: he passed away on 29th October 1918, at the age of just 20 years old.

The body of Ernest James Dean was taken back to Middlesex for burial, and he was laid to rest in the majestic grounds of Highgate Cemetery.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Devon, Flight Cadet, Great War, history, photography, Royal Air Force, story, war, Wiltshire

Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

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Flight Cadet Ernest Tracey

Flt-Cadet Ernest Osborn Tracey, RAF, who died on Friday, the result of injuries sustained through a collision in the air when undergoing his final training, was the only son of Rev. HF and Mrs Tracey, of Dartmouth. He was born in Oct. 1899, at St Saviour’s Vicarage, of which church his father was vicar for 23 years, retiring from the living in 1913 in order to take up clerical duties in New Zealand. Mr Tracey was educated at Blundell’s, where he held a house master’s scholarship. When he left in the middle of last year he was the winner of the Coles’ prize for science; was one of the shooting VIII, of which he had his cap and colours; a member of the Upper Sixth, the OTC, and he had also won the first prize for drawing. On leaving Blundell’s he obtained a cadetship at Woolwich, and was transferred to the RAF.

[Western Morning News: Tuesday 4th June 1918]

Ernest Osborn Tracey was born in Dartmouth, Devon, on 25th October 1899, and was baptised in his father’s church six weeks later. The younger of two children to Reverend Henry and Alice Tracey, he gave up his schooling to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps on 12th November 1917.

When the Royal Air Force was formed the following April, Flight Cadet Tracey automatically transferred across. Training to be a reconnaissance pilot, Ernest would have cut a dashing figure, standing 6ft 1in (1.85m) tall. He was based at Yatesbury Airfield in Wiltshire, and was learning to fly a BE2, twin seater biplane.

At 8:30pm on 31st May, his aircraft collided with another, sending Ernest’s machine spinning into a nosedive. He crashed into the ground and was killed instantly.

The body of Ernest Osborn Tracey was taken back to Devon for burial. He was laid to rest in the graveyard of St Clement’s Church, Dartmouth.

Ernest’s will gave his mother, Alice, as his beneficiary. The newspaper report suggests that Henry had travelled to New Zealand to tend a new flock there, and the Commonwealth War Graves Commission records him as being “Chaplain to the Forces” and Vicar of Dartmouth.

It certainly seems that any time spent in New Zealand was limited. By the time of the 1921 census, Reverend Tracey had found a new posting, in the Staffordshire village of Gentleshaw. The same census return found Alice staying with their daughter, Rosamond, and her family, in Totnes, Devon.

Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, illness, photography, Royal Air Force, story, war, Wiltshire

Air Mechanic 2nd Class Jack Gauntlett

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Air Mechanic 2nd Class Jack Gauntlett

Jack Wallis Gauntlett was born in Burbage, Wiltshire, in the spring of 1898. The oldest of four children, his parents were George and Florence Gauntlett. On Jack’s baptism record, George gives his trade as a yeoman, while later census records confirm he was a farmer.

Jack was baptised in St Mary’s Church in Stapleford, near Salisbury, some distance south of Burbage, and, given that his parents had no connection to that area, it seems that his father’s work took the family around the county. The 1901 census record found them Gauntletts back in Burbage, but by the time of the 1911 return, they had moved to Middleton Farm in Norton Bavant.

When war broke out, Jack stepped up to serve his country. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in January 1917 and, as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class, was sent to Farnborough, Hampshire, for training.

Much sympathy is felt with Mr and Mrs FG Gauntlett, of Middleton Farm, in the loss they have sustained by the death of their eldest son, JW Gauntlett… He came home three weeks ago on leave before proceeding to France, and was then sickening for measles and had bronchitis. He was taken to Sutton Veny military hospital and died there on Friday from an attack of pneumonia.

[Wiltshire Times and Trowbridge Advertiser: Saturday 19th May 1917]

Jack Wallis Gauntlett was just 19 years of age when he died on 11th May 1917. He was buried in the family plot in All Saints’ Churchyard, Norton Bavant.

accident, Air Mechanic, Captain, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, photography, Royal Air Force, Somerset, story, war, Wiltshire

Captain Lewis White

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Captain Lewis White

Lewis Scott White was born at the start of 1896 in Bath, Somerset. The youngest of four children, his parents were surgeon Edward White and his wife, Fanny. The 1911 census recorded the family living in a substantial property in Green Park: the now medical practitioner Edward, Fanny and Lewis sharing the 12-room house with a servant, Ellen Fry.

