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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0712.PDF
f/LJGHf] . T Major GERALD DESMOND MILLS, R.F.C., who died as the result of an aeroplane accident abroad, aged 26, was the youngest son of Canon Mills, of Bennington Rectory, Herts. He was educated at Haileybury College, and having passed through Sandhurst obtained a commission in October, 1910, in the Sherwood Foresters, in Which regiment his elder brother was killed in the South African War. He served 3^ years in India, and, returning home on leave in March, 1914, joined the R.F.C., and obtained his flying certificate. He Was gazetted flight commander in March, 1915, and went to France in the following month, and was mentioned in de- spatehes. He returned as instructor at the Central Flying School in January, 1916, and was gazetted squadron com- mander in March, 1916. He was appointed to command ihe Test Squadron in July, and went to the Air Board Office last March, and shortly after applied for work on active service. He went to the front on May 15th, and was killed four days later. Flight Sub-Lieutenant JAMES THEODORE SIMS, R.N.A.S., who was killed on May 26th, aged 30, as the result of an accident while flying, was the elder son of the late James Sims and Mrs. Sims, of Redruth, Cornwall. He was educated at Plymouth College, and afterwards proceeded to West Africa, where he became the manager of a mine. He was at home on leave at the outbreak of war, and at once enlisted in the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry, but obtaining a commission as Sub-Lieutenant, R.N.V.R., joined tie R.N.A.S. in October, 1915, as an observer. After training he was sent to Dunkirk, and distinguished himself by the photographs he took in the air under heavy shell fire, receiving the Croix de Guerre (with Palm) and being presented to the King by the Vice-Admiral in Command. Early this year he applied to be trained as a pilot, and became Probationary Flight Officer, being afterwards promoted Flight Sub-Lieutenant. Second Lieutenant ERIC ST. CLARE SMITH, R.F.A., attached R.F.C., formerly for five years a member of the H.A.C., was accidentally killed while flying as an observer in England on :JOT.Y 12, 1917. July 2nd, aged 25. He was the youngest and only surviving son of Mr. and Mrs. Enos Smith, of 124, Earlham Grove, Forest Gate. At the outbreak of war he served with a battery of the H.A.C., and was in Eyypt for eight months, returning home to take up his commission in November, 1915, and being gazetted to the R.F.A. on December 10th, 1915. Leaving for France early in 1916, he Was attached to Divisional Artillery. In the Somme offensive he served with the heavy trench-mortars, afterwards moving to Flanders. He recently volunteered as an observer in the R.F.C., and was sent home for training a few Weeks ago. Married and to be Married. The engagement is announced of Captain A. J. MICHELL CLARKE, Gloucester Regiment and R.F.C., son of Dr. and Mrs. J. Michell Clarke, of Clifton, Bristol, and EILEEN BUCHANAN NJAL, only daughter of Mr. and Mrs. HAROLD NEILL, of 22, Eldon Road, Kensington, W. The marriage of Baron ALPHONSE HEYKING, Russian Consul-General in London, and Miss KATHERINE (KITTY) LEEFE ROBINSON, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Horace Robinson, of South Coorg, India, took place on July 3rd, at the Swedish Lutheran Church, Harcourt Street, Marylebone. The bride, who was accompanied by Miss Ogilvy Lamb, wore a coat frock of grey cloth, embroidered on the corsage, the shoulders, and the cuffs with wings of the R.F.C., in honour of her brother, Capt. W. Leefe Robinson, V.C. Items. The will of Major JOHN BURGH TALBOT LEIGHTON, M.C., Scots Guards and R.F.C., of Loton Park, near Shrewsbury, who died from wounds, has been proved at £47,901. UNDER the will of Lieutenant SYDNEY STRETTON, R.F.C., of Hammerwich, Staffs, who died in hospital, the property to which he would succeed on the death of his mother is given to his brother and sisters, and the residue left to his fiancee^ Miss Dorothy Mary Cordelia Arliss, of Crofton