Captain D G Conner & Captain G B Hynes

[mike j dunn]

Daniel Goodwin Conner and George Bayard Hynes were pilots with the Air Battalion RE and became founder members of the RFC. I believe they both deployed to France in 1914 with 5 and 3 Squadron's respectively. I am trying to find out what happened to them during the Great War. Does anybody know? The London Gazette lists both of them as Squadron Commanders from 1915 to July 1916. Does anybody know which squadrons they commended? They later both became equipment officers commanding aircraft parks, etc Which ones?

Any information would be very much appreciated

Mike Dunn

[David_Underdown]

Conner's RAF officer record in AIR 79 give a few bits and pieces which should fill some of the gaps - http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=8303434. They're a bit hard to read, and I'm not familiar with the locations involved, so I dn't want to guess at them too much. Can't find one for Hynes though.

[tardiveau]

Mike

D G Conner had R Aero Club certificate No. 54 issued on 7/2/11 and G B Hynes received No. 40 on 31/12/10. When the RFC deployed to France in August 1914 Conner was a flight commander in 5 Sqn and his corps was the Royal Artillery. Hynes was a flight commander with the Aircraft Park and was also Royal Artillery. In August 1918 Hynes had a DSO and was in command of the Engine Repair Shops in Pont de l'Arche (Rouen). He retired from the RAF on 12/4/31 as a wing commander retaining the rank of group captain. Ominously he doesn't appear in the July 1939 RAF List, which most likely means he had died.

In September 1915 Conner was in command of 1 Aircraft Park at St Omer and Hynes was in command of 3 Aircraft Depot at Candas. Conner was a major and Hynes a captain. In July 1916 Major Conner was OC Second Army Aircraft Park at Hazebrouck and Maj Hynes was OC Engine Repair Shops at Pont de l,Arche. By July 1917 Hynes was still at the ERS but had a DSO. He was still at ERS in November 1917 and by March 1918 he was a colonel still OC ERS. It rather looks as if he spent the whole war there.

Because he remained in the RAF post-1918 means there won't be an Air 76 for him at the National Archives. By the same token if you have an Air 76 for Conner that means he didn't remain in the RAF and may have returned to the RA. Conner may have spent the rest of the war in the UK. These early RFC chaps are overlooked by most First War aviation researchers which is a pity.

Regards

Mike

[mike j dunn]

Mike / David,

Very many thanks for your prompt and very helpful replies. They have been very helpful. You are quite right about the early aviators often being overlooked. But their careers are often very interesting and distinguished. G B Hynes stayed in the RAF until he retired in 1931 as a group captain-2 months before his death. An interesting obituary was published in Flight.

I suspect you may have access to a source I haven't seen. As a supplementatry question, do you have anything on Major A D Carden. He was the Air Battalion's exeprimental officer and qualified as a pilot despite having only one arm. I belived he deployed to France as commander of the RFC's Flying Depot (was that the aircraft park established at Amiens?). I believe he later commanded an aircraft park elsewhere. As he received a MID from General Allenby I assume this must have been somewhere in the Midddle East. Do you know where?

With best regards,

Mike

[mike j dunn]

I have just re-read all my sources about G B Hynes. He in fact died on 30 May 1938, and not in 1931 as I had said. He retired from the RAF in 1931 as a group captain and went on to work in the AID as a civilian, becoming Deputy Director of Aeronautical Inspection.

With best regards,

Mike