Air Commodore Edward Maitland Maitland, (born Edward Maitland Gee; 21 February 1880 – 24 August 1921) was an early military aviator who served in the

Air Battalion The Air Battalion Royal Engineers (ABRE) was the first flying unit of the British Armed Forces to make use of heavier-than-air craft. Founded in 1911, the battalion in 1912 became part of the Royal Flying Corps, which in turn evolved into the R ...

of the

Royal Engineers The Corps of Royal Engineers, usually called the Royal Engineers (RE), and commonly known as the ''Sappers'', is a corps of the British Army. It provides military engineering and other technical support to the British Armed Forces and is heade ...

, the

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

, the

Royal Naval Air Service The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) was the air arm of the Royal Navy, under the direction of the Admiralty's Air Department, and existed formally from 1 July 1914 to 1 April 1918, when it was merged with the British Army's Royal Flying Corps t ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. He was a noted pioneer of lighter-than-air aviation.

Early life

Maitland was the eldest son of Arthur Gee, a barrister from

Cambridgeshire Cambridgeshire (abbreviated Cambs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East of England, bordering Lincolnshire to the north, Norfolk to the north-east, Suffolk to the east, Essex and Hertfordshire to the south, and Bedfordshire and North ...

. The family name was changed to 'Maitland' in 1903. He was educated at Haileybury and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by Henry VIII, King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge ...

, leaving Trinity without taking his degree to enlist in the Army. He later took his degree in 1906, gaining a third.

Military career

Maitland was commissioned a

second-lieutenant Second lieutenant is a junior commissioned officer military rank in many armed forces, comparable to NATO OF-1 rank. Australia The rank of second lieutenant existed in the military forces of the Australian colonies and Australian Army until ...

in the

Essex Regiment The Essex Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the British Army in existence from 1881 to 1958. The regiment served in many conflicts such as the Second Boer War and both World War I and World War II, serving with distinction in all three. ...

on 23 May 1900, and served with the 2nd battalion of his regiment in the

Orange River Colony The Orange River Colony was the British colony created after Britain first occupied (1900) and then annexed (1902) the independent Orange Free State in the Second Boer War. The colony ceased to exist in 1910, when it was absorbed into the Unio ...

during the

Second Boer War The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the Sout ...

in South Africa. He was promoted to

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations. The meaning of lieutenant differs in different militaries (see comparative military ranks), but it is often sub ...

on 26 January 1902, and returned home with his battalion in October that year, after the end of the war three months earlier. On 19 August 1911 Maitland was attached to the Royal Engineers' Air Battalion and later that year he was appointed Officer Commanding No. 1 Company, Air Battalion. (No. 1 Company, Air Battalion was subsequently renamed No. 1 Squadron

RFC RFC may refer to: Computing * Request for Comments, a memorandum on Internet standards * Request for change, change management * Remote Function Call, in SAP computer systems * Rhye's and Fall of Civilization, a modification for Sid Meier's Civ ...

and then

No. 1 Squadron RAF Number 1 Squadron, also known as No. 1 (Fighter) Squadron, is a squadron of the Royal Air Force. It was the first squadron to fly a VTOL aircraft. It currently operates Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft from RAF Lossiemouth. The squadron motto, '' ...

). In 1914, when the Army airships were transferred to the Navy, Maitland transferred to the

and in the early months of

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

served with the Dunkirk Squadron, operating captive balloons. Impressed by the kite-balloons being used by the French, he returned to Britain to promote their use to the War Office, and was appointed head of the kite balloon school which was established at

Roehampton Roehampton is an area in southwest London, in the Putney SW15 postal district, and takes up a far western strip running north to south of the London Borough of Wandsworth. It contains a number of large council house estates and is home to the U ...

. Early in 1916 he became the head of the Air Operational Department at the Admiralty, but this post did not suit him and he was appointed the head of the naval airship station at

Pulham Pulham is a village and civil parish in the county of Dorset in south-west England. It is situated in the Blackmore Vale, southeast of Sherborne. In the 2011 Census the civil parish had 105 dwellings, 103 households and a population of 269. P ...

. On 1 April 1918, with the merger of the Royal Naval Air Service and the Royal Flying Corps, Maitland transferred to the Royal Air Force. He was subsequently promoted to air commodore.

Accomplishments in ballooning

Maitland took up ballooning in 1908. On 18 November 1908, he flew with Mr C C Turner and Prof

A E Gaudron A, or a, is the first letter and the first vowel of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''a'' (pronounced ), plural ''aes' ...

in a balloon named the ''Mammoth'' from

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

in England to Meeki Derevi, near Novo Aleksandrovsk in Russia (now Zarasai in Lithuania). The distance of was covered in thirty-six and a half hours. From 1909 Maitland was attached to the Balloon School at

Farnborough Airfield Farnborough Airport (previously called: TAG Farnborough Airport, RAE Farnborough, ICAO Code EGLF) is an operational business/executive general aviation airport in Farnborough, Rushmoor, Hampshire, England. The airport covers about 8% of Rush ...

. In addition to ballooning, he also experimented with powered aircraft, but following a crash in which he broke both legs he restricted his activities to airships and balloons. He was awarded

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 ...

Airship Pilot certificate No.8 in September 1911 and in 1913 he carried out a parachute descent from the airship Delta. In 1919 Maitland was on board the Airship

R34 R34 may refer to: * R34 (New York City Subway car) * R34 (South Africa) * HM Airship ''R.34'', a rigid airship of the Royal Air Force * , a destroyer of the Royal Navy * Nissan Skyline (R34), a mid-size car * Nissan Skyline GT-R (R34), a sports ca ...

when it completed the first transatlantic crossing. On 24 August 1921 Maitland was killed when the

R38 The ''R.38'' class (also known as the ''A'' class) of rigid airships was designed for Britain's Royal Navy during the final months of the First World War, intended for long-range patrol duties over the North Sea. Four similar airships were ...

airship on which he was a passenger suffered structural failure and broke up in mid air over the

Humber The Humber is a large tidal estuary on the east coast of Northern England. It is formed at Trent Falls, Faxfleet, by the confluence of the tidal rivers Ouse and Trent. From there to the North Sea, it forms part of the boundary between th ...

. He was buried at Western Cemetery in Hull.

References

External links

Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Air Cdre Maitland
Royal Engineers and Aeronautics

Origins of the Royal Flying Corps/Royal Air Force

Early British Military Ballooning (1863) , - {{DEFAULTSORT:Maitland, Edward 1880 births 1921 deaths Burials in Yorkshire Military personnel from London Essex Regiment officers Royal Flying Corps officers Royal Navy officers Royal Air Force generals of World War I Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Companions of the Distinguished Service Order Recipients of the Air Force Cross (United Kingdom) Foreign recipients of the Distinguished Service Medal (United States) British balloonists Aviators killed in aviation accidents or incidents in England Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Recipients of the Navy Distinguished Service Medal Victims of aviation accidents or incidents in 1921

Early life

Military career

Accomplishments in ballooning

See also

References

External links