Charles Wolley-Dod
Charles Wolley-Dod, OBE | |
---|---|
Born | 25 August 1892 |
Died | 15 or 16 March 1937 (aged 44) |
Cause of death | Aircraft accident |
Education | Rugby School |
Known for | First planned civilian flight from England to India (1927) |
Captain Charles Francis Wolley-Dod OBE (25 August 1892 – 15 or 16 March 1937) was a British pilot and aviation executive. He was one of Imperial Airways' early pilots and later became their European manager. Imperial was an early British commercial long-range airline, operating from 1924 to 1939, and Wolley-Dod developed several of their commercial routes between London, South Africa, the Middle East, and India.
He had a reputation for his sense of direction over Europe, rarely requiring the use of a map. In 1927, he co-piloted the aircraft that took Sir Geoffrey Salmond, Sir Samuel Hoare and Lady Maud Hoare in Imperial's first planned civilian flight from London to Delhi.
Wolley-Dod was killed "on flying duty ... just before the Second World War"[1] about 20 miles (32 km) west of Cologne.[2] Under-Secretary of State for Air Sir Philip Sassoon reported to Parliament that the cause of the crash was unknown. Why an important Imperial Airways manager was flying over Germany in 1937 remains unclear.
Early life
Charles Francis Wolley-Dod was born to Francis and Annette Mary (Clarke) Wolley-Dod[3][4] in 1892, in Lahore, British India (now Pakistan), one of four siblings, along with two brothers and one sister.[5][6] His uncle Owen Cadogan Wolley-Dod was a career officer of the Lancashire Fusilliers.[7] Another uncle, Anthony Hurt Wolley-Dod, was also a soldier and a noted botanist.[8] His grandfather was Rev. Charles Wolley-Dod of Edge Hall,[9][10][11] and the ornithologist John Wolley was his great-uncle.[12][13]
Wolley-Dod was educated at Rugby School, Warwickshire, and initially settled in Canada where he took up farming.[5] He then joined the military and was first an infantryman with 3rd Battalion, the Sherwood Foresters, before he began pilot training at the age 24 with Royal Flying Corps (RFC). He eventually served as a flying instructor for the Spanish Royal Air Force.[5][14] He served the RFC in 75(HD) Squadron RFC until 1919.[14][15] His younger brother Douglas Wolley-Dod was killed in action in France in 1915.[16] A third uncle, Frederic Hova Wolley-Dod, was also a soldier and naturalist; he died of illness overseas in 1919.[17]
In 1923, Wolley-Dod became a pilot for Imperial Airways.[14] Two years later he married Janet Evelyn Gripper[18] with whom he had a son.[2]
Later life
In 1926, he helped develop Imperial's commercial routes so that a route to Baghdad became available, and by 1931, a route to Delhi.
In 1929, he represented Imperial Airways on the development of flight-proving routes from South Africa, performed jointly with the Air Ministry.[1] When the North African division was created, Wolley-Dod was appointed in charge of it.[1] He later crashed Alan Cobham's modified de Havilland Giant Moth biplane.[23] In 1933, Imperial Airways appointed Wolley-Dod their European manager.[14]
Imperial Airways liner accident and death
Departure
On Monday, 15 March 1937, Wolley-Dod boarded a dual-pilot
Search for missing plane
According to the
Wreckage
At around 10 am on 16 March, a woodcutter "on his way to work" found the burnt wreckage. When he arrived "surrounding trees were smouldering".