As befitting of his station in life, Lewis’ education was a well rounded one: “[he] was educated at Bath College and Kelly College, Tavistock, and was coached for his matriculation examination by Mr Samuel Edwards, of Grosvenor College. He exhibited a fondness for aeronautics when quite a lad. While at Victoria College he evinced much enthusiasm for the art of flying, and made models of flying machines. One of these miniature planes he flew successfully on Lansdown, and we believe showed at an exhibition in London. He was one of the leading spirits in the Bath Aerial Club, which used to meet at the Church Institute.” [Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 06 October 1917]

Lewis’s mechanical mind was put to good use in his working life as well. He found employment as a motor fitter, and this is what he was doing when war broke out in the summer of 1914. He felt duty bound to service his King and his Country, and, on 20th October, he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps as an Air Mechanic. His service records confirm the man he had become: at 18 years of age, he was 5ft 4ins (1.63m) tall and weighed 117lbs (53kg). He had dark brown hair, brown eyes and a fresh complexion.

His skill and daring earned promotion, and he was given a commission… He accomplished many fine feats in actual aerial warfare on the Western Front, and for one of these some months ago he was awarded the Military Cross. He was acting as an observer when the flight occurred; the pilot in the same machine was given the DSO.

While wearing only one wing he came home to England to train as a pilot. He rapidly passed all the tests for this, and obtained the two wings, and was gazetted Captain of the RFC on May 5th last. It was only on Wednesday last week that Captain White attended an investiture at Buckingham Palace and was decorated by the King with the MC. So complete was his mastery of flying machines and so great his initiative that Captain White was appointed Flight Instructor, and for the last two months he had been Flight Commander quartered in Wiltshire.

[Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 06 October 1917]

On 29th September 1917, Captain White was piloting a Sopwith Camel from RAF Yatesbury, Wiltshire, when the aircraft failed to pull up from a dive. It crashed into the ground and Lewis was killed instantly. He was just 21 years of age.

It is no secret that the aeronaut whose intrepid feats in the air above Bath of late had caused much notice was Captain White. He would loop the loop with the greatest ease, and his nose-diving was most daring. When questioned why he performed these dangerous acts in the air Captain White would declare that there was no risk from engine trouble unless a man ‘lost his head,’ and apparently he had no idea that is was possible for him to get into difficulties from that cause. It is to be surmised therefore that in the accident which had cost his life, so especially valuable to the country now, something beyond engine trouble must have happened.

To stay-at-home and peacefully minded citizens some of the manoeuvring by aeroplanes in flight savours too much of the sensational, and they are apt to think that it is unnecessarily throwing away chances. But such an impression is as unjust as it is unkind. The strange evolutions described by machines in mid-air are just the kind that have to be executed in actual aerial warfare when seeking to gain an advantage over the foe, and unless this preliminary training were carefully and systematically gone through it would be hopeless to seek to acquire the necessary skill in the moment of crisis. Captain White was absolutely fearless, and his death will be deeply deplored by by many comrades who knew his worth.

[Bath Chronicle and Weekly Gazette – Saturday 06 October 1917]

A subsequent inquest found no immediate cause for the crash, but suggested that Captain White may have misjudged the distance whilst diving and flew into ground.

The body of Lewis Scott White was brought back to Somerset for burial He was laid to rest in the majestic Locksbook Cemetery in Bath, his funeral attracting a full page report in the city’s Chronicle and Weekly Gazette.

Captain Lewis White
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, killed in action, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, Surrey, war, Wiltshire

Second Lieutenant Henry Fleming

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Second Lieutenant Henry Fleming

On Tuesday morning another member of the Royal Flying Corps, Second Lieutenant Henry Roland Fleming, lost his life at Upavon. Lieutenant Fleming, who was 28 years of age, and married, having his home at Ripley, Surrey, was attached to the Central Flying School early last month, having volunteered for service on the outbreak of war, joining the Special Reserve Air Service. Nearly four years ago he gained the Aero Club’s certificate at Brooklands, but for nearly two years prior to the outbreak of war had not practiced aviation. On Tuesday morning the conditions were very favourable for flying, and the deceased’s flight was watched by Major Webb-Bowen, assistant commandant at the school, and Captain Stopford, who was flying at the same time. Lieutenant Fleming was about 1200ft [365m] up when the attitude of his machine first attracted the attention of the officers. They noticed it dive in an almost vertical position, after which it turned over on its back and glided for some distance upside down. Then it turned its nose to ground again, and from a height of some 450 feet [137m] dived straight into the earth. Death was instantaneous. The officers found Mr Fleming dead in the remains of the machine, with the strap broke in the fall still about his waist. Medical examination showed that he had dislocated his neck and fractured his skull. Lieutenant Fleming, who comes from a well-known family, was one of the first in the country to take up aviation. His father went through the Crimean Campaign in the 4th Irish Dragoon Guards, and a brother was killed in the South African War.

