WILLIAM BELL SAINT, Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps (1893 - 1...

Hammer

£190

WILLIAM BELL SAINT, Lieutenant, Royal Flying Corps (1893 - 1916).  A Memoir by His Father, and Letters. 262pp, typescript typography. Port. frontis. Thick quarto. Rubbed half leather, contents good. N.d. but c.1920. A detailed memoir of a young man, born in Newcastle in 1893, who first saw an aeroplane in 1912 and, after service in the Royal Scots, went on to be an Observer (70 Squadron) in the R.F.C. the book includes some 100 pp of detailed and fascinating letters telling of and reflecting his R.F.C service, together with letters and testimonials on his death. His plane was shot down over the Somme on 15th September 1916, the pilot was wounded and Bell Saint died of his wounds. The Germans behaved chivalrously (see p.232) and arranged his burial in the German cemetery at Marquaix, he was later removed to the British cemetery at Tincourt-Boucly.