Captain Frederick Dudley Travers (born 15 February 1897; date of death unknown) was an English World War I

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviator credited with shooting down five or more enemy aircraft during aerial combat. The exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ace is varied, but is usually co ...

credited with nine aerial victories. His later life saw his continued service to his nation in both the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve and in civil aviation. He pioneered air routes into Africa, the Middle East, and India. He also became proficient in piloting flying boats. He flew civilian aircraft into the war zones during World War II. By the end of his civil aviation career, he had flown over two million miles and logged 19,000 accident-free flying hours. Upon his retirement from the RAF, he had served for almost four decades.

Early life

Frederick Dudley Travers was born in York, England, on 15 February 1897.

World War I

Travers served initially in the

Hertfordshire Yeomanry The Hertfordshire Yeomanry was a Yeomanry Cavalry regiment of the British Army that could trace its formation to the late 18th century. First seeing mounted service in the Second Boer War and World War I, it subsequently converted to artillery. Th ...

of the

Territorial Force The Territorial Force was a part-time volunteer component of the British Army, created in 1908 to augment British land forces without resorting to conscription. The new organisation consolidated the 19th-century Volunteer Force and yeomanry ...

, rising to the rank of

lance corporal Lance corporal is a military rank, used by many armed forces worldwide, and also by some police forces and other uniformed organisations. It is below the rank of corporal, and is typically the lowest non-commissioned officer (NCO), usually equi ...

. He graduated from

Inns of Court The Inns of Court in London are the professional associations for barristers in England and Wales. There are four Inns of Court – Gray's Inn, Lincoln's Inn, Inner Temple and Middle Temple. All barristers must belong to one of them. They have ...

Officers Training Corps The Officers' Training Corps (OTC), more fully called the University Officers' Training Corps (UOTC), are military leadership training units operated by the British Army. Their focus is to develop the leadership abilities of their members whilst ...

and was commissioned as a second lieutenant on 1 January 1916. He was

seconded In deliberative bodies a second to a proposed motion is an indication that there is at least one person besides the mover that is interested in seeing the motion come before the meeting. It does not necessarily indicate that the seconder favors th ...

to the Royal Flying Corps, and first served in No. 47 Squadron. He was promoted to lieutenant in the Yeomanry on 1 July 1917, while still serving in the RFC. His first aerial victory came on 19 December 1917, flying a B.E.12 in No. 17 Squadron RFC on the Macedonian front. He was then transferred to No. 150 Squadron RAF, to fly the S.E.5a. He gained two more victories in May 1918, and one in June. In September he gained five more victories while flying a Bristol M.1c. Travers was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, which was

gazetted A gazette is an official journal, a newspaper of record, or simply a newspaper. In English and French speaking countries, newspaper publishers have applied the name ''Gazette'' since the 17th century; today, numerous weekly and daily newspapers ...

on 29 November 1918. His citation read: :"A gallant and able officer who has displayed on many occasions boldness in attack, never hesitating to engage the enemy as opportunity occurs. On June 1st he, in company with two other pilots, attacked a hostile formation of twelve machines; four off these were shot down and the remainder driven off." He also received the ''Croix de guerre with Palme'' from France in February 1919.

List of aerial victories

Between the World Wars

Military career

On 5 December 1919, he was granted a short service commission as a flying officer. Travers transferred to the Class A Reserve of the Royal Air Force on 5 December 1922. He kept his reserve status in various capacities until 5 December 1940, when he was ranked as a flight lieutenant.

Career in civil aviation

Travers began his civil aviation career as an air taxi pilot. On 20 February 1924, he was elected to membership in the

Royal Aero Club The Royal Aero Club (RAeC) is the national co-ordinating body for air sport in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1901 as the Aero Club of Great Britain, being granted the title of the "Royal Aero Club" in 1910. History The Aero Club was foun ...

. In 1926, he began flying for

Imperial Airways Imperial Airways was the early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939 and principally serving the British Empire routes to South Africa, India, Australia and the Far East, including Malaya and Hong Kong. Passengers ...

; he pioneered air service to Egypt for them that year. Flying from Heliopolis, he opened air routes between Cairo, Baghdad, and Basra. In 1929, ''Flight'' magazine noted that Travers, as senior pilot of the Middle East Division of Imperial Airways had made the first air mail flights to and from India.

World War II and beyond

During World War II, Travers continued in civil aviation; however, he was piloting

flying boats A flying boat is a type of fixed-winged seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in that a flying boat's fuselage is purpose-designed for floatation and contains a hull, while floatplanes rely on fusela ...

from the United Kingdom to India and West Africa. By 1942, Travers was noted as having flown two million air miles. As part of his sovereign's birthday honours for 1944, Captain Travers was commended for " valuable service in the air" while employed by

British Overseas Airways Corporation British Overseas Airways Corporation (BOAC) was the British state-owned airline created in 1939 by the merger of Imperial Airways and British Airways Ltd. It continued operating overseas services throughout World War II. After the pass ...

. By late 1945, Travers was ferrying a

Short Sunderland The Short S.25 Sunderland is a British flying boat patrol bomber, developed and constructed by Short Brothers for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The aircraft took its service name from the town (latterly, city) and port of Sunderland in North Ea ...

flying boat to Buenos Aires for Company Dodero Navigation Argentina SA shipping lines. In early May 1947, Travers was feted at a BOAC luncheon banquet hosted by Lord Knollys to celebrate Travers' retirement from the company after 30 years flying. It was noted that in his 19,000 flying hours, he had never had an accident. Travers' retirement plans included work on development of the

Saunders-Roe Saunders-Roe Limited, also known as Saro, was a British aero- and marine-engineering company based at Columbine Works, East Cowes, Isle of Wight. History The name was adopted in 1929 after Alliott Verdon Roe (see Avro) and John Lord took a c ...

flying boat. On 10 February 1954, Frederick Dudley Travers surrendered his commission in the Royal Air Force Reserve of Officers. In his retirement, he made his home in Kenya. He was still alive and available for an interview with famed aviation historian Norman Franks as late as 1968.

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Travers, Frederick Dudley 1897 births year of death missing Hertfordshire Yeomanry soldiers Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War I British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1914–1918 (France) Military personnel from York British Army personnel of World War I Officers' Training Corps officers Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Royal Air Force officers