All three on the flight had been killed in the accident. It was reported that their watches stopped at 12:24.[24][36] The plane carried five hours worth of fuel for what would usually be a four-hour non-stop journey.[24] The Leicester Evening Mail report on the discovery of the wreckage stated, "Its fuel supplies would have only lasted until about 2 am."[37] According to the Crewe Chronicle, the fuel on board "must have been exhausted by 2.30 am after which anxiety began to be felt."[38] The Telegraph air correspondent noted that the DH.86 biplane was fitted with four Gypsy-Six 200 horsepower engines and had a cruising speed of 155 mph (249 km/h).[35]
One newspaper report stated that "according to a police sergeant who found the wreckage ... at that time it was snowing and a gale was blowing. The plane seemed to have touched the treetops and then crashed." Parts of the plane were scattered over a 100 yd (91 m) radius.[32] Two of the plane's engines lay at the foot of a large elm tree that had been damaged in two places by the crash.[38] Seemingly according to the same police sergeant, as reported in the Evening Despatch, "All the occupants were burned beyond recognition."[32]
According to the
The wreck might never have been found had it not been for the woodcutter. I found the remains in the middle of the wood after ploughing my way through tracks for about an hour. The pilot seems to have been forced down by snow showers which fell throughout the night. The plane apparently hit a large elm tree that took the brunt of the impact. This tree, of a diameter of two feet, was broken in two places. Below lay two of the motors. The scene was as if someone had made a large bonfire in the wood. There was hardly anything left of the machine, which was completely burned out. The occupants must have been killed on the spot.
A Daily Telegraph correspondent also personally visited the scene:[35]
When I arrived there was nothing to be seen but a large heap of ashes. The occupants had been thrown clear when the machine crashed. A large elm tree had been broken by impact and under lay two of the four engines. It is believed the pilot may have been forced down by snow showers and that the plane hit the top of the trees.[35]
The Manchester Guardian also stated that "two carts later today conveyed coffins" to the scene of the disaster, "several miles from Bergheim" "in a hilly wood, about 30 mi (48 km) from [Cologne]," and that "there was no eye-witness of the crash."[39]
Sassoon appeared before Parliament later that day on matters of national finance and was asked about the missing plane.[28] He reported the loss of the plane and the crew and stated, "The cause of the accident is not yet determined. As far as we can ascertain there were rain and sleet moving eastward at the time over Belgium, but not general ice conditions."[28] The plane had no deicing equipment. When MP Abraham Lyons asked, "Was this machine on a special mission or on part of the regular service?" Sassoon replied, "It was a regular service, I believe."[28]
At the time of Wolley-Dod's death, he was a resident of Horley, Surrey.[14] Wolley-Dod's probate record stated that his date of death was 16 March.[40] An important figure at Imperial Airways, why Wolley-Dod was on that flight over Germany remains unknown.[41]
Legacy
By 1929, Wolley-Dod had become well known for his sense of direction over Europe and rarely required the use of a map.[1] In Beyond the Blue Horizon: On the track of Imperial Airways, Alexander Frater describes Wolley-Dod as "legendary".[21]
See also
Notes
- ^ Some sources list Holmes' age as 43. Holmes had served with the Royal Flying Corps from 1917 to 1927, and then worked as a forest-fire patrol pilot and air surveyor in Canada and the United States before joining Imperial Airways in 1932. He was a resident of Croydon and had a wife and child.[27] His grave marker reads "In memory of my husband Captain George Barker Holmes who fell over Cologne 16th March 1937 age 44" and has a Royal Air Force winged crown with the motto Per ardua ad astra.[26]
References
- ^ a b c d Pudney, John (1959). "VII. A world pattern". The Seven Skies: a study of BOAC and its forerunners since 1919. London: Putnam. p. 111.
- ^ a b c "Imperial Airways Liner Crashes". The Times. 17 March 1937. Retrieved 11 January 2023 – via The Times Digital Archive.
- ^ "Charles Francis Wolley-Dod, 1892". India Births and Baptisms, 1786-1947. 5 February 2020. Retrieved 24 December 2022 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ "Francis Wolley-Dod, 1887, citing 1887, quarter 4, vol. 6B, p. 941, Walsall, Staffordshire, England, General Register Office, Southport, England". England and Wales Marriage Registration Index, 1837-2005. 22 May 2014. Retrieved 24 December 2022 – via FamilySearch.
