2nd Lieutenant C. L. Gunnery, No.46 Sqdn., R.F.C.

[Malcolm12hl]

I am trying to fill in a few missing details regarding the death of 2nd Lieutenant Cedric Leopold Gunnery, No.46 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.  He was killed while flying Sopwith Pup 7332 on 22 May 1917, having apparently collided in mid-air with a R.E.8 over Dickebusch in the Ypres Salient.  He was buried at La Gorgue Communal Cemetery.

 

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has seen an account of the accident, or can identify the other aircraft involved and its squadron.  There may be some material in one of Arthur Gould Lee's books ("No Parachute" and "Open Cockpit") as he was flying with 46 Squadron at the time, but as Gunnery might have been on a standing solo patrol, the only first hand account might be from the R.E.8 crew, who seem to have survived.

 

Many thanks

 

Malcolm

 

 

[PRC]

If those other sources fail and no-one has specific knowledge, then may be worth working through the same casualty list as the one that notified the death of 2nd Lieutenant Gunnery, checking for those who Died of Wounds, Wounded or Missing - the RE8 could well have come down behind enemy lines. Will be a real tick and bash job though.

https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1917/1917 - 0560.html?search=Gunnery

 

Presumably the 46 Squadron Diary makes no reference to the other craft.

 

Cheers,

Peter

[Malcolm12hl]

Peter

 

As far as I am aware, the R.E.8 survived the collision, although I do not know whether it force-landed or made it back to its home airfield.  I am assuming it came from one of the Corps squadrons of No.2 Brigade, but I do not have a R.F.C. Order of Battle, so do not know which squadrons to search.

 

Malcolm

[MikeMeech]

3 hours ago, Malcolm12hl said:

I am trying to fill in a few missing details regarding the death of 2nd Lieutenant Cedric Leopold Gunnery, No.46 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps.  He was killed while flying Sopwith Pup 7332 on 22 May 1917, having apparently collided in mid-air with a R.E.8 over Dickebusch in the Ypres Salient.  He was buried at La Gorgue Communal Cemetery.

 

I would be very interested to hear from anyone who has seen an account of the accident, or can identify the other aircraft involved and its squadron.  There may be some material in one of Arthur Gould Lee's books ("No Parachute" and "Open Cockpit") as he was flying with 46 Squadron at the time, but as Gunnery might have been on a standing solo patrol, the only first hand account might be from the R.E.8 crew, who seem to have survived.

 

Many thanks

 

Malcolm

 

 

Hi

 

'No Parachute', page 12 (Grub Street edition) has the following reference this incident (AGL had only joined the squadron that day):

 

"The one who had landed was a Canadian called Barrager, who'd just come off patrol, he had said he'd seen a collision at 16,000 feet over Dickebusch Lake, south of Ypres.  A Pup had hit an RE.8, its right wing had folded back, and it had gone down in a nose-dive spin.  And Barrager reckoned it could have been his partner on patrol, with whom he'd lost contact ten minutes earlier.

     To cut a long story short, confirmation soon came that he was right.  His companion, named Gunnery, had fallen on this side of the line.  His machine was crushed to matchwood, and he was killed.  The RE got home safely."

 

TSTB II, page 362,  has just Gunnery and his aircraft mentioned in the casualty list.  From this source it appears no casualties in the RE.8 and presumable squadron repairable damage to RE.8.

 

From ORBATs available in the OH I have the 7th June 1917 with 46 Sqn. at La Gorgue with 11th (Army) Wing) in II Brigade.  At this time the Brigade had the 2nd (Corps) Wing, the choice of RE.8 squadrons are as follows:

 

No. 4 Sqn. supporting II Corps based at Abeele, No. 6 Sqn. supporting X Corps also at Abeele. No. 21 Sqn. supporting VIII Corps at La Lovie, No. 42 Sqn. supporting II (ANZAC) Corps at Bailleul, and No. 53 Sqn. supporting IX Corps also at Bailleul.

 

Interestingly according to TSTB II for the following day two of No. 6 Sqn's RE.8s collided  with all killed.

 

I hope that is of use.

 

Mike

[topgun1918]

I believe that No 4 Squadron was with 5th Brigade (at Warloy) until 29 May 1917, moving to Abeele as part of 2nd Brigade on 30 May.  Be that as it may, I don't have a record of any R.E.8 collisions on this date that resulted in the crew becoming casualties, so it seems likely that the machine was flown back to its aerodrome and repaired by the squadron.

 

Graeme

 

[Malcolm12hl]

Gentlemen

 

Your suggestions are all gratefully received - and thank you very much Mike for taking the time to transcribe the passage from AGL's book.

 

I suspect my best way forward is to try to track down either a Wing or Group Daily Summary.  It is a very long time since I did my original WWI aero research at what was then the Public Record Office, but at least the National Archives catalogue is searchable online.  Thanks to your input, I now have a shortlist of R.E.8 squadrons to examine if all else fails.

 

Malcolm

[josquin]

Malcolm,

42 Squadron, one of the squadrons comprising II Brigade, may be a good place to begin looking.  They reported that RE8 A4277, with

Lt. Wilfred Wallrin Fielding (1/1st Yorkshire Dragoons & RFC/RAF), pilot & Lt. Robert Lord Briscoe (4/South Lancashire Regiment & RFC/RAF),

observer, was forced to land due to engine trouble whilst engaged on a flash-spotting reconnaissance patrol on 22 May 1917.

Fielding & Briscoe landed at map coordinates 28SZ8a37, but I do not have a place name for this.  While they claimed engine trouble, I suggest

that they may have stated this to account for their FTL without disclosing the collision with Lt. Gunnery's Sopwith Pup.  This is the only

RE8 casualty report for this date in the RFC Casualty Reports and the Casualty Book. 

Josquin

[LDT006]

Could it be this one:

Lt Briscoe RL 42Sq 22.05.17

wounded [- -] Injured in aeroplane accident. Lt RL Briscoe wounded (Obs)

Wounded [- RE8] Wounded (Obs)
 

It's the only RE8 with that date.

Source: http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html 

 

Regards,

Luc.

 

Edit: 1 minute to late...

Edited 4 March , 2018 by LDT006

[LDT006]

7 minutes ago, josquin said:

Fielding & Briscoe landed at map coordinates 28SZ8a37, but I do not have a place name for this. 

 

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html 

 

has for Fielding:

Ok [A4277 RE8] f/l 28S28a37 due engine trouble on flash recce. Lt WW Fielding Ok/Lt RL Briscoe Ok

28.S.28.a.3.7 is close to Bailleul.

 

So Fielding was due engine trouble and Briscoe aeroplane accident....

[josquin]

1 hour ago, LDT006 said:

 

http://www.airhistory.org.uk/rfc/people_index.html 

 

has for Fielding:

Ok [A4277 RE8] f/l 28S28a37 due engine trouble on flash recce. Lt WW Fielding Ok/Lt RL Briscoe Ok

28.S.28.a.3.7 is close to Bailleul.

 

So Fielding was due engine trouble and Briscoe aeroplane accident....

Luc,

Fielding and Briscoe were the aircrew of RE8 A4277--Fielding was the pilot; Briscoe was the observer.  If they experienced engine trouble, it may be related

to the accident (collision?).  Dickebusch is only 13 km from Bailleul.

Josquin

Edited 4 March , 2018 by josquin

[Beaupre-sur-la-Lys]

Hi

Do you have any info on Gunnery's relatives ? Thanks.

[alanlw]

See http://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/263445-book-launch-event-la-gorgue/?tab=comments#comment-2672005