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The Great War (1914-1918) Forum

Remembered Today:

Capt Brewster-Joske 46 Sqn RFC


stevenbecker

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Mates,

I wonder can you give some bio details on this officer?

I record this on him;

BREWSTER-JOSKE Clive Alexander 2/Lt British Army Motor Machine Gun Service Royal Artillery to (pilot) 1 Sqn AFC or RFC? prom Capt 46 Sqn RFC F&B MC 8 victories

I am still to confirm if he served in 1 Sqn AFC or 1 Sqn RFC, can you confirm what Sqn he was in?

Cheers

S.B

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His AIR76 RAF officer's record is available online at TNA. Can be downloaded for a small fee. The file is to be found under surname of Brewster.

Errol

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Clive Alexander Brewster Joske (no hyphen originally; he added it later) was an Australian who was born in October, 1896 at

Suva, Fiji, the son of a prominent Australian business leader. Educated in Melbourne, he was in Melbourne when the war

began and he traveled to England in September, 1914 to join the British Army at the age of 18. Serving with the 37th Division, he reached the front in July, 1915 as a 2nd Lieutenant. He joined the RFC on 15 November 1915 and served as an observer

with 1 Squadron; he and his pilot, Capt. R.A. Saunders, shared a victory with Capt. F.J. Powell on 29 February 1916. Becoming a pilot in August, 1916, his Royal Aero Club Certificate is dated 24 September 1916. Joske flew Sopwith Pups with 46 Squadron in 1917, accounting for 7 enemy aircraft between 2 June and 22 September 1917 and becoming a patrol leader. Awarded the squadron's first docoration, an M.C., Joske returned to Home Establishment in November, 1917 and ended the war as a Captain in the RAF. After the war, he returned to Fiji and became prominent in the local community. With the outbreak of the Second World War in 1939, Joske commanded the Fiji Military Forces as a Lieutenant Colonel and he became a Group Captain in the RAAF, in 1940, in Training and Administration. He died in 1947.

Trelawney

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  • 7 years later...

Just picked up on him in the course of my Motor Machine Gun Service research. He was a 2nd Lt (section officer) with 16th Motor Machine Gun battery and went with them to France 29th July 1915.  He is noted in their war diary 17/11/1915 as leaving the battery on attachment to RFC (provisionally) observer. He's the officer standing on the right in the battery photo published in The Motorcycle August 1915.

16th MMG.jpg

8a5338c0-036e-4ea7-b40a-9b7afc31ff84.jpg

Joske in RFC.jpg

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I have it that No 46 Squadron's first decoration, a French Croix de Guerre Gazetted on 14 July 1917, went to 2nd Lieutenant John Edward de Watteville; Brewster-Joske's MC wasn't

Gazetted until 27 October, the citation reading:

 

2nd Lt. (T./Capt.) Clive Alexander Brewster-Joske, Gen. List, and R.F.C.

 

For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty in taking part in twenty-nine air fights, in which he has destroyed seven hostile machines.

 

This was certainly the first British award gained by the squadron.

 

Graeme

 

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1920 and 1935 in Fiji  in both cases standing  on right.

Slide1.JPG

Slide2.JPG

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Dear All,

Joske (MC, 15 Trio, and what Looks like a Foreigner), seems to have dispensed with his RAF Pilot's Wings in the 1930 Group - as Hon. ADC.

Kindest regards,

Kim.

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Dear Peter,

Thank you!

Now that is what I call a fascinating Australian. However, he died incredibly young (1896-1947)...

He was certainly a man of many talents, and made himself useful not only in the RFC but latterly in Fiji.

Who holds his medals, one wonders - and why the name-change?

Kindest regards,

Kim.

Edited by Kimberley John Lindsay
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1 hour ago, Kimberley John Lindsay said:

Dear Peter,

Thank you!

Now that is what I call a fascinating Australian. However, he died incredibly young (1896-1947)...

He was certainly a man of many talents, and made himself useful not only in the RFC but latterly in Fiji.

Who holds his medals, one wonders - and why the name-change?

Kindest regards,

Kim.

He fell 80 ft off a hotel building apparently. Death recorded as accidental.

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Dear David,

What a dramatic yet incredibly sad ending to a unusual and varied life!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

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On 06/06/2020 at 06:49, Kimberley John Lindsay said:

Dear David,

What a dramatic yet incredibly sad ending to a unusual and varied life!

Kindest regards,

Kim.

Account of his death here.

joske death.jpg

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Dear David,

Many thanks for that: extremely interesting!

A pity that the last part of the report is missing...

Kindest regards,

Kim.

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