Ronald Thornely

Last updated

Ronald Roscoe Thornely
Born(1889-06-10)10 June 1889
Cambridge, England
Died21 August 1984(1984-08-21) (aged 95)
Buried
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchRoyal Navy
Royal Air Force
Years of service1914–1919
RankCaptain
Unit Royal Naval Armoured Car Division
No. 8 (Naval) Squadron RNAS
Battles/warsWorld War I
  Gallipoli campaign
  Western Front
Awards Distinguished Service Cross

Captain Ronald Roscoe Thornely DSC (10 July 1889 – 21 August 1984 [1] ) was an English World War I flying ace. He was credited with nine aerial victories while flying for the Royal Naval Air Service. [2]

Contents

Early life

Thornely was born in Merton Hall, Cambridge, England, [2] the son of Thomas Thornely (1855–1949), a historian, poet and Fellow of Trinity Hall, Cambridge, [3] and his wife Mabel Martha Thornely.

Military service

Thornely was commissioned as a temporary sub-lieutenant in the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve on 12 December 1914. [4] He served in the Royal Naval Armoured Car Division during the Gallipoli campaign. In May 1916, he transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service, [5] being confirmed as a flight sub-lieutenant on 5 May, [6] and granted Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 3290 after soloing a Maurice Farman biplane at the Royal Naval Air Station, Chingford, on 29 July 1916. [2]

He joined No. 8 Squadron RNAS in March 1917, [5] gaining his first aerial victory on 4 June, and then two more [2] before being promoted to flight lieutenant on 30 June. [7] Two more victories followed in July, three in August, and his ninth and last on 11 September. [2]

His award of the Distinguished Service Cross was gazetted on 30 October 1917. His citation read:

Flight Lieutenant Ronald Roscoe Thornley, RNAS.
"For gallantry and skill in aerial combats, notably on the following occasions:
On the 16th June, 1917, whilst on patrol, he attacked a two-seater Aviatik, which fell to the ground, inside our lines.
On the 15th August, 1917, he attacked an Albatross scout and shot it down out of control.
On the 19th August, 1917, he attacked an Aviatik and drove it down out of control.
On the 11th September, 1917, he engaged one of three enemy machines, firing about fifty rounds when quite close, apparently wounding the observer at once, and shortly afterwards the enemy machine fell out of control." [8]

Thornley was promoted to the temporary rank of captain on 7 May 1918. [9] [note 1]

List of aerial victories

Combat record [2]
No.Date/TimeAircraft/
Serial No.
OpponentResultLocationNotes
14 June 1917
@ 0945 hours
Sopwith Triplane
(N5465)
German reconnaissance aircraftSet afire; destroyedEast of Lens Shared with Flight Sub-Lieutenants Robert Compston and E. A. Bennetts.
27 June 1917
@ 1015 hours
Sopwith Triplane
(N5465)
Albatros D.V Driven down out of control Henin-Liétard [2] [10]
316 June 1917
@ 0830 hours
Undetermined [2] [10] [note 2] German reconnaissance aircraftCaptured Loos, east of LensShared with Flight Lieutenant Robert Compston. German pilot KIA, observer WIA. [5]
422 July 1917
@ 0630 hours
Sopwith Camel
(B3845)
Albatros D.III Driven down out of controlSoutheast of Gavrelle
528 July 1917
@ 0915 hours
Sopwith Camel
(B3845)
Albatros D.IIIDriven down out of controlLens–La Bassée
69 August 1917
@ 0915 hours
Sopwith Camel
(B3845)
Albatros D.VDriven down out of controlEast of Henin-LiétardShared with Flight Sub-Lieutenant William Jordan.
715 August 1917
@ 2015 hours
Sopwith Camel
(B3845)
Albatros D.IIIDriven down out of controlLens
819 August 1917
@ 0850 hours
Sopwith CamelGerman reconnaissance aircraftDriven down out of controlEast of LensShared with Flight Sub-Lieutenants William Jordan, Roderick McDonald, and J. H. Thompson.
911 September 1917
@ 1150 hours
Sopwith Camel
(B3845)
German reconnaissance aircraftDriven down out of control Pont-a-Vendin

Post World War I

Thornely received a mention in dispatches "for distinguished service in war areas" on 1 January 1919, [5] [11] and was transferred to the unemployed list of the Royal Air Force on 1 March 1919. [12]

On 29 April 1949 Ronald Roscoe Thornely was named as executor of the estates of his parents Thomas and Mabel Martha Thornely, who both died in January 1949. [13]

Thornely died on 21 August 1984, and is buried at Putney Vale Cemetery, London. [1]

Notes

  1. Such promotion usually accompanied an appointment as flight commander.
  2. Sources disagree as to whether Thornely was flying a Triplane or a Camel for his third victory.

