Welsh airforce heroes

[ellen jones]

Hi please does anyone have any stories or information on Welsh air force heroes during the war? I am doing a research project as part of my teaching qualification and will be working with a primary school in New Tredegar. We will be developing our cynefin based on local stories and would be grateful for any information, stories, photos

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

Hi Ellen and Croeso,

I seem to remember that one of the interviewees for the BBC's  The Great War series of 1964 was a Welsh airman, I think called Lewis.
I think the recordings are accessible on the Imperial  War Museum website.
I remember he was saying about the curious experience of flying high in the sky watching artillery shells being lobbed to and fro and him being just at the high point of their trajectory - watching them come up, flatten out and falling back down again.

 

Edited 19 hours ago by Dai Bach y Sowldiwr

[charlie962]

12 minutes ago, Dai Bach y Sowldiwr said:

Hi Ellen and Croeso,

I seem to remember that one of the interviewees for the BBC's  The Great War series of 1964 was a Welsh airman, I think called Lewis.
I think the recordings are accessible on the Imperial  War Museum website.
I remember he was saying about the curious experience of flying high in the sky watching artillery shells being lobbed to and fro and him being just at the high point of their trajectory - watching them come up, flatten out and falling back down again.

 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cecil_Arthur_Lewis

But was he Welsh?

[Dai Bach y Sowldiwr]

20 minutes ago, charlie962 said:

But was he Welsh?

Hmm.
Doesn't look like it.
But Lewis from Birkenhead...there's bound to be some Welsh blood there somewhere.

[quemerford]

One that springs to mind is Tom Owen; IIRC the RAF Museum holds his log book and diary (their catalogue ref X007-1363-020), much of the latter written in a mix of Welsh and English. He served in the BEF with 6 Squadron and 4 Squadron (RE.8). 

 

I'm not sure where he was born however; his father is listed living in Welshpool but Owen refers to Bontnewydd and others in his diary. I also recall that Cross & Cockade ran an article or two on Owen*. I have copies of some of his log books and diary, but not all.

 

*EDIT: Cross & Cockade International Summer 2022 Volume 53/2: Tom Owen - A Teacher Who Went To War Part 1 by Richard Chancellor & up to two subsequent parts in later issues.

 

Edited 10 hours ago by quemerford

[Clive ex RAF plumber]

There's one Welshman that springs to mind and that is Lt. Lionel Baker Jones Welsh Regiment attached to the RFC he won an MC in 1917 as an Observer and was latterly killed on the North West Frontier as a Doctor in the Indian Medical Services the same day his fiancee landed in India for them to be wed.  There is a wealth of information available about him on the internet.  Regards Clive   

[Red Gate]

How about Ira Jones?
 

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Ira_Thomas_Jones

 

 

[hmsk212]

I would have thought Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees VC would be a hero. Born in Caernarvon on 31 July 1884.

 

Lionel Wilmot Brabazon Rees VC OBE MC AFC – victoriacrossonline.co.uk

Steve

Edited 3 hours ago by hmsk212

[charlie962]

18 hours ago, ellen jones said:

Welsh air force heroes

I understand what you are after, but then all those who 'did their bit' were heroes, particularly those who died.

Randomly there is this man with a Tredegar connection (only a few miles from New Tredegar!)

 

Sourced via Findmypast from various editions of the Western Mail 1916 and 1917.

 

Charlie