Reginald Carey Brenton Brading RNAS

[MikeW]

Can anyone help with a photograph of the elusive ace Reginald Carey Brenton Brading who not only saw service with No.12 Squadron RNAS, No 9 Squadron RNAS, No 1 Squadron RNAS, No 201 Squadron RAF, and No 47 Squadron RAF (in the British intervention in Russia) but also was a member of the 1921 RAF Aerobatic Team.

 

All I can find is an appalling newspaper photograph of the Aerobatic Team that is so bad it's almost impossible to recognise Christopher Draper let alone anyone else.

 

Mike

[sadbrewer]

Can't find a photo, but he was killed in a flying accident in Baghdad in 1926.

[Moonraker]

There's a photo of Brading and Draper in the latter's autobiography, The Mad Major. Not great - showing five pilots sitting on the grass at Hendon, it measures just 115 x 55mm. It looks as if Brading has fairish hair brushed back. The other pilots are W E G Mann, A Coningham (later an air marshal) and T F N Gerard.

 

(The Mad Major was a gift from my dad shortly after it was published in 1962; I've just started re-reading it. Inside my copy is a 1964 newspaper cutting describing Draper being "grounded" at the age of 72.)

Edited 7 March , 2021 by Moonraker

[MikeW]

Thanks Moonraker, so there is! It's the same  press photo that i already have - Brading obviously didn't like having his photo taken, he looks like he's trying to avoid this one.

 

If you are re-reading the Mad Major, there is a lot in there that Draper doesn't talk about, or just brushes over. Some things not mentioned for very obvious legal reasons at that time!

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[MikeW]

This is what I'm fighting against - my photoediting skills are not brilliant but I've managed to get rid of the halftone printing dots - can't do anything about the horrendous contrast around his eyes and chin though, can't make a silk purse etc.

If anyone would like to have a go themselves, pm me with your email and I'll sent you the basic scan.