RNAS pilot Robert Jope-Slade

[Barry Hickson]

G'day All!
I am interested to find any details of the above pilot who served in 5 squadron RNAS as a Bomber Pilot & then was transferred out to another Sqd.

I tried a Google search but only got a connection to another pilot.

Any help much appreciated!

[regular122]

Barry,

Here is a little bit that might get you into better research.

Robert Jope Slade, OBE DSC
born 30 November 1895.
Flight Sub LT 14 Aug 1915
Flight LT 1 Apr 1917

Scored a victory over an Albatros DIII with his observer, Edward Darby, while flying DH4 N5982 with Naval 5 on 5 August 1917 in the Snelleghem Raid.

Gazetted 14 September 1917 - To receive the Distinguished Service Cross.

Flt. Lieut. (Act. Flt. Cdr.) Robert Jope Slade, R.N.A.S. For his services during a bombing raid on Snelleghem Aerodrome on the 5th August, 1917. He was attacked by an enemy machine when leaving the target. After firing about thirty rounds, the hostile machine appeared to lose control and suddenly dived without regaining it.

His observer, Edward Darby, received the DSM

On 5 August 1917 Darby was serving as an Air Mechanic 1st Class in No. 5 Squadron RNAS when he and pilot Robert Jope-Slade, in a DH.4, drove down an Albatros D.III over Snellegem. Darby was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Medal on 14 September, and on 19 November was appointed a probationary observer officer.


Sqdn Ldr Robert Jope-Slade, 4 June 1934 received the Order of the British Empire, King's Birthday Honors, Military Division, RAF

ROBERT JOPE-SLADE DSC, OBE, Group Captain, 244 Sqdn., Royal Air Force, died on Monday, 5th May 1941.
Burial: Alamein Memorial, El Alamein, Matruh, Egypt, Plot: Column 239.

[josquin]

Barry,
Jope-Slade's R.N.A.S. service record is available at ADM 273/7/17 at
the National Archives at Kew, for "Robert Jope Slade" (no hyphen).
He was born 30 November 1895, at London, but there are two BMD
birth registry listings for him both registered in the 4th Quarter of 1895
at Strand, London--one for "Robert Gilbert F. Jope-Slade" and the other
for "Robert Gilbert F.L. Slade." He was at Eton in 1911 (1911 Census). Several London Gazette entries in the 1920s and 1930s confirm that Jope-Slade was a serving officer during the postwar years, and there is an obituary (which I could not access) in the Times of London 27 May 1941. Jope-Slade was a Group-Captain with 244 Squadron, flying Vincents based at Shaiba, when he was engaged in RAF bombing raids and reconnaissance sorties against the Iraqi revolt of May, 1941 (also called the Battle of Habbaniya, which occurred during 1 May to 31 May). On 5 May 1941, Jope-Slade was a passenger in Vincent I K6347 that was forced to land in the Persian Gulf, at night. The aircraft sank immediately. Jope-Slade and the pilot, Flt. Lt. D.C. Wellburn, escaped from the aircraft, but the gunner/wireless operator, Sgt. Charles Trevor Dennett, did not.
The rafcommands.com website describes the events after the Vincent went down: "G/Cpt. Jope-Slade and the wireless op. went down in the Gulf at night. The pilot F/Lt. Wellburn was picked up by dhow the next day from Kuwait...F/Lt. Wellburn and G/Cpt. Jope-Slade got out of the aircraft and swam. The Vincent sank at once, and the W/Op did not get out. They lay in the water (1:30 a.m. on a dark and dusty night) and swam on till dawn, expecting to see land when it got light. They were very disappointed. Jope-Slade took off his Mae West, said goodbye to Wellburn, and went under. Wellburn floated on, and by extreme good fortune, a Kuwaiti dhow, returning from pearling, nearly ran him down." ("No. 244 Sqn. loss--5-5-1941," rafcommands.com). The Iraqi Revolt of 1941 is little known,
but it required a substantial RAF operation and caused significant casualties.
Though he was lost in Iraq/Persian Gulf, Group-Captain Jope-Slade is on the
El Alamein Memorial.

Josquin

[Barry Hickson]

Many thanks Chaps for your input.
How sad he decided to give up when rescue was so close at hand!