Lodge, Venner Road, Sydenham. The will is sworn at ZI8,8I6. FATAL ACCIDENTS. AN inquest was held at Napsbury War Hospital, Hert- fordshire, on July 3rd, regarding the death of Capt. C. W. E. C. Hamilton, R.F.C. Capt. G. W. Allen, R.F.C., said he saw Capt. Hamilton ascend. He himself had been up in the same machine on the same afternoon, and had had no trouble with it whatever. Ten minutes after the ascent, when Capt. Hamilton was 5,000 ft. up. the machine began to dive and then swerved to the right, got out of control, xmd began to fall. Capt. S. McClintock said this particular machine was rather kept aside for instructions, and was par- ticularly well looked after. The jury returned a verdict of " Death from Misadventure." 2nd Lieut. E. St. Clair Smith, R.F.C., was killed through a. fall of his machine at Addlestone on July 3rd. He was Acting as observer, and Sergt. Willson, his pilot, was conveyed to hospital suffering from grave injuries to his head and internally. The machine was several thousand feet up when it crashed to the ground. Prob. Flight Officer H. J. Flinn was killed while flying at Minster on July 5th. 2nd Lieut. W. T. G. Moss, Gloucestershire, attd. R.F.C., of Bradford, Yorks, aged 18, was also killed on July 5th, near Cirencester. A third fatality occurred at Birmingham, 2nd Lieut. L. N. Fletcher, of Newcastle-on-Tyne, being killed, and 1st Air-Mech. Merritt, who accompanied him, was seriously injured. At the inquest, when a verdict of " Accidental Death " was returned, the jury warmly commended 1st Air- Mech. Merritt, wEo made a gallant attempt to get Lieut. Fletcher, out of the aeroplane, Which was burning fiercely. 2nd Lieut. O. D. Haist, a Canadian, was killed at an East Anglian flying ground on July 7th, through trying to rise before flying-speed had been attained. Lieut. Elliott, R.F.C., who was killed while night flying in Yorkshire, was buried at North Finchley on July 7th. On July 6th, at a Yorkshire inquest, the death of 2nd Lieut. K. J. Vick, R.F.C., aged 28, who was killed in an aeroplane accident, was inquired into. An officer said he did not know the exact cause of the accident, but a Special Accidents Committee from London would investigate, and the decision rested with that committee. A Juryman : What is the constitution of this Special Accidents Committee—is it formed of experts or is it purely military ? The Coroner : It is a military body. • The military witness also stated that relatives of men killed accidentally would not be allowed to be present at the inquiry. The jury, in returning a verdict of " Accidental Death," stated that there was no valid reason why parents should be refused admission to such inquiries, or why an English jury should pass a verdict when they had no knowledge of the cause of the accident. Even public inquests into the causes of loss of life were now to be put under military control. The Grimsby Baby Show Accident. DURING a review of babies in the People's Park, Grimsby, on July 5th, in connection with the National Baby Week, an aeroplane which had been dropping pamphlets alighted in a field close by, causing a crowd to assemble. A second aeroplane, which was descending, in trying to avoid the people, collided with a hedge and knocked down a woman named Simpson, seriously injuring a two-years-old child in her care, named Lewis. The child subsequently succumbed -to its injuries. . A Cap of Note. - LIEUTENANT NUNGESSER, the French pilot who has scored so heavily against Hun pilots, has presented his military cap to the London Committee of the French Red Cross, to be sold on France's Day, on Saturday, at a The • Chantant in the Royal Automobile Club, which will be open by invitation. % Lieutenant Nungesser, whose many decorations include ./ the Legion of Honour, the Military Medal and Cross, and the Cross of War, and has accounted for over forty German aeroplanes, is at present on a visit to this country. He probably felt all sorts of things during last Saturday's raid, with a longing to be up and at the piratical visitors. '12
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