John Boothman WW1 career

[nils d]

In 1931 Flt Lt Boothman won the Schneider trophy for Great Britain .He was described as being a 30 year old who learned to fly at Cricklewood in1917 and joined the French Red Cross before becoming a pilot in "No 2 Stork Squadron" where he won a Croix de Guerre.

Is the French connection true as l can't find him as a member of the elite Cigiones.?

[Tawhiri]

I don't think the ages add up. If he was 30 in 1931, then he was born in 1900 or 1901. In fact this site says 19 February 1901.

https://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Boothman.htm

So he'd have been 16 in 1917, and wouldn't have turned 18 until February 1919, and he seems very young to have been taking flying lessons in 1917. This site says that he volunteered as a driver for the French Red Cross in 1918, and served in the Balkans until the end of the war, although it also awards him the Croix de Guerre in this period. The site goes on to state that on his return to England he took flying lessons and then joined the RAF on 29 March 1921, which sounds far more plausible.

https://www.thisdayinaviation.com/tag/john-nelson-boothman/

Finally, this third site awards him the Croix de Guerre for valuable services rendered in connection with the war sometime during WW2, although I can't see any mention of it in the Gazette.

https://www.tracesofwar.com/persons/75537/Boothman-John-Nelson.htm

Having said all that, I'll now throw a fly into the ointment, which is this listing for him in the 1933 edition of Who's Who in British Aviation which notes that he holds the Croix de Guerre. I suspect if he was awarded the Croix de Guerre during WW1 then it was while he was volunteering as a driver for the French Red Cross in the Balkans, not as a pilot which sounds rather fanciful given his age at the time.

https://www.gracesguide.co.uk/1933_Who's_Who_in_British_Aviation:_Name_B

Edited 22 September , 2022 by Tawhiri

[nils d]

Thank you Tawhiri .

So the French story was all rubbish.Where did the Stork story come from l wonder?

[Tawhiri]

Well, not all of the French story. He did definitely serve with the French Red Cross. His name can be found in a list of known volunteers with the French Red Cross at the back of this book.

https://archive.org/details/fordauntlessfran00biny

[Martin10]

John Nelson Boothman was born on 19 February 1901. He applied to the Comite Britannique of the French Red Cross to be an ambulance driver & left England on 2nd February 1918 for Salonika. He was therefore 16 when he signed on. He stayed in Salonika until September/October 2018 when he returned home. In July 1918 there is a citation for awarding the CdG with Bronze Star.

Many thanks Tawhiri for the link to the Binyon book which I had not seen before.

The "Stork" story above must be fantasy, as are some extraordinary few paragraphs from, I think The Aeroplane sometime in the 1940s, that suggested John Boothman enjoyed flying with the French in Salonika & thought it was "his idea of a gentleman's war".

What an interesting Forum!

Martin10

 

[nils d]

On 21/09/2022 at 20:05, Martin10 said:

 

The "Stork" story above must be fantasy, as are some extraordinary few paragraphs from, I think The Aeroplane sometime in the 1940s, that suggested John Boothman enjoyed flying with the French in Salonika & thought it was "his idea of a gentleman's war".

What an interesting Forum!

Martin10

So we should blame CG Grey yet again for "duff gen" . Thanks for the additional confirmation.

Who knows what No 2 Stork squadron was supposed to be.!