Lt B G Jardine RAF pilot

[Guest Pete Wood]

This pilot was reported missing on 5th August 1918, along with his observer Lt Edward Richard Munday, while flying DH9 (D5802).

Munday is commemorated at Hollybrook - which makes sense as the aeroplane went missing while flying over the sea (off Yarmouth).

But I can't find any trace of Lt BG Jardine on the CWGC site....

So can anyone confirm that Jardine is commemorated at Hollybrook??

If anyone knows his name, or any other details, I would like to hear from you.

[Dolphin]

Captain Douglas Grahame Burness Jardine MC, of Great Yarmouth Air Station, from Cape of Good Hope, South Africa, formerly of the 1/2 Highland Light Infantry, was killed with his observer, Lt Edward Richard Munday, from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on 5 August 1918.

Capt Jardine is buried at Vederso, Denmark.

I hope this helps.

[Guest Pete Wood]

Thanks for that.

It appears that he was given the wrong initials by Cole and Cheesman in their book.

[christine liava'a]

Question- Why is the burial of captain Jardine in Denmark? How far off Yarmouth was he flying? Where exactly is Yarmouth- my knowledge of British geography is not that good

Was the body of Munday ever found and buried? If so, where?

Is Jardine commemorated in Britain?

[Terry Denham]

Great Yarmouth is in Norfolk on the east coast of the UK - on the North Sea. The body would have been carried by currents to the shores of Denmark.

As Jardine's body was recovered and buried, there is no CWGC commemoration in the UK but there may be listings on local war memorials etc.

Munday's body was not recovered and so he is properly commemorated by CWGC on the Hollybrook Memorial, Southampton. This memorial is for soldiers and airmen who died at sea in home waters and whose bodies were not recovered. It also bears the names of any men who died in the UK but whose bodies could not be recovered.

[Dolphin]

Christine

It wasn't apparent from the earlier postings that the two unfortunate airmen were operating at night over the North Sea as part of the defensive reaction to the last German airship raid on the United Kingdom. There was a contemporary theory that Capt Jardine may have mistaken burning fuel on the sea surface (from the destroyed Zepplelin L70, shot down by Major E Cadbury and Capt R Leckie in DH4 A8032) for aerodrome landing flares and subsequently crashed while attempting to 'land'. Lt G F Hodson in Sopwith 2.F1 Camel N6620, also from Great Yarmouth, was killed when he crashed in the sea at about the same time, possibly for the same reason.

Interestingly, in his marvellous book 'Zeppelin!' Ray Rimmel says that Lt Munday's body was recovered by a patrolling minesweeper some days after the crash.

Dolphin