Sub Lt Horace William Owen RNVR

[Dolphin]

I will be grateful for additional information about an airman I am researching.

 

Sub Lt H W Owen RNVR qualified for RAeC Certificate No 3842 on 21 September 1916, and was posted to No 52 Squadron RFC.  On 28 March 1917 he was the pilot of BE2e 2560 (presented by the European and Indian Staff of the Bombay Baroda and Central India Railway Co) when he apparently became lost in mist, before landing near Villers, behind the German lines, after the aircraft’s engine was damaged by ground fire; he became a Prisoner of War. The front cockpit of 2560 was occupied by an unlucky Australian infantryman: 4486 Pte Michael Davitt Nolan from the 27th (South Australian) Battalion AIF, who was also captured. It seems the Digger accepted an offer of a ride in an aeroplane, after calling into the squadron to see a friend.

 

If anyone knows more about the unfortunate pilot, advice will be appreciated.

 

Gareth

Edited 6 June , 2017 by Dolphin

[seaJane]

Records for him in the National Archives, which you may have found:

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C1138076

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8672025

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D8212522

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/D7279187

 

 

If you can find his POW record here there should be more information: https://grandeguerre.icrc.org

 

[Dolphin]

Thanks, I found his PoW record.

 

Unfortunately, the National Archives aren't a great deal of use if you are unable to visit. If only the UK Government was as generous to researchers as ours, and made Great War records freely available online . . .

 

Gareth

[horatio2]

18 minutes ago, Dolphin said:

Thanks, I found his PoW record.

 

Unfortunately, the National Archives aren't a great deal of use if you are unable to visit. If only the UK Government was as generous to researchers as ours, and made Great War records freely available online . . .

 

Gareth

I assume you have noted that three of the four records noted by seaJane can be downloaded online.

[josquin]

Gareth,

Some biographical details that may be of interest:

Horace William Owen, born 13 January 1890, at Sevenoaks, Kent; died at Chelsea, London, in 1969.  Parents: Richard & Laura Matilda Owen.

Divorced from Mildred Vera Morris Owen (she was the petitioner) in the U.K. in 1929  (National Archives J77/2719/4352, Divorce Court File

4352 Mildred Vera Morris Owen, Appellant vs. Horace William Owen, Respondent.  He was living with his family at Sevenoaks, Kent,

for the 1891, 1901 and 1911 Census. The R.F.C. Communique indicates that Owen and Nolan's B.E.2e had landed first at 59 Squadron,

near Arras, on a practice flight before continuing on and getting lost in the mist over the German positions.

 

Josquin

Edited 6 June , 2017 by josquin

[fetubi]

Hi Gareth,

 

I can send you a copy of the relevant Repatriated Prisoner Statement.  I'll do it today.  As I say in TSTBII - I got the impression that, yes, a "joy ride" was indeed offered, but that the reason was that the pilot Owen thought he could get some useful intelligence about the localities on the Front he would be working on from Nolan, as he himself had arrived at 52 Squadron only three days earlier.  Interested to see what you make of it.

 

Cheers,

 

Trevor

[Dolphin]

Thanks to all for the information.  It seems he was a very unlucky airman!

 

I wonder why he wasn't in the RNAS?

 

Gareth

[Guest]

To Gareth, Castle Hill, NSW, Australia

 

I see that you are interested in Horace Owen. I now live in the house in Sevenoaks, England where he moved to in 1895 and was subsequently brought up in. His father & mother were Richard & Laura Owen who came from Coventry, Warwickshire, England. His father was Headmaster of Bayham Road Boys School which Horace attended. He had a brother Norman and a sister Laura. By 1914 Norman was in South Australia and joined the 3rd Light Horse Regiment. Are you related to the Owen's?

[Matt JB]

Hello,

 

I am assuming you’ve seen this before but just in case - taken 1916.

[Dolphin]

Hi Paul

 

Thank you very much for your post with the interesting information about Horace Owen.  My interest was actually focussed on the unfortunate Pte Nolan, who was captured after accepting an offered ride in a BE2e.  There's a moral in the story - about not going for rides with strangers.  I've forgotten just where I first came across the story, but I thought it worth expanding into an article for the Journal of the Australian Society of WWI Aero Historians.

 

Matt

 

Thanks for the photo.  Yes,I had seen it before; it seems to be the only image of the pilot.

 

Best wishes to both of you

 

Gareth

[helpjpl]

Another thread:

 

JP

[Matt JB]

This is up for sale on eBay and appears to be an earlier image of Horace.

[KizmeRD]

On 06/06/2017 at 10:57, Dolphin said:

I wonder why he wasn't in the RNAS?

 

Gareth

Owen transferred into the RFC from the RND which by that time in the war had been placed under the control of the army.

MB

[horatio2]

On 06/06/2017 at 09:57, Dolphin said:

I wonder why he wasn't in the RNAS?

Personal choice and/or Admiralty priorities. Numerous RND officers were temporarily attached and/or permanently transferred to both RNAS and RFC throughout 1916 and 1817. The operational command arrangements of the RND in the BEF (which did not include appointments of officers serving in reserve battalions in UK) were not the determining factor.

[KizmeRD]

Personal choice maybe - officially Owen was temporarily attached to No.52 Squadron RFC and I’m guessing that this must have been somewhat easier to achieve for someone coming in from an (operationally speaking) ‘army’ unit.
In fact he remained a temporary commissioned RNVR officer right up until the establishment of the RAF 1.4.18.

MB

[Dolphin]

Thanks horatio2 and KizmeRD; a minor puzzle is solved!

 

Gareth

[horatio2]

9 hours ago, KizmeRD said:

this must have been somewhat easier to achieve for someone coming in from an (operationally speaking) ‘army’ unit.

That would certainly be a consideration but, in this case, Sub Lt OWEN had no previous RND operational experience, having served only in reserve battalions at Blandford. He had been a trooper in the Kent Yeomanry and this might have influenced his choice. His record carries a notation "No objection to transfer to RNAS" although this was later countermanded with a notation "cannot be approved" - no reasons given.

[KizmeRD]

Thanks for the additional clarification h2 - so we now know that Owen’s personal preference was to join the RNAS, but that this request was denied and so therefore that’s how he ended up flying with the RFC. 
MB