John Theobald Milne


Captain John Theobald Milne was an English fighter pilot and flying ace of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War. He was credited with nine aerial victories.

Biography

Milne was born in 1895 in Kensington, London, the son of John and Isabel Milne. He was educated at Abingdon School and then Radley College, both in Oxfordshire.
Joining the army at the outbreak of the First World War, Milne was commissioned as a temporary second lieutenant on 4 September 1914 to serve in the 6th Battalion, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry and was promoted to lieutenant on 30 December 1914. His battalion arrived in France in July 1915.
In 1916 Milne transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, being appointed a flying officer on 4 April. After completing his flight training he was appointed a flying officer on 24 June, and then appointed a flight commander, with the temporary rank of captain, on 1 October.
Eventually posted to France to serve in No. 48 Squadron, flying the Bristol Fighter, Milne gained his first aerial victory on 6 July 1917 by driving down out of control an Albatros D.III, east of Cambrai, he then destroyed an Albatros D.V south of Vitry the following day. Milne shot down another D.V over Ghistelles on 12 July, then returned to England on leave, where on 24 July, in the parish church of Sutton Courtenay, he married Joan Florence Hanmer, younger daughter of Mr. Thomas Hanmer. Milne soon returned to his squadron, and shot down two more D.Vs over Ghistelles on 20 August, and another the following day east of Westkerke. He shot down another over Westkerke on 25 August, then two more, one over Middelkerke on 9 September, and another over Slype on 28 September.
Milne was awarded the Military Cross, which was gazetted on 14 September 1917. His citation read:
Around the same time he received his award Milne was listed as having been wounded in action, but soon returned to flying as he and his observer were shot down near Merkem on 24 October 1917 by Fritz Kieckhäfer of Jasta 29.
Milne is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial for airmen lost on the Western Front with no known grave.