Salisbury and Winchester Journal: Saturday 28th November 1914

Henry Roland Fleming was born in the summer of 1884 in Farnham, Surrey. There is scant information about his early life, but the 1911 census recorded him as boarding at the New Inn in Amesbury, Wiltshire, where he was employed as an aviator.

Henry gained his wings on the 25th April 1911 – shortly after the census – flying a Bristol biplane. He married Ivy Wyness-Stuart, a widow six years his senior, in the spring of 1913, but after this, the couple’s trail goes cold.

When war broke out, Henry stepped up to play his part. He gained a commission to the Royal Flying Corps and, once again found himself based on Salisbury Plain. Tragically it was only a matter of months because the fatal accident.

While his widow was living in Surrey, her Henry Roland Fleming was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, not far from airfield where he had developed his flying skills.

Second Lieutenant Henry Fleming
(from findagrave.com)
accident, Canada, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, killed in action, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, story, United States of America, war, Wiltshire

Second Lieutenant Forrest Evans

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Second Lieutenant Forrest Evans

The life of Forrest Dinnett Evans is a challenge to uncover, although his service records shed tantalising glimpses into his history.

Forrest enlisted in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps on 8th August 1917. He joined up in Toronto, Canada, but gave his address as 26 Leicester Drive, Boston, Massachusetts.The same document gives his middle names as Dennett, and that his father was called George William Evans. It also suggests that both men were British subjects. While it’s not clear when the Evans family moved to North America, there are no UK census or birth records for either man.

Forrest was 19 years 9 months old when he enlisted and stood 5ft 10ins (1.77m) tall. He gave his trade as an student aviation cadet. He was mobilised straight away, and sent to Britain. His time in the Canadian Royal Flying Corps came to an end on 18th December 1917, when he received a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.

Second Lieutenant Evans, as he was now known, was based at Boscombe Down, Wiltshire. It was here, on 27th March 1918, that he was in charge of an Armstrong Whitworth FK8 two-seater biplane. Shortly after take off, the aircraft span into the ground: Forrest was killed instantly. He was 20 years of age.

With his family overseas, Forrest Dinnett Evans was laid to rest in Amesbury Cemetery, just a few miles from Boscombe Down.

Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, illness, Lieutenant, Oxfordshire, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, story, war

Lieutenant David Slocombe

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Lieutenant David Slocombe

David William Slocombe was born on 9th November 1893, the oldest of seven children to William and Kate. William was a tin worker from Huntspill, Somerset, and it was in nearby Highbridge that the family were born and raised.

David appears to have been a bright lad, receiving a sponsorship from the King James Foundation to attend Dr Morgan’s School in Bridgwater. He spent six years there, from September 1906 to July 1912, and went on to become a customs and excise clerk when he left.

When war arrived in Europe, David was called upon to play his part. He initially enlisted on 1st December 1915, but was placed on reserve for nearly a year. His service records show that he was 22 years of age and 5ft 8.5ins (1.74m) tall. When he was finally mobilised, he was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.

At this point, David’s trail goes cold. Later documents confirm that he transferred across to the Royal Air Force when it was founded in April 1918, and that he rose to the rank of Lieutenant. He served in France and Italy and, by the end of the war, was attached to the 44th Training Depot Station in Oxfordshire.

By the autumn of 1918, Lieutenant Slocombe had come down with pneumonia. He was admitted to the 3rd Southern General Hospital in Bicester, and this is where he was to breathe his last. David died on 24th October 1918, aged just 24 years old.

David William Slocombe was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in Highbridge Cemetery.

accident, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, Hampshire, history, killed in action, London, Malaysia, photography, Royal Air Force, Second Lieutenant, Somerset, story, Surrey, war

Lieutenant Gilbert Rippon

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Lieutenant Gilbert Rippon

Gilbert Harold Earle Rippon was born in Paddington, London, in the spring of 1887. The third of seven children, his parents were coal merchant Frederick Rippon and his wife, Eugenie.

When Gilbert left school, he found work as a clerk for a building firm. He was an ambitious young man, however, and, after his mother died in 1903 and his father a few years later, he took on work at a rubber plantation in Jementah, Malaysia.

When war broke out, “he came home on six months’ leave in order to enlist, having an exciting voyage owing to the activities of submarines. He was refused at first owing to a slight physical defect, but after an operation learnt to fly and was given a commission in the Royal Flying Corps.” [Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 9th June 1916]

Second Lieutenant Rippon gained his wings at Brooklands in Surrey on 16th January 1916. By the summer he was attached to a flying school in Gosport, Hampshire, and this is where he was based by the early summer of 1916.

