Nickname(s) Known as Paul Awards Military Cross Name Bernard Gascoigne | Rank Captain | |
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Buried at Sevenoaks (St. Nicholas) Churchyard, Kent, England Allegiance King George V of the British Empire Died 1918, Northolt, United Kingdom Unit Royal Hampshire Regiment, No. 70 Squadron RAF, No. 24 Squadron RAF | ||
Service/branch Infantry; aviation | ||
Captain Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands (9 September 1897 – 8 May 1919) was a Canadian World War I flying ace credited with eight aerial victories.
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Early life
Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands was born in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada on 9 September 1897. He was a minister's son; Canon Beanlands was rector of Christ Church Cathedral in Victoria. Beanlands' mother was Laura Maud Hills. Both parents would predecease their son.
The younger Beanlands was educated at Oundle School and the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst before joining the Hampshire Regiment in December 1914, in the first few months of World War I.
World War I
On 3 March 1916, Beanlands was promoted to lieutenant in the Hampshires. On 31 May 1916, he was forwarded as a second lieutenant to be a Flying Officer with the Royal Flying Corps. On 1 September 1916, he was promoted to temporary lieutenant while serving with the RFC. Five days later, he scored his first aerial victory, killing aces Hans Rosencrantz and Wilhelm Fahlbusch in their reconnaissance two-seater. On 1 December 1916 he was appointed as Flight Commander, with a promotion to temporary captain.
He transferred postings to 24 Squadron, where he scored eight more victories between 25 August 1917 and 18 March 1918. On 11 April 1918, he was reported wounded in action in Flight magazine. By that time, he had won the Military Cross, which was gazetted 25 April 1918:
....He has brought down three enemy aeroplanes out of control and driven down several others over the enemy lines.
Post World War I
Bernard Paul Gascoigne Beanlands survived the war, only to die in a flying accident at RAF Northolt on 8 May 1919. He was buried in the northwest corner of the new ground in the cemetery of his father's home parish, at Sevenoaks (St. Nicholas) Churchyard, Kent, England.
List of aerial victories
Beanlands' first victory was scored while he was with 70 Squadron. The rest of his triumphs came with 24 Squadron.