Lionel Ashfield
Lionel Arthur Ashfield | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1 August 1898 |
| Died | 16 July 1918 (aged 19) Zevekote, West Flanders, Belgium |
| Buried | |
| Allegiance |  United Kingdom |
| Service/ |  Royal Navy Royal Air Force |
| Rank | Lieutenant |
| Unit | No. 2 Squadron RNAS No. 202 Squadron RAF |
| Awards | Distinguished Flying Cross |
Lieutenant Lionel Arthur Ashfield DFC (1 August 1898 – 16 July 1918) was a World War I British flying ace credited with seven aerial victories.[1][2]
Background
The second son of Charles Edmund Ashfield and his wife Ida Lucy Hunt, Lionel Arthur Ashfield was born on 1 August 1898 at
headmaster of Hazelhurst School in Frant, East Sussex.[5][7] Lionel attended Marlborough College in Marlborough, Wiltshire, where he played cricket.[7][8] He was admitted to the school in September 1912 and left in the spring of 1917.[2][9]
Military career
de Havilland DH.4 soaring above the clouds in France
.
Lionel Ashfield joined the
Dunkerque), Nord, France.[2][9] After the 1 April 1918 merger of that branch with the Royal Flying Corps, he served as a lieutenant in the No. 202 Squadron of the 61st Wing of the newly formed Royal Air Force.[11]
The British flying ace is credited with shooting down seven enemy aircraft during aerial combat.
On 27 June 1918, Lionel Ashfield and his observer Lieutenant N H Jenkins DSM engaged in aerial combat with enemy aircraft. Observer Jenkins was wounded in action near Middelkerke, with Ashfield piloting DH.4 (A7868).[9]
On 3 August 1918, the
London Gazette announced that Ashfield had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC).[9][12][13] The citation for the DFC in the Gazette indicated that he was a "very capable officer of exceptional judgment and courage. He has carried out sixty-two flights behind the enemy lines with invariable success. During the last few months he has engaged seventeen enemy machines, and has been instrumental in destroying five. On one occasion he attacked five enemy aeroplanes, bringing down one in flames."[13]
Death
On 16 July 1918, Lieutenant Ashfield's
serial number A7868 was shot down while returning from Bruges by Vizeflugmeister Hans Goerth over the village of Zevekote in West Flanders, Belgium.[9][14][15][16] The aviator was reported missing that day.[17] By 29 August, it had been announced that Lieutenant Lionel Arthur Ashfield had been killed in action.[17] His observer, Lieutenant Maurice Graham English, also died in the aerial combat.[9][15] During World War I, the German flying ace Hans Goerth was credited with seven aerial victories.[14][18] The downing of Ashfield's de Havilland was the third of seven victories for Goerth.[14][18] Ashfield was interred at the Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery near Nieuwpoort in West Flanders.[9][19][20] However, there is also a memorial tablet for the British aviator on the east wall of the nave of Saint Alban Church in Frant, East Sussex.[4] The inscription on the cenotaph reads: "To the Glory of God and in the dear memory of Lionel Arthur Ashfield, D.F.C., R.A.F., Killed in action 16 July 1918, Second son of Charles and Ida Ashfield of Hazelhurst, Frant, aged 19 years. Faithful unto death."[4][21]
References
DH.4 during World War I
- ^ a b c d "Lionel Ashfield". theaerodrome.com. The Aerodrome. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b c d e f g h "A Great War Air Ace's Distinguished Flying Cross trio to Lieutenant L. A. Ashfield, 202 Squadron Royal Air Force, killed in action 1918". neateauctions.co.uk. Neate Auctions. Archived from the original on 21 April 2013. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
- ^ Ashfield, Lionel Arthur. "England & Wales, FreeBMD Birth Index, 1837-1915". General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ a b c Henry S. Eeles (1947). Frant - A Parish History. Courier Co., Ltd. p. 247. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ a b Ashfield, Lionel A. "1901 England Census". Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. Kew, Surrey, England: The National Archives, 1901 (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - )
- ^ a b "Lionel Ashfield". rikki.cricketarchive.com. CricketArchive. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ Ashfield, Lieut. Lionel Arthur (2 December 2005). "Obituaries during the war, 1918". espncricinfo.com. ESPNcricinfo. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ ISBN 1-898697-56-6.
- ^ "Search - Lionel Arthur Ashfield". discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk. The National Archives. Retrieved 24 June 2013.
- ^ Ashfield, Lionel Arthur. "The Aircraft of World War I". theaerodrome.com. The Aerodrome. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ Ashfield, Lionel Arthur. "Distinguished Flying Cross". theaerodrome.com. The Aerodrome. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b "No. 30827". The London Gazette (Supplement). 3 August 1918. p. 9198.
- ^ a b c "Hans Goerth". theaerodrome.com. The Aerodrome. Retrieved 22 February 2012.
- ^ a b "English, Maurice Graham". twgpp.org. The War Graves Photographic Project. Retrieved 29 February 2012.
- ^ Ashfield, Lionel Arthur. "England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966". Principal Probate Registry. Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England (as reprinted on Ancestry.com).
{{cite web}}: Missing or empty|url=(help) - ^ Flight Global. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ ISBN 9781841767291.
- ^ Ashfield, L A. "Casualty details". cwgc.org. Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 23 February 2012.
- ^ "Ashfield, L A (Ramscappelle Road Military Cemetery)". twgpp.org. The War Graves Photographic Project. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
- ^ "Ashfield, Lionel Arthur (Saint Alban)". twgpp.org. The War Graves Photographic Project. Retrieved 24 February 2012.
