William Raymond Fish

Rank 
Captain
Regiment 
Royal Air Force
Date of death 
2 June 1918
Age of death 
24
Address 
Sunnydene
Chingford Lane
Woodford Green
Woodford
Postcode Unknown
Address source 
1911 Census
Cemetery / Memorial 
France
Biography 

Born in 1894 at Woodford, son of Henry (Pawnbroker) and Edith Mary Fish. 1901: With his family at “Sunnydene” Chingford Lane, Woodford Green (Walthamstow). His father died in 1908. 1911: A Pawnbrokers Assistant, still living with his widowed mother and siblings at “Sunnydene”. This was the address given in his Probate.

He initially joined the army as a Private soldier in the Honourable Artillery Company, and went with them to France on 29th December 1914. Commissioned into 7 Suffolk on 22nd January 1916, he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as a Second Lieutenant Flying Officer on 3rd March 1917. He progressed through the ranks to be confirmed as a Captain Flight Commander in March 1918.  

On 10th August 1917 he crashed on landing in DH5 A9396 having been hit by shellfire during a special patrol near Kemmel. He was hit again on 16th August 1917 while patrolling west of St Julien and wrecked his DH5 A9370 on landing. Exactly two months later his petrol tanks were shot through forcing him down into a shell hole. He was wounded on 19th November 1917.

He was awarded a Military Cross and Bar, both announced in June 1918. On the first occasion he strafed a German convoy, inflicting heavy casualties and scattering survivors while braving heavy machine gun and rifle fire. He had previously shot down several German aircraft and was an example to the Squadron. The second incident occurred when on patrol in bad weather he noticed a German advance on lightly held British trenches. Ignoring 9 enemy aircraft overhead and heavy machine gun fire from the ground, he led his patrol in a ground attack strike which was instrumental in the German attack being repelled.

During the German Spring Offensive in 1918, his Squadron returned to a ground attack role, which is always a dangerous undertaking. He was shot down and his aircraft set ablaze on 27th March 1918 while on a special reconnaissance near Albert, struck a hole in the ground while landing on 5th April 1918, and on 14th May 1918 struck uneven ground and overturned on landing after formation flying practice.

His luck finally ran out on 2nd June 1918 when he fatally crashed in Sopwith Camel C1589 after colliding with Camel C1667 at reference SH28 G13 central, while on a line patrol in the area of St. Omer and Hazebrouck. He was buried in the cemetery of 2nd and 15th Casualty Clearing Stations at Ebblinghem.

Research by Adrian Lee, Local Historian

Sources:

Ancestry.com