Captain Leslie William Burbidge (born 10 March 1891,

Bexhill-on-Sea Bexhill-on-Sea (often shortened to Bexhill) is a seaside town and civil parish situated in the county of East Sussex in South East England. An ancient town and part of the local government district of Rother, Bexhill is home to a number of arc ...

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, England, date and place of death unknown) was a 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 six aerial victories. He flew as an observer/gunner in

Bristol F.2 Fighter The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Biff"'' ...

s in 20 Squadron.Franks ''et.al.'' (1997), pp.6–7.

Pre-World War I

Leslie William Burbidge was the son of Reverend E. O. Burbidge. The younger Burbidge worked for a shipyard in

St Helens, Lancashire St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

, from 1910 to 1914. He was fluent in both French and Italian, and gave a home of record in

Le Havre Le Havre (, ; nrf, Lé Hâvre ) is a port city in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region of northern France. It is situated on the right bank of the estuary of the river Seine on the Channel southwest of the Pays de Caux, very cl ...

when he joined the

Royal Flying Corps "Through Adversity to the Stars" , colors = , colours_label = , march = , mascot = , anniversaries = , decorations ...

.Franks ''et.al.'' (1997), p.6.

World War I service

Military appointments

On 1 August 1915 he was promoted from Second Lieutenant to Lieutenant. Temporary Captain Burbidge was appointed an

Adjutant Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...

in the Army Service Corps on 1 June 1916. He was superseded as Adjutant on 30 July 1917. On 7 October 1917, Burbidge was transferred to the RFC's General List, with seniority backdated to 10 September.

Aerial victories

On 25 September 1917, Burbidge helped drive down an

Albatros D.V The Albatros D.V is a fighter aircraft built by the Albatros Flugzeugwerke and used by the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' (Imperial German Air Service) during World War I. The D.V was the final development of the Albatros D.I family and the last Albatro ...

out of control for an aerial victory shared with Sgt.

William Benger Sergeant William Joseph Benger (21 November 1894 – 17 October 1917) was a British First World War flying ace credited with five aerial victories over German Albatros D.V fighters. Biography Benger was born in Devizes, the son of Joseph Willi ...

. At mid-day 2 October over Dadizeele, Burbidge drove down two D.Vs five minutes apart for wins two and three. On 13 November, he teamed with pilot ace Lt.

Robert Kirby Kirkman Captain Robert Kirby Kirkman (25 June 1891 – 9 May 1938) was an English World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories. Family background Robert Kirkman was born in Cosby, Leicestershire, the youngest of eight children of farme ...

to drive down another Albatros D.V out of control; they repeated the feat on 5 December 1917, and Burbidge was an ace. On 21 February 1918, Burbidge was transferred to

Home Establishment A home, or domicile, is a space used as a permanent or semi-permanent residence for one or many humans, and sometimes various companion animals. It is a fully or semi sheltered space and can have both interior and exterior aspects to it. H ...

. He rejoined 20 Squadron in September. He was flying with

Thomas Traill Air Vice Marshal Thomas Cathcart Traill, (6 August 1899 – 1 October 1973) was a senior Royal Air Force officer. He began his military career as a midshipman in the Royal Navy, transferred to the Royal Flying Corps in 1917 and rose to the ran ...

when they destroyed a

Fokker D.VII The Fokker D.VII was a German World War I fighter aircraft designed by Reinhold Platz of the Fokker-Flugzeugwerke. Germany produced around 3,300 D.VII aircraft in the second half of 1918. In service with the ''Luftstreitkräfte'', the D.VII qu ...

north of Saint Quentin on 29 September 1918. He was also flying with Traill when they collided with another " Brisfit", losing part of a wing; Burbidge climbed out onto the opposite wings, which stabilized their broken plane enough for Traill to be able to crash-land. Burbidge was slightly injured, breaking his nose and biting through his tongue.

Post World War I

Burbidge served in 22 Squadron, then in 12 Squadron in

Cologne Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western States of Germany, state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the List of cities in Germany by population, fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 m ...

, Germany. On 23 October 1919, Burbidge transferred to the Royal Air Force's unemployed list.

Honours and awards

;Distinguished Flying Cross Lieut. (Hon. Capt.) Leslie William Burbidge. (FRANCE) :On 23 October this officer displayed marked gallantry and bravery. After destroying a hostile machine his own machine collided, by mischance, with another of his formation on the return journey, and at once began to fall out of control. Capt. Burbidge, with great presence of mind and considerable personal risk, climbed out on to the damaged plane, and so enabled his pilot to regain partial control, maintaining this position till the machine slowly side-slipped on to the ground. By his courageous action this officer undoubtedly saved the life of his pilot at considerable danger to his own, for, on the machine striking the ground, he was thrown from the plane and received serious injuries to his face.

References

Bibliography

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Burbidge, Leslie William 1891 births Military personnel from East Sussex British Army personnel of World War I Year of death unknown Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Army Service Corps officers British World War I flying aces Recipients of the Distinguished Flying Cross (United Kingdom) People from Bexhill-on-Sea