Flight Lieutenant Herbert Graham Wanklyn
Dan Hill’s research, edited by Ellie Grigsby
Herbert Graham was born in the district of Kensington, London, on August 3rd, 1895. We can find the Wankyln family on the 1901 National Consensus, were we discover the family are employing three domestic servants. This is a luxurious style of living afforded by Herbert senior’s occupation working in imports and exports. Also then present in the house with Herbert senior is his wife Blanche, of course 5-year-old Herbert, their second born son Arthur (2 years), and their two-month-old baby daughter Gwendoline. As with most records of the Edwardian era, it is so difficult to trace families unless taken ill, and so the next best place to look to relocate the family’s movements is the next national consensus of 1911. Here we find that Herbert is a fifteen-year-old scholar, alongside his brother and sister, whilst Herbert senior is still practicing in the same profession.
Records concerning Wanklyn after this period in 1911 are difficult to find, although it appears that he joined the armed forces immediately after completing his education, joining the Royal Naval Reserve where he received a commission into the officer ranks as a sub-Lieutenant. Upon the outbreak of The First World War , Wanklyn, at just 19 years of age was immediately called upon to serve. It appears, by looking at Wanklyn’s surviving flying licence, that he was granted ‘his wings’ on June 24th, 1914. During the summer of 1914, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) became responsible for the air defence of the British Isles and the pressure was on to increase the range of the aircraft patrol. Wanklyn was the 824th British person in history to receive his aviator’s licence; an indication of how new and consequently perilous, this concept of ‘flying’ really was.
From mere curiosity to an essential component of warfare, the importance of the battle for air supremacy came at an impacting human cost. The mortality rate for pilots was desperately high, as they struggled with technology that was still in its infancy. Dodge Bailey, a retired RAF pilot with over two decades of experience of flying WWI aircraft, explained why the life of a pilot was a particularly perilous one: ‘The lack of standardisation between types of aircraft was a major difficulty. At the beginning there were no specifications for airplanes which usually meant that there was a lot less stability…’ Statistics show that far more men were killed in training than they were in combat.
Whilst pilots were lauded for their bravery and ‘derring-do’ attitude, often photographed in the cockpit with a jolly outward appearance, it is understood that many of the pilots struggled with the dangers they faced on a daily basis. Nightmares were not uncommon reoccurrences – usually about burning aircraft – the perceived ‘worst’ way to die as a pilot. Although this profession must have felt electric for Wanklyn, as he knew he was occupying a role in a pioneering discovery of travel and warfare tactic, he must have been incredibly frightened every day knowing he was part of a generation of guinea pig pilots essentially.
Using Wanklyn’s service records we can see a crude, frustratingly basic overview of his movements from May 12th, 1914 through to May 14th, 1915; however this is hugely beneficial in tracking him. On May 12th, 1914 we can see Wanklyn was promoted to rank of Flight Sub-Lieutenant. At this point, Wanklyn was based in Upavon Wiltshire, with the Central flying School (CFS) base camp. This was the (later the RAF’s) primary institution (established in 1912) for the training of military flying instructors. From here, Wanklyn moved to Eastchurch (Isle of Sheppey)on August 1st. Eastchurch homed an RAF station, known by many, proudly, as the ‘cradle of aviation’ as the Short and Wright brothers combined their mentalities, curiosity and sheer determination, overseeing the first ever flight of a British pilot in Britain. In 1910 it was offered to the Royal Navy (then CFS) as a training aerodrome and it was known as the Naval flying school, Eastchurch. Next, Wanklyn was transferred to Felixstowe, Suffolk, only two days after arriving in Eastchurch. Felixstowe came to be known by many as the ‘hub’ of British innovation in seaplanes. When the Royal Flying Corps was formed in 1912, a search was launched for a base near Harwich harbour. In June, one of the four original naval officers found the site for Felixstowe air station, later known as ‘Seaplanes – Felixstowe.’ From its early days, Felixstowe was the place for the development and testing of seaplanes; among those developed there, the port Felixstowe and the Felixstowe fury. Wanklyn was here until November 1st when he moved to Calshot. Records for November of 1914 show that Wanklyn was posted to Calshot Naval Air station on the 1st of the month. Here, this First World War station was for seaplanes and flying boats, mainly operating as an experimental and training station, but also providing anti-submarine and convoy protection patrols. After this, he was transferred the following month on the 12th to the isle of Grain (Rochester). From about 1912, a seaplane station was positioned at Grain by the admiralty. From the beginning of WW1 regular patrols were made along the Thames estuary from this station as part of English Channel defences. In 1914, Port Victoria housed a Royal Navy aircraft repair depot adjacent to the station. This then brings us updated, to his posting to Dunkirk on the 14th May 1915.
In 1915, the average life expectancy for an allied pilot, was just 11 days.
19 days after his arrival in France, Wanklyn was detailed for a mission around the channel coast as part of routine patrolling. At 0:3:30am on 31st March 1915, Wanklyn climbed into the cockpit of his Maurice Farmar seaplane and took off into the sharp morning air on a lone patrol in the direction of Ostend. Wanklyn was never seen again.
Wanklyn was originally declared as missing by the afternoon of the 31st and his family were warned that he could no longer be officially located. Wanklyn’s family had to suffer this torment for two and a half weeks as they no doubt could not control their imaginations from creating the most horrific scenarios their loved one may have been subjected to, everyday wanting that one telegram to tell them his welfare was unharmed. This assuring telegram never came. On the 17th June, the body of an airman was recovered from the English Channel and subsequent investigation revealed, that body, was Wanklyn.
To this day, it is not known what happened on that fateful flight. It is most likely that the aircraft suffered a mechanical failure and Wanklyn was forced to plummet into the sea below, or perhaps his aircraft was downed by enemy artillery fire. This possibility of aerial enemy bombardment however has not been included in the roll of honour coverage of the death of Wanklyn, which one would assume it would have, especially if the recovered wreckage saw the seaplane damaged by artillery fire. Either way, Wanklyn drowned in the English Channel on, or around, the 31st of May. It is a bone chilling thought that he could have been alive for several days before drowning, alone. We will never know what happened to this young man, who must have been petrified whatever the scenario. Wanklyn is buried in Calais Southern cemetery.