LEST WE FORGET
Second Lieutenant Gilbert Douglas PERRY
Service No: 1010
Born: Petersham NSW, August 1894
Enlisted in the Army: 9 March 1915
Unit: No. 5 (Training) Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Died: Injuries from an Aircraft Accident (on 21 June 1918), Tetbury Cottage Hospital, England, 29 June 1918, Aged 23 Years
Buried: St Saviour Churchyard, Tetbury, Gloucestershire
CWGC Additional Information: Son of Gilbert Henry and Mary Ann Eliza Perry, of The City Pharmacy, Marrickville, Sydney, New South Wales
Place of Association: Marrickville NSW
Remembered: Panel 188, Commemorative Area, Australian War Memorial, Canberra ACT
Remembered: Marrickville War Memorial, Marrickville NSW
On 21 June 1918, Second Lieutenant Perry was fatally injured in the crash of Sopwith Camel aircraft C.103 at Minchinhampton and he died on 29 June 1918. A witness saw the aircraft diving at the Aerodrome Target at about 150 miles per hour and at about 500 feet the pilot appeared to pull out too suddenly. The machine zoomed and the right hand plane folded in two. Shortly afterwards, the right hand top plane followed. The machine then started to spin slowly to the right, finally crashing into a tree on the eastern side of the Aerodrome. The Court of Enquiry concluded that there was bad piloting in that Second Lieutenant Perry pulled the machine out of a steep dive too roughly thereby causing undue strain and so breaking the right hand planes.
References:
Australian War Memorial Roll of Honour On-Line Records
Commonwealth War Graves Commission On-Line Records
National Archives of Australia On-Line Record B2455, PERRY GILBERT DOUGLAS
Register of War Memorials in New South Wales On-Line