Can anybody tell me if this is the same young flyer ? Unit - 18 Sqn, RFC Serial - 7 (A7553) France August - October 1917 Crew - Lt J.Carling and Lt E.Farncombe In Memory of Lieutenant JOHN BURLEIGH CARLING Royal Air Force who died age 20 on 05 May 1918 Son of Fred W. and Eva C. Carling, of 354, Sparks St., Ottawa, Ont. Remembered with honour OTTAWA (BEECHWOOD) CEMETERY
Re: I Think He Flew Mosquitoes ! I don't get the bit about Mosquitoes; am I missing something? A7553 was a DH4
Re: I Think He Flew Mosquitoes ! I'd better change my title then Adrian !! .... All I had was his CWGC and that my cousin thought he had flown Mosquitoes ! ... then I found that other piece .... do you think it's him ? Annie
Re: I Think He Flew Mosquitoes ! Mosquitoes were a WW2 type!! As to whether the two references are to the same man, you would need the service record of the man in the CWGC reference to see whether he was with 18 sqdn in 1917, and I'm afraid my expertise doesn't extend to that!
Just to pad out the information a little, Lts J Carling and E Farncombe of No 18 Sqn RFC were flying DH 4 A7553 on 16 October 1917 when the engine cut out at 500 feet; the aeroplane bumped on landing and swung in a cross wind, suffering some damage. The aeroplane was repaired and its RAF 3a engine replaced by a Rolls Royce Eagle before being delivered to No 55 Sqn, after which it failed to return from a raid on Luxembourg on 5 April 1918 (2Lts P H O'Lieff and S R Wells were captured. Lt E Farncombe went on to be involved in a crash in a ploughed field near Auchel aerodrome due to engine failure in A7606, flown by Lt W N Bussell, on 13 November 1917. He was also in A7597 when it was damaged in a heavy landing on 26 November; again Lt Bussell was the pilot. Lt J B Carling of No 109 Sqn RAF died from scarlet fever in the UK on 5 May 1918. No 109 Sqn was then based at Lake Down and was forming up with various aircraft. It was equipped with the DH 9 in July 1918, but disbanded on 19 August. I hope that this is useful. Gareth
Thank you Gareth ! so our boy died of scarlet fever - we didn't know that ! .... So it's not the same young man then is it ? ... just a coincidence of name ! Annie
Annie I can only find one 'Carling' in the RFC on the Army List for December 1917: 2Lt J B Carling RFC Special Reserve, ie the man who died in May 1918. So if they're not the same man, what happened to Lt J Carling of No 18 Sqn? He's not listed in Airmen Died, so he must have been still alive when the RFC merged into the RAF in April 1918. Gareth
