Charles Gilmour RNAS

24 August 2003, 02:04 AM

G'day all,

Charles Gilmour was shot down on the night of Aug 6/7th 1918 while part of the crew of a Handley Page 0/400 (D5405) from 207 Sqn.

A letter from his son Don, states that his father was shot down again 2 weeks later on the 21st of August 1918. Gilmour spent 24 hours in the English Chanel clinging to the wing of his downed aircraft.

Gilmour was hospitalised with pneumonia and a wound, not sure if it was a gsw or an impact injury.

My problem is that I cannot find any reference to this incident. I assume he was still with 207 Sqn, my records on Gilmour are not complete.

Does anyone know of a HP 0/400 being lost that night from 207 Sqn, or have a record of Gilmour being shot down that day.

Regards,

Andrew.

MikeW · 24 August 2003, 07:39 AM

Hi Andrew,

can't find any loss of that description (down in the sea) for 207 squadron at all. However, sounding very suspiciously similar, 214 squadron lost HP 0/400 serial C3492 on a raid to Zeebrugge.

I'm unclear as to the date, it's reported as the 22nd August 1918, but they could well have left on the night of the 21st. The machine was hit by AA, and made a forced landing in the sea near Nieuport.

It stayed afloat for 9 hours. 2Lt J Hetherington was unhurt, 2Lt EC Fletcher was drowned, and Elec3 CW Kennedy USN was unhurt. The survivors were picked up by a US Seaplane.

Mike