Related Research Articles

Richard Minifie

Richard Pearman Minifie, was an Australian fighter pilot and flying ace of the First World War. Born in Victoria, he attended Melbourne Church of England Grammar School. Travelling to the United Kingdom, he enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service in June 1916. Accepted for flight training, he completed his instruction in December and joined No. 1 (Naval) Squadron RNAS on the Western Front in January 1917, flying Sopwith Triplanes. He went on to score seventeen aerial victories on this type of machine throughout the year, becoming both the youngest Australian flying ace of the First World War and No. 1 (Naval) Squadron's highest-scoring ace on the Triplane. The unit re-equipped with the Sopwith Camel late in 1917, with Minifie going on to achieve a further four victories on the aircraft, raising his final tally to a score of twenty-one aircraft shot down.

Captain William Melville Alexander was a Canadian First World War flying ace, officially credited with 22 aerial victories.

Leonard Henry Rochford, was a British flying ace of the First World War, credited with 29 aerial victories. He returned to military service in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War.

Wing Commander Robert John Orton Compston DSC & 2 Bars DFC was an English fighter pilot credited with 25 victories during World War I. He was one of only seven airman in this war who won three awards of the Distinguished Service Cross.

Ronald Graham (RAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal Ronald Graham, was a First World War flying ace of the Royal Naval Air Service. Remaining in the Royal Air Force after that war, he rose to the rank of air vice marshal during the Second World War.

Captain Frank Douglas Stevens was a British First World War flying ace credited with five aerial victories.

Air Vice Marshal Eric Bourne Coulter Betts, was an Irish air officer of the British Royal Air Force. He began his career in the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War. He became a flying ace credited with six aerial victories, although acedom was incidental to his more important mission of long range photographic reconnaissance, for which he was decorated.

Group Captain William Victor Strugnell was a British First World War flying ace credited with six aerial victories. He went on to a long career in the Royal Air Force, and serving throughout the Second World War.

Wing Commander Edward Duncan Crundall was an officer of the British Royal Air Force, who served in World War I, becoming flying ace credited with seven aerial victories, and also in World War II.

Flight Lieutenant Norman Miers MacGregor was a British World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories, including over German ace Kurt Wolff.

Captain John Todd (1899–1980) was a Scottish First World War flying ace credited with 18 aerial victories.

Wing Commander Edwin Swale was an English First World War flying ace credited with 17 aerial victories. His victory list is notable because he scored 14 of his 17 wins against the premier German fighter of the war, the Fokker D.VII, and became the leading Sopwith Camel ace of No. 210 Squadron RAF.

James Enstone

Captain Albert James Enstone was a British World War I flying ace. Various sources credit him with differing air victory scores. In one text, he is credited with 13 confirmed aerial victories and driving down 11 other German aircraft, including three Gotha bombers. Another source claims 15 confirmed aerial victories; ten were destroyed, and five were driven down out of control. He is known to have attacked two Gotha bombers. Regardless of his actual victory totals, records show that Enstone served his country valiantly.

Captain George Brian Gates was a World War I flying ace credited with 15 aerial victories, twelve of them enemy aircraft, and three observation balloons.

Flight Lieutenant Frank Gerald Craven Weare was a British World War I flying ace credited with fifteen aerial victories in forty days.

Air Commodore Ernest William Norton, was a British air officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF), who began his military career as a flying ace of the First World War credited with nine aerial victories. He rose through the ranks in a mixture of domestic and foreign assignments during the interwar period until he was appointed Air Officer-in-Charge at RAF Headquarters in Singapore on 28 December 1937. By 7 September 1941, he was serving as an air commodore for RAF Fighter Command in Britain. He retired from the RAF on 24 February 1944.

Francis Dominic Casey, was an Irish flying ace of the Royal Naval Air Service during the First World War, credited with nine aerial victories. He received the Distinguished Service Cross before his death during a test flight in 1917.

Flight Lieutenant Charles John Sims, was an English World War I flying ace credited with nine aerial victories. His most notable victory saw him shoot down an enemy aircraft that crashed into another, giving Sims a double win. However, his Distinguished Flying Cross was awarded for his courage in ground attack missions.

Lieutenant Ronald William Turner, was an English World War I flying ace. He was credited with nine aerial victories while flying as an observer/gunner in two-seater fighters.

Wing Commander John William Rayner was a British military officer who began his career in the Army during World War I. He became a flying ace during the closing months of the war, being credited with five aerial victories.

References

  1. 1 2 Lampert, R. L. (19 August 2011). "Ronald Roscoe Thornely (1889–1984)". Geni.com. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Ronald Roscoe Thornely". The Aerodrome. 2016. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  3. "Books for adoption" (PDF). Oxford Union Library. June 2015. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 September 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2016.
  4. "No. 29007". The London Gazette (Supplement). 15 December 1914. pp. 10689–10690.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Franks (2003), p. 23.
  6. "No. 29786". The London Gazette (Supplement). 17 October 1916. p. 9953.
  7. "No. 30156". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 June 1917. pp. 6413–6415.
  8. "No. 30363". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 October 1917. p. 11320.
  9. "No. 30694". The London Gazette (Supplement). 21 May 1918. p. 5995.
  10. 1 2 Shores, Franks & Guest (1990), p. 264.
  11. "No. 31098". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 December 1918. p. 103.
  12. "No. 31251". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 March 1919. pp. 3887–3889.
  13. "No. 38598". The London Gazette (Supplement). 29 April 1949. p. 2155.
Bibliography