Lieutenant Charles George Gordon Bayly of the Royal Flying Corps was killed in action on the 22nd August 1914. Soldiers Died in The Great War accords him two entries, one as a Lieutenant with the RFC and one as a Lieutenant with the Royal Engineers, attached to the RFC. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission adds to the confusion, stating his regiment as 5th Squadron RFC and 56th Field Company, Royal Engineers, but adds, "Son of Brackenbury Bayly, M.I.E.E. (Woolwich) and Beatrice Mary Jessie Bayly, of Falmouth, Cornwall. (One of the first Royal Flying Corps battle casualties of the war)."
Charles was 23 when he died and is buried in the Tournai Communal Cemetery Allied Extension. There is much useful discussion on the Great War Forum regarding this officer casualty and you can read it by following the link below. Bayly was an Observer in an Avro 390 piloted by 2nd Liutenant Vincent Waterfall when the plane was spotted by a German column and shot down at low altitude. Waterfall was also killed.
The image of Lt Bayly on this post is borrowed from the
discussion on the Great War Forum.
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning, We Will Remember Them.
2 comments:
A Woolwich man? with parents who wanted to commemorate an association with Gordon of Khartoum. Hence the Christian names. Sad for his parents and Sadly the first of many in the RE and RFC.
Thanks for commenting Mick. I hadn't made the Gordon of Khartoum connection but it's obvious now that you mention it.
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