Captain R H Hood

Jack The Lad · 12 July 2006, 04:04 PM

Hi Guys,

I'm quite new to this site but have been impressed with the content and the helpfulness of the contributors, but as you may have gathered I am in need of a bit of a hand to find some information.

I have a cutting out of the Toronto Star newspaper noting the death of a Lieutenant James S Hood (3rd Battn Canadian Army) in the cutting it is mentioned that his brother (no christian name, but it could only be either Andrew or Robert) was a flight commander in the RFC. After spending hours Googling various alternatives I came up with this reference to this site

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/canada/smith6.html

at the bottom there is a, and seemingly the only, ref to a Captain R H Hood, 18 Squadron RFC

How do I go about finding out more about this distant relative who survived the War and got married in 1919.

Any help would most appreciated

Jack

MattyBoy · 13 July 2006, 04:35 AM

Hi Jack and welcome to the forum,

Looking at the London Gazette, there are a few references to this man.
http://www.gazettes-online.co.uk/arc...=0&Referer=WW1

London Gazette No. 29696 - 04th Aug 1916
Flying Officers.-
Temp Lt R. H. Hood, R. Scots, and to be transferred to the Gen. List.
Dated 19th July 1916.

London Gazette No. 29954 - 20th Feb 1917
Flight Commanders (and to be temp. Capt's whilst so employed).-
Temp Lt R. H. Hood, Gen. List. Dated 06th Feb 1917.

London Gazette No. 31427 - 01st July 1919
The undermentioned are transferred to the unemployed list.-
Capt. R. H. Hood. Dated 10th April 1919.

I don't have his forenames, I'm afraid.

Matt.

Jack The Lad · 14 July 2006, 04:56 PM

Thanks MattyBoy,

His full name is Robert Hood Hood. Got married on 1st Oct 1919 so he didn't waste much time after being released from the RAF/RFC.

I have been going through the entire Gazette references to Hood (some 640) in the hope of not only picking some info on Robert but also any other of my Hood's who got noticed.

Again thanks for the idea of the Gazette, I've just some more PDF doc's to look at (360).

Jack

john_g · 14 July 2006, 11:02 PM

Jack The Lad,

You could also try looking for his RAF Officers Record, this should be in class AIR76/236 and also the 18 Squadron records which are in AIR1/1374 -1378 and AIR1/2250. These are held at the National Archives at Kew, London.

Cheers

john-g

Frank_Olynyk · 15 July 2006, 11:36 AM

I have four references to combat reports by a Lt/Capt R H Hood. The first two are for Lt R H Hood of 23 Sqn.
22 Aug 1916, 1830 Hours, an indecisive combat with a "Type F" (I have yet to track down a translation of the Type designations used by the British for German aircraft in the 1915-1916 period), W of Cambrai, in FE 2b 5213, with Sgt D Black as gunner. Reference: CR: 3Brig/30 [F52]

31 Aug 1916, 1015 hours, an enemy aircraft OOC (out of control), E of Bapaume, in FE 2b 6975 [the CR gives only 697], with Corp J Meakin as gunner. Reference: RFC51; CR: 3Brig/30 [F97]

The other two are for Capt R H Hood of 18 Sqn.
5 April 1917, 1200 hours, an Albatros D OOC, Inchy, in FE 2b A5464, with 2nd Lt James Robert Smith as gunner. Reference: RFC82 (no names); Above The War Fronts [I have not cataloged the actual CR yet -- hopefully I have it]

6 Spril 1917, 1000, an Albatros Scout forced to land and captured, between Croisilles & Ecoust St Mein, in FE 2b A5464, again with Smith as gunner. Reference: CR: 18Sqdn/1219-34 [F26] (in 5464)

I would assume that this/these R H Hood(s) are the same person, and are your Robert Hood Hood. This can be verified by checking his microfilmed card in Air 76, which will give some details of his life (usually date of birth, parents name and residence, possibly his residence at time of enlistment), and a fiarly good service history (units, dates, awards, medical events).

The reference to 3Brig/30 above is to Air 1/2245/209/42/30 1916 August; the reference to 18Sqdn/1219 is to Air 1/1219/204/5/2634/18 Sqdn, folio/frame 34. The [Fxx] refers to a sequence number of appendix F of the Brigade War Diary for the given month.

Frank.

Graeme · 15 July 2006, 12:03 PM

Adding the the information provided by Frank, RFC Communique number 51, has the following entry under August 31st, 1916:

"The morning bombing raid of the 3rd Brigade encountered a large formation of 10 or more German machines over the locality of Bapaume. The whole of our escort became engaged, and four of the B.E.s were enabled to fire as opportunity offered, but the escort completely prevented the enemy from molesting the bombers. As the result of this prolonged fight one German machine was last seen in a vertical nose-dive out of control. This machine had been heavily engaged by Lt Hood, pilot, and Cpl Meakin, observer, of No 23 Sqn, and its uncontrollable attitude was confirmed by a number of pilots. At least two of the hostile machines were driven down, and the whole formation scattered."

Graeme

Jack The Lad · 21 July 2006, 08:14 PM

Jeez,

I go away for a couple of days and come back to some excellent news.

I wasn't aware that so much detail was recorded. It looks like a trip to Kew is in order, the only problem is that I'm some 400 miles away, Edinburgh.

The only thing that I found out with looking at the London Gazette was that he was promoted to Major (Act.) from the 1st Nov 1918. Gazette dated 28 Feb 1919. It also transpires that after he married and settled down to run an engineering company he lived no more than 250 yards away from my present home address.

I think it might be a while before I get down to Kew, I'll have to wait and make sure I'm researching all my relatives that were involved in WW1 and have records worth pursuing.

Thanks for all your help, guys