Allegiance United Kingdom Name John Gilmour Years of service 1914–1919 Battles and wars World War I | Rank Major Battles/wars First World War | |
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Born 28 June 1896
Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland ( 1896-06-28 ) Awards Distinguished Service Order
Military Cross & Two Bars
Mentioned in Despatches Died February 24, 1928, London, United Kingdom Service/branch British Army, Royal Air Force Unit No. 27 Squadron RAF, No. 65 Squadron RAF | ||
Commands held No. 28 Squadron RAF | ||
Major John Inglis Gilmour & Two Bars (28 June 1896 – 24 February 1928) was a World War I flying ace. He was the highest scoring Scotsman in the Royal Flying Corps, with 39 victories.
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Early life
Gilmour was born in Helensburgh, Dumbartonshire, Scotland, the son of John James Gilmour, a tobacco merchant, and Isabella Inglis. He was educated at the Loretto School in Musselburgh, Edinburgh, and represented the school in rugby and fives. He was also a member of Officers' Training Corps, with the rank of sergeant. In December 1914, aged 18, Gilmour left school and joined the Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders regiment with the rank of second lieutenant.
Military service
Gilmour transferred the Royal Flying Corps in December 1915, and was awarded the Royal Aero Club Aviator's Certificate No. 2888 after soloing in a Maurice Farman biplane at the military flying school at Farnborough on 17 March 1916. He was assigned to No. 27 Squadron. They were the sole squadron equipped with the Martinsyde G.100, commonly called the Elephant. This aircraft was nicknamed for being large and ungainly. A single seater, it was too big, slow, and manoeuvrable to be a successful fighter, and without a rear gunner, too defenceless to survive well in a ground attack or bombing role. It was equipped with a Lewis machine gun mounted on the upper wing firing over the propeller, and a second one on the fuselage pointed toward the rear.
Nevertheless, before the Elephants were withdrawn from service, Gilmour scored three victories flying one, though his primary duty was bombing. On 15 September 1916, in conjunction with several other pilots, he destroyed an Albatros D.I. On the 24th, he destroyed a Fokker Eindekker; on the 26th, he drove another down out of control.
On 26 May 1917, Gilmour received the Military Cross for his prowess as a bombing formation leader. At this point, he was almost certainly still flying the Martinsyde. Late in 1917, Gilmour was assigned to No. 65 Squadron RAF as a flight commander. After a fourteen-month gap in his aerial victory list, he scored flying a Sopwith Camel, on 18 December 1917. His two triumphs that day made him an ace. He shot a triple on 4 January 1918, including one down in flames, and followed it up with number eight on 9 January. He then began to run up his score by single and double victories—two in February, one in March, seven in April, eight in May, four in June. By 29 June, his total was 31.
On 1 July 1918, Gilmour capped his career with a performance that earned him a Distinguished Service Order. On that evening, within 45 minutes, he burned two Fokker D.VIIs and knocked another down out of control, set an Albatros D.V afire, and drove a Pfalz D.III out of the air. The times on his combat reports make it clear these were five separate engagements; many times, aces reporting multiple victories scored in a single engagement.
Gilmour destroyed a Pfalz the next day, and two the day after, for his final successes. In the end, his victory record showed that he had 1 balloon destroyed, 1 enemy aircraft captured, 24 aircraft destroyed (and 3 shared destroyed) and 10 claimed 'out of control'. Eight of the destroyed craft had gone down in flames, as had the balloon.
He was promoted to major and transferred to Italy to command 28 Squadron, but added no further victories to his record. His victory list made him the leading ace of the 13 aces in 65 Squadron.
On 3 August 1918, Gilmour was awarded the DSO; on 16 September, he was gazetted for his second bar to his MC.
After the war, he had a brief tenure as air attaché in Rome in July 1919. He then transferred to the Middle East to join No. 216 Squadron RAF.
John Inglis Gilmour died in London on 24 February 1928, having committed suicide by cyanide poisoning. His death certificate describes him as being of independent means but unsound mind.
Gilmour's medals were auctioned on 13 September 2012, and sold for £40,000.