Capt. Frederick Leycester Barwell

[bmac]

Capt. Frederick Leycester Barwell. Killed in action on Sunday, 29th April 1917. 'Red Knight of Germany' by F Gibbons says Barwell was shot down by von Richtofen. Says Barwell was flying a new Nieuport with No. 40 Squadron at the time. Can someone confirm please?

[APW]

bmac

TSTB suggests he may have been shot down by a Jasta 5 pilot (Nathanael). Barwell was flying a Nieuport 17 with 40 Sqn. The Jasta Chronology indicates that Nathanael claimed a Pup near Beaumont his 13th victory and that this seems to have been Barwell's Nieuport. MvR was busy elsewhere at the time shooting down a BE2c and Sopwith Triplane.

APW

[bmac]

Thanks for this.

This makes more sense given where Barwell is buried and also that Richtofen was somewhere near Lens when Gibbons' book says he shot Barwell down.

[paul.pengelly]

I know it’s an old thread but saw an account in a Canadian War Diary  from a captured German prisoner about a “Daring British Airmen Captain taking on 5 German planes near Beaumont,before being shot down” .

 

After trawling through GWGC came up with 42 possibles for right time frame January -April 1917, and there on Frederick Leycester Barwell’s sheet the inscription “Shot at Beaumont when attacking 5 aeroplanes single handed” .Seems he was not identified for some time as on the Civil Registration Report it has “Unknown British Captain Aviator” and “efforts are being made to identify this airman” followed by “6/8/20 card made for Barwell”

 

The prisoner stated that “the combat lasted half an hour ,and that all the soldiers came out to watch the excitement as the lone British Captain repeatedly dived towards the ground only pulling up at the last moment,eventually he was shot through the lung and crashed landed,his body was laid out in the church at Beaumont before burial”

 

Googling him brings up claims that he was shot down by either Richthofen ,Nathaniel,or by the British Naval Air Service !