The Aerodrome Forum - View Single Post - Airman 1st Class 78600 G Brown 22nd Squadron

josquin · 2 July 2009, 08:00 PM

Kirk

Some details of interest emerged with respect to 1AM. Brown on the
Great War Forum. Trevor Henshaw and others added what was known
so far. Brown was WIA on 19 August 1917, but Henshaw could not find
a Casualty Report for him when he was researching "The Sky Their
Battlefield." Given recent threads on the Aerodrome concerning the
influence of the British class system on RFC/RAF organization, practices,
and etiquette, one of Henshaw's remarks is telling. He said that the
absence of a Casualty Report for Brown was not surprising; such
omissions were not uncommon for "other ranks" as opposed to officers.
Not surprising, indeed: officers were accorded the recognition of
award citations listing their fullnames whilst "other ranks" were
identified in citations by surname and forename initials only. Given
the absence of a Casualty Report, we still do not know where Brown's
final combat occurred, what the circumstances were, who the other
airman was in the aircrew, and the serial number of the AC. That leaves
22 Squadron CRs and communiques as the only possibilities remaining
to locate the missing details--and perhaps make possible the identification
of the Germans who "shot up" his Brisfit.

Regards
Josquin

P.S. Don't regret passing on that $600 field verification of Udet's E.A.--
it was seriously overpriced and, as the gentleman said, authenticity
is a real worry due to the prevalence of forgeries out there.

2 July 2009, 08:00 PM	#7 (permalink)
josquin Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: San Francisco, California,USA Posts: 254	Kirk Some details of interest emerged with respect to 1AM. Brown on the Great War Forum. Trevor Henshaw and others added what was known so far. Brown was WIA on 19 August 1917, but Henshaw could not find a Casualty Report for him when he was researching "The Sky Their Battlefield." Given recent threads on the Aerodrome concerning the influence of the British class system on RFC/RAF organization, practices, and etiquette, one of Henshaw's remarks is telling. He said that the absence of a Casualty Report for Brown was not surprising; such omissions were not uncommon for "other ranks" as opposed to officers. Not surprising, indeed: officers were accorded the recognition of award citations listing their fullnames whilst "other ranks" were identified in citations by surname and forename initials only. Given the absence of a Casualty Report, we still do not know where Brown's final combat occurred, what the circumstances were, who the other airman was in the aircrew, and the serial number of the AC. That leaves 22 Squadron CRs and communiques as the only possibilities remaining to locate the missing details--and perhaps make possible the identification of the Germans who "shot up" his Brisfit. Regards Josquin P.S. Don't regret passing on that $600 field verification of Udet's E.A.-- it was seriously overpriced and, as the gentleman said, authenticity is a real worry due to the prevalence of forgeries out there.