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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0375.PDF
APRIL 19, 1917. . Casualties. lieutenant HARRY ATHELING RUSSELL BOUSTEAD, Middle- sex "Regiment and R.F.C. (died of wounds received in an aerial action on April 5th), was the fourth and youngest son of John Melvill and Leila Boustead, of Colombo, Ceylon, and of Westfield, Wimbledon Common. He was educated at Harrow, where he reached the sixth form, and became monitor and Head of his House. He then went to University College, Oxford. He won the 100 yards swimming race for Oxford against Cambridge in 1913, and passed out in History HonoursA in June, 1914. On the outbreak of war he obtained a com- mission in the Middlesex Regiment, in which his elder brother also obtained one, and he saw active service with his battalion in Egypt against the Senussi. When the battalion returned to Europe he became attached to the Royal Flying Corps. After only one month's training he got his Wings, and was sent to the fron|gin October last. He lately brought down two German aeroplanes in one day, and he flew the Channel to France with a new machine a week before his death. He lost his life in an encounter with a hostile machine. His observer was killed, and, though mortally wounded him- self, he shook off the Hun and succeeded in recrossing our lines, bringing his machine safely down on our side. He died very shortly afterwards. Lieutenant E. T. C. BRANDON, Royal Sussex Regiment, attached R.F.C., killed on April 3rd, was the elder son of Mr. and Mrs. Fred Brandon, of Natal, and was 22 years old. He was born and educated in South Africa. After going through the campaign in German South-West Africa, he came to England for the first time in November, 1915, and received a commission in the Royal Sussex Regiment on January 25th, 1916. In June last year he transferred to the R.F.C., and left for the front in September. He was promoted lieutenant last February. Brevet Major (Temporary Lieutenant-Colonel) CHARLES JAMES BURKE, D.S.O., Royal Irish Regiment, commanding a battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, who was killed on April 9th, was the youngest son of the late Mr. M. C. C. Burke, of Ballinhone House, Armagh, and was 35 years of age. He served through the South African War, receiving the Queen's medal With two clasps, and afterwards for three years with the West African Frontier Force. He was one of the earliest British military pilots, having qualified on a Farman biplane in France in October, 1910. The same year he was employed at the Aeroplane and Balloon School for some months, and flew the first aeroplane purchased by the British Government. He joined the Air Battalion When it was formed in 191-1, and served in the Royal Flying Corps from 1912 until 1916, and was for some time Commandant at the Central Flying School. He was mentioned in despatches in October, 1914, and again in January, 1916, and was awarded the D.S.O. in February, 1916. News has been received by his sister in Leeds stating that Lieutenant HAROLD NORMAN HAMPSON, R.F.C., died of Wounds on April 7th. He went to the front as a piper in the Liverpool Scottish, and after being wounded joined the Inns of Court Officers Training Corps, and received a commission in the South Lancashire Regiment. In February last he was transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Only last week a letter was received from him stating that he had on April 6th been successful in shooting down two enemy aeroplanes. He was in his 21st year. Second Lieutenant E. J. HARE, R.F.C., was a member of the South African Civil Service, Department of Railways and Harbours. He was well known in the Transvaal and Western Province of Cape Colony as a fine athlete, sprinter and Rugby footballer, and he played in first-class football in Pretoria and elsewhere. After the Union Defence Force was established he Was selected from a large number of volunteers to learn flying, and he qualified at the S.A. Aviation School at Kimberley. He came to England with the original South African Oversea Contingent as a despatch-rider in the S.A. Signal Company, R.E., in which his high spirits and cheerful temperament made him very popular. In October of 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. He had all the qualities for a fine airman, and fought in several aerial combats with great boldness and success, and was soon gazetted to a commission in the R.F.C. Second Lieutenant K. C. HORNER, R.F.C., died of wounds, was the only son of Mr. and Mrs. C. R. Horner, of Monkbridge Road, Headingley, Leeds. He was 20 years of age, and at the outbreak of war was at the Leeds Grammar School. Second Lieutenant Horner had been flying at the front for three weeks when he received the wounds from which he has since died. Lieutenant HUGH NORTON, R.F.C., killed in action, aged 24, was the son of Mr. David Norton, of Engedi, Eastbourne, and was educated at the Grange, Eastbourne, and at Welling- ton College, where he Was in the O.T.C. and the " Shooting Eight." After passing two examinations in Chinese at King's College, he Was about to go to the Far East for Messrs. Dodwell and Co., Ltd., when war broke out. He joined the Inns of Court O.T.C., and obtained a commission in the Royal Lancaster Regiment, and saw service as a signalling officer in France and the Balkans. After subsequent service in Egypt he became attached to the R.F.C., and had been at the front about three weeks when he was killed. Acting Squadron Commander JOHN J. PETRE, D.S.C., R.N. (killed on service), was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in June last year in recognition of his services as a pilot at Dunkirk from February, 1915. He took part in air raids on Ostend and Zeebrugge, during one of which he successfully engaged an enemy aeroplane of the Fokker type, and he carried out many coastal reconnaissances under shell fire. He was promoted Flight-Commander in June, 1916. Lieutenant JOHN ALEXANDER WILLIAMSON, R.F.C., killed. While flying in Leicestershire on April 10th, was the eldest son of Mr. John James Williamson and Mrs. Williamson, a daughter of the late Mr. Martin de Bartolome, and was 21 years old. He was educated at Rose Hill, Tunbridge Wells, and Charterhouse, leaving in July, 1914. He obtained a com- mission in September following in the Royal East Kent Mounted Rifles, and went with them to Gallipoli, remaining there till the evacuation, when he went to Egypt, and became attached to the R.F.C. He returned to England last August, and after qualifying as a pilot went to the front. Midship- man E. I. Williamson, Lieutenant Williamson's younger brother, lost his life in H.M.S. " Bulwark " at the age of i"5. Missing. Lieutenant A. G. SEVERS, who was posted as missing last week, was the son of Mr. Frederick Severs, of n, Vincent Road, Croydon, and was formerly in the Middlesex Regiment, being later on attached to the R.F.C. as an observer. His Commanding Officer, in writing to his father, states that Lieutenant Severs was shot down on March 28th over the enemy's lines, and although there is little hope that he survives, there is just a chance. He was on line patrol with two other machines, When they were attacked suddenly by superior numbers, and the other two machines being damaged were forced to return. The machine in Which Lieutenant Severs was observing continued to patrol alone and to protect some other machines that Were doing important work. He was then attacked by five fast scouts and the machine brought down. From reports of observers on the ground it is a question Whether it landed all right, or was finally not under control. The pilot of Lieutenant Severs' machine was Lieutenant Knight, who is the son of Mr. C. S. Knight, Wing- field House, Banstead, Surrey. Married and to be Married. The marriage arranged between Captain C. A. HOOPER, R.F.C., youngest son of Mr. and Mrs. H. S. Hooper, of Shen- . stone, Lichfield, and JANET ASHLEY, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. A. HALL, Westbury-on-Trym, Bristol, will take place at Henbury to-day (Thursday), April 19th, at 2 p.m. Items. The will of Lieutenant WILLIAM HUBERT STUART GARNETT, R.F.C., barrister. Assistant Legal Adviser, National Insurance Commission, killed while flying September 2ist, intestate, has been proved at £405. 375
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