On 7th June, Gilbert was flying a de Havilland DH2 aircraft, when an accident occurred. According to a newspaper report: “Evidence showed that the machine, when 300 feet [91m] up, made a double turn, as though the aviator was trying to return. It then slipped and made a nose-dive to the ground, killing the pilot instantaneously. He had only been in the air three minutes. The previous evening the same monoplane had ascended 14,000 ft [4267m].” [Somerset Guardian and Radstock Observer: Friday 9th June 1916]

Second Lieutenant Rippon was 29 years of age. The same report confirmed that he was the older brother of two Bath and Somerset cricketers – twins Dudley and Sydney Rippon – and that his oldest brother, New York-based Secretary of the Board of Correction Frank Rippon, “had the unhappy experience of being in the aerodrome when the accident occurred, and saw his brother fall to the ground.”

Gilbert Harold Earle Rippon was laid to rest in the family plot St James Cemetery, Bath, Somerset. There seems to have been a family connection with the city: this is where both Frederick and Eugenie were buried, and where, after their parents’ deaths, the twins and the youngest Rippon son, Percy, were taken to live.

Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, Lincolnshire, photography, Royal Air Force, Somerset, story, unknown, war

Air Mechanic 1st Class Joseph Chivers

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Air Mechanic 1st Class Joseph Chivers

Joseph Shore Chivers was born in the summer of 1889 in Walcot, Bath, Somerset. He was the youngest of seven children to William and Jane Chivers. William was a blacksmith and, after he and Jane died within nine months of each other in 1904/05, Joseph went to live with his brother, Edward, remaining there with his sister-in-law when his sibling also died in 1910.

Joseph had found work as a French polisher and cabinet maker by this point and this is what he was doing when he married local woman Ellen West in on 11th September 1915.

War was on the horizon by this point and Joseph was soon called on to serve his country. On 26th July 1916 he enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps, as an Air Mechanic 2nd Class. His service records give little away, but do confirm that he was 5ft 8ins (1.73m) tall.

Joseph was dedicated to his role and, on 1st January 1918, was promoted to Air Mechanic 1st Class. Three months later, when the Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service combined to become the Royal Air Force, Joseph made the transfer across.

In August, Air Mechanic Chivers moved to RAF Bracebridge, to the south of Lincoln, where he remained until the end of the war and beyond. He was attached to 120 Squadron, which delivered mail and communications to the troops overseas. Little additional information is available about his life there, other than his admission to the 4th Northern Hospital in April 1919, through causes unknown.

Whatever the cause of his need to be admitted, he was to succumb to it. Air Mechanic Chivers passed away on 1st May 1919, at the age of 29 years old.

Joseph Shore Chivers’ body was brought back to Somerset for burial. He was laid to rest in St James’ Cemetery, in his home city of Bath.

Air Mechanic, Commonwealth War Graves, Great War, history, injury, London, Middlesex, photography, Royal Air Force, story, Sussex, war, wireless operator

Air Mechanic 1st Class Albert Young

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Air Mechanic 1st Class Albert Young

Albert Franklin Young was born on 15th August 1899 in Marylebone, London. He was the older of two children – and the only son – to Kathleen (Kate) Young, and her photographer husband, Albert Antonio Young.

Albert Sr seemed to have made a successful of his photography business: Albert Jr attended St Hugh’s School in Chislehurst, Kent, before moving on to Margate College, also in Kent, and Watford Grammar School.

From leaving school, Albert Jr joined the Royal Flying Corps as a wireless operator on 28th September 1915. He was just sixteen years old, but within eight months he was serving with the British Expeditionary Force in France. He was involved in operations at the Somme and continued his flight training.

In November 1915, Albert was promoted to Air Mechanic 1st Class, and remained on the Western Front. On 28th March 1918, a German air raid hit No. 2 Air Depot, where Albert was working: he was badly wounded, and brought back to England for medical treatment.

Admitted to London Hospital in Chelsea, Air Mechanic Young was operated on a number of times, but was to finally succumb to his wounds on 9th June 1918. He was just 18 years of age.

As highlighted in de Ruvigny’s Roll of Honour, one colleague noted “I can assure you he was very greatly esteemed for his fine qualities by all with whom he came into contact, and the news of his death was received by all of us with most profound sorrow. He was a splendid boy.” Another said that the “great courage and coolness he always displayed at most critical moments were on many occasions an incentive to me. He was truly a gallant lad.”

Brought to West Sussex, where his parents were now living, Albert Franklin Young was laid to rest in Cuckfield Cemetery: “The scene… was very solemn and pathetic, yes beautiful and effective, and as all moved forward to the grave, and viewed the fair expanse of the Sussex Weald, the sweet melody of the Choir [was] ringing in our ears.” [Mid Sussex Tomes: Tuesday 18th June 1918]