- ^ a b c d e "Preferment for Cheshire Rector's Son". Cheshire Observer. 20 March 1937. p. 14 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Death of Mrs. Wolley-Dod". Crewe Chronicle. 4 September 1937. p. 9 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Francis Gregson (active 1898) - Officers of Lancashire Fusiliers at Kasr el Nil Barracks, Cairo". www.rct.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "Wolley-Dod, Anthony Hurt (1861-1948) on JSTOR". plants.jstor.org. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Davies, John (April 2014). "A Forgotten Cheshire Gardener Rev. Charles Wolley Dod 1826 - 1904" (PDF). Cheshire Gardens Trust Newsletter (42): 11.
- ^ "THE LATE REV. C. WOLLEY-DOD". The Chester Courant and Advertiser for North Wales. 22 June 1904. Retrieved 24 December 2022 – via Welsh Newspapers Online.
- ^ "Journal of Thomas Crewe Dod - Archives Hub". archiveshub.jisc.ac.uk. Retrieved 30 December 2022.
- ^ jmc4 (19 April 2021), Heiress of the Wolley family - Old Matlock, Derbyshire, retrieved 30 December 2022
- ^ Burke, Bernard (1898). "Woolley-Dod of Edge". A Genealogical and Heraldic History of the Landed Gentry of Great Britain & Ireland. Harrison & sons. p. 411.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "Charred wreckage of British Air Liner found". Hartlepool Northern Daily Mail. 16 March 1937. p. 5 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Officers of 75(HD) Squadron RFC /RAF 1916 – 1919". Elmswell History Group. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ "Douglas Wolley Dod 1915-09-25". The Great War History Hub. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "Frederic Hova Wolley Dod". The Canadian Virtual War Memorial - Veterans Affairs Canada. 20 February 2019. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ "Marriages". The Aeroplane Incorporating Aeronautical Engineering. Vol. XXIX, no. 19. Temple Press. 4 November 1925. p. 547 – via Google Books.
- ISBN 978-1-4738-7534-0.
- ^ "By air to India. A Historic flight. Sir S. Hoare at Delhi". The Scotsman. 10 January 1927. p. 7 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ ISBN 978-0-330-43312-9.
- ISSN 0959-5392.
- ISBN 978-0-7509-8727-1.
- ^ a b c d e f "Disaster in Germany; discovery by woodcutter". Croydon Times. 20 March 1937. p. 1 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "Fatal accidents to British aircraft overseas 1930 - 2 Sep 1939". www.rcawsey.co.uk. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ a b "Captain George Barker Holmes". billiongraves.com. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c d e "Imperial Airways Liner accident". api.parliament.uk. Hansard. 16 March 1937. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- ^ a b "United Kingdom - Imperial Airways". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Retrieved 24 December 2022.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ "L.A. Walters, Pilot and Establishment Officer, Navigating Staff for Imperial Airways". National Portrait Gallery, London. Retrieved 10 January 2023.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ "ASN Aircraft accident de Havilland DH.86 Express G-ACVZ Elsdorf". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 23 December 2022.
- ^ "Leicester Evening Mail 16 Mar 1937, page 1". Retrieved 25 December 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b "The Crewe Chronicle 27 Mar 1937, page 11". Retrieved 25 December 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ Newspapers.com.
- ^ Surname Range: Dabbs-Gyves, Ancestry.com. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1995.
- ISBN 978-1-4738-6138-1.
Much mystery still remains as to why a RAS internal route machine was flying over Germany, with such an important member of Imperial Airways staff on board
External links
- "Page - All Aviator Biographies". afleetingpeace.org. Retrieved 4 December 2022.
- "Prints of de Havilland DH66 G-EBMX City of Delhi of Imperial Airways". Mary Evans Prints Online Photo Prints. Retrieved 11 December 2022.
- "Aircraft Photo of G-ACVZ | De Havilland D.H. 86 Express | Railway Air Services | AirHistory.net #393022". AirHistory.net. Retrieved 24 December 2022.