ASN Wikibase Occurrence # 218658
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| Date: | Wednesday 8 September 1915 |
| Time: | night |
| Type: |  Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c |
| Owner/operator: | RNAS Yarmouth |
| Registration: | 990 |
| MSN: | |
| Fatalities: | Fatalities: 1 / Occupants: 1 |
| Aircraft damage: | Destroyed |
| Location: | near Bacton, Norfolk -
 United Kingdom
|
| Phase: | Landing |
| Nature: | Military |
| Departure airport: | RNAS Yarmouth, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk |
| Bacton, Norfolk | |
| Confidence Rating: |  Information is only available from news, social media or unofficial sources |
8.9.15: Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c No. 990, RNAS Yarmouth, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk. Written off (damaged beyond repair) when Bombs exploded on night landing after German air-raid, near Bacton, Norfolk. Pilot - Flt Sub-Lt Gerald William Hilliard (aged 30) - was killed
Gerald William Hilliard was born in Guernsey on 19th May 1885, the son of William and Lydia Hilliard. In 1901, he began a five year apprenticeship with Great Western Railway in Swindon, entering Downing College in 1906, although, according to the College magazine, The Griffin, Hilliard ‘remained for a short time only’. This, perhaps, may be explained by his appointment as Assistant to the Maintenance Engineer for the Buenos Aires Great Southern Railway in 1908. He returned to the UK from Argentina on 10th November 1914 following the outbreak of the war.
Hilliard joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant (probationary) on 4th January 1915 and qualified to fly a Grahame-White biplane at Hendon the following month. The Royal Aero Club records that he was member no.1079. The College magazine, 'The Griffin', reported that he died in Egypt on 8th September 1915 of wounds received in the Dardanelles. However, this seems likely to be incorrect. The official history of the Royal Naval Air Service notes that G W Hilliard was killed during the Zeppelin raids on the night of 8th/9th September "by the explosion of his bombs when he landed in a field at Bacton." (The War in the Air, Volume 3 , p121). At the time he was flying a BE2c and had taken off from RNAS Yarmouth in pursuit of Zeppelin L14 which had attacked Bylaugh, East Dereham, and Seaming that evening.
He is buried in the Great Yarmouth (Caister) Cemetery.
Sources:
1. http://www.rcawsey.co.uk/Acc1916.htm
2. https://www.cwgc.org/find-war-dead/casualty/2802552/hilliard,-/
3. http://www.dow.cam.ac.uk/node/344
4. http://www.greatwarci.net/honour/guernsey/database/hilliard-gw-yarmouth.htm
5. https://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/19900
6. https://airwar19141918.wordpress.com/2015/09/09/9-september-1915-back-again/
7. https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/showthread.php?19689-100-Years-Ago-Today/page15
8. Flight magazine (September 17 1915, page 692): https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1915/1915%20-%200692.html
Revision history:
| Date/time | Contributor | Updates |
|---|---|---|
| 27-Nov-2018 20:57 | Dr.John Smith | Added |
| 27-Nov-2018 20:58 | Dr.John Smith | Updated [Aircraft type] |
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