Taunton E Viney DSO and Flt Lt Comte De-Sincay

[Irish Dave]

Hi all,

I need your help verifying a family story. when my relative Taunton E Viney DSO was shot down and killed in 1916 it was reported that a German plane dropped his personal belongings and photos of his funeral ( see below) behind British lines. This has never been verified by officialdom even though we have his watch etc and a artillery shell which was used to drop the articles in. Was this a regular occurrence on both sides?

Also it seems that his co pilot when he reportedly sank/damaged a U boat off Zeebrugge in 1915 and for which he received his DSO was in fact Belgian/French nobility and died in the early 1920s but I cannot find any other info on him. Please see his death notice below. Any help on either would be most appreciated !

[helpjpl]

Henry Calley Saint-Paul de Sincay family tree:

https://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=en&p=henry&n=calley+saint+paul+de+sincay&oc=1

 

Edit

Attached to No. 1 Wing RNAS when awarded DSO:

https://archive.org/details/aeronautics10lede/page/26/mode/2up?q=Sincay

 

JP

Edited 11 November , 2020 by helpjpl

[Airshipped]

You'll probably already have seen that Viney's service record provides some additional detail relative to the DSO citation?

 

http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C9748378 versus

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29423/supplement/88 and

https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/29423/supplement/89

 

 

I'd have to dig out my RNAS communiqué photocopies but they often tend to mention the aircraft involved in operations rather than the aircrew. 

[WhiteStarLine]

15 hours ago, Irish Dave said:

Was this a regular occurrence on both sides?

From my perusal of the brigade war diary of my grandfather's infantry unit it is a plausible story and more common than you think.  In 1918 the Australians were on the Somme and on a few occasions recorded German aviators, once using captured British machines, dropping message canisters enquiring on missing aviators.  I found it a little bizarre that while infantrymen died in their tens of thousands, aviators were accorded this level of individual respect.

[Irish Dave]

23 hours ago, helpjpl said:

Henry Calley Saint-Paul de Sincay family tree:

https://gw.geneanet.org/pierfit?lang=en&p=henry&n=calley+saint+paul+de+sincay&oc=1

 

Edit

Attached to No. 1 Wing RNAS when awarded DSO:

https://archive.org/details/aeronautics10lede/page/26/mode/2up?q=Sincay

 

JP

Thanks JP had found the family tree but it finishes so abruptly. Thanks for other document

7 hours ago, WhiteStarLine said:

From my perusal of the brigade war diary of my grandfather's infantry unit it is a plausible story and more common than you think.  In 1918 the Australians were on the Somme and on a few occasions recorded German aviators, once using captured British machines, dropping message canisters enquiring on missing aviators.  I found it a little bizarre that while infantrymen died in their tens of thousands, aviators were accorded this level of individual respect.

Thanks that’s well worth knowing!