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"
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, 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 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 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.
See also
*
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