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Thomas Francis Netterville Gerrard

Name : Thomas Francis Netterville Gerrard Born : 13th August 1897 Died : 14th July 1923 Awards : Distinguished Flying Cross

born on 13th August 1897 in Selangor, Malaysia. on 31 December. After transferring to No. 1 Naval Squadron, Gerrard was assigned to fly Sopwith Triplanes; he would score eight victories with them between April and June 1917. on 11th April 1915. He was awarded the DSC for recognition of his services during a flight on 4th June 1917 in the rank of Flight Commander, During a brief posting with No. 208 Squadron, he used a Sopwith Camel to down his tenth and final victim on 6 April 1918. On 30 May 1918, Gerrard was promoted to temporary major, and was served as commander of No. 209 Squadron He later transferred to the newly created RAF in 1918 and in total he was credited with ten "kills" with all the units he flew with; nine of the ten were as a pilot of the Sopwith Tri-plane. On 21 October 1922, he was transferred from the Central Flying School (Inland Area) to the No. 5 Flying Training School and from there was transferred to No. 1 Squadron RAF in Iraq on 23 February 1923. On 14 July 1923 Gerrard died from a cerebral haemorrhage in Mosul after a fall from his polo pony, and was buried at the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery Baghdad. he was twenty four years old.

COMBAT REPORTS

Gerrard was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. The citation for it appeared in The London Gazette of 20 July 1917: In recognition of his services during an air fight on 4 June 1917. This officer led his flight against 15-20 hostile aeroplanes, and alone had ten engagements with these machines. He attacked one, and fired sixty rounds into its cockpit at point-blank range, the enemy machine rolling over and over for 3,000 feet, and then falling vertically out of control. He then attacked another enemy machine which had dived on to one of our machines from behind, and with the help of a Scout he shot it down, the enemy being seen to crash to the ground. Another hostile scout was then attacked by pilot, end-on, and received a long burst at very close range, the enemy going down in a spin, but apparently righting himself lower down. During this last encounter Flt. Cdr. Gerrard's machine was riddled with bullets, but, by fine piloting, he landed safely, although all but his lateral controls were shot away and his machine damaged to such an extent as to require return to Depot for complete rebuilding. This officer has now destroyed at least seven hostile aircraft. He was on active service in France and Belgium from April to September, 1916, and during that period performed much valuable work.

Known Service Details :
Squadron	Rank	Start of Service	End of Service	Known Dates	Aircraft	Airframes	Notes
No.208 Sqn RAF	flight commander	unknown	unknown	04th June 1917			ank of Flight Commander, During a brief posting with No. 208 Squadron, he used a Sopwith Camel to down his tenth and final victim on 6 April 1918

Squadrons for : Thomas Francis Netterville Gerrard
A list of all squadrons known to have been served with by Thomas Francis Netterville Gerrard. A profile page is available by clicking the squadron name.
Squadron	Info
No.208 Sqn RAF Country : UK Founded : 1st April 1918 Vigilant Click the name above to see prints featuring aircraft of No.208 Sqn RAF	No.208 Sqn RAF Full profile not yet available.

First created : 10:02, June 24, 2016
Created by : HMS

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