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Squadron Leader Richard Michael Trevethan MC (24 January 1895 – 30 December 1971) was a British First World War flying ace credited with twelve aerial victories.

Early life and background

Richard Trevethan was born in Park City, Utah in 1895, to Michael Trevethan and his wife Clara Emma (née Pearce). The Trevethans were a long-established family from Perranzabuloe in Cornwall, an area with a strong mining tradition. Park City had been established as a mining town. However, by 1901 the family had returned to Cornwall, and were living at St Kew.

Trevethan attended Falmouth Grammar School, Portsmouth Grammar School, and the Imperial College of Science, London.

First World War service

On 22 September 1914, Trevethan was commissioned a temporary second lieutenant and served in the 6th Battalion, South Lancashire Regiment, seeing active service in France and in the Gallipoli campaign in 1915.

On 14 May 1917, Trevethan was transferred the General List to serve in the Royal Flying Corps, and was posted to No. 20 Squadron RFC to fly a two-seater F.E.2.d fighter. His first aerial victory came on 2 June 1917, with AM2 John Cowell as his gunner, and he gained his second a week later, on 9 June, with Second Lieutenant M. Dudbridge. He was promoted to lieutenant on 1 July 1917, and then ran up a string of ten more victories between 2 July and 9 August, all but one with Lieutenant Campbell Hoy as his gunner. In total, Trevethan was credited with destroying six Albatros fighters and driving down another six out of control.

On 17 August 1917 Trevethan was awarded the Military Cross, which was presented to him in the field by General Sir Herbert Plumer, but not gazetted until 17 September. The citation read:

Temporary Second Lieutenant Richard Michael Trevethan, General List and Royal Flying Corps.

"For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty when on offensive patrols. He has continuously displayed the greatest dash and determination in attacking enemy formations, regardless of their superiority in numbers, and has shot down at least four, driving others down out of control."

His squadron was then re-equipped with the new Bristol F.2 two-seater fighter, but on 18 September 1917, Trevethan was badly wounded. He returned to England to recover, and does not appear to have seen any further active service during the war.

List of aerial victories

Post-war career

On 1 August 1919, Trevethan was granted a permanent commission as a flying officer in the Royal Air Force. On 22 December 1919, he received a mention in despatches while serving with the British "Syren Force" in Murmansk, northern Russia, during the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War. He was also awarded the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class, by the Russians.

He then served in No. 207 Squadron RAF, receiving promotion to flight lieutenant in the 1922 New Year Honours. In September 1922 Trevethan was about to be reassigned to the RAF School of Photography, but this was cancelled, when No. 207 Squadron was sent to Turkey as a result of the Chanak Crisis. Trevethan, in command of the advance party, travelled from RAF Bircham Newton in Norfolk, to Liverpool, where the squadron and its aircraft were loaded onto the steamships Eboe and Khartoum, and sailed for Constantinople, arriving on 11 October. The squadron, under the command of Squadron Leader Arthur Tedder, had considerable difficulties unloading, reassembling, and operating their Airco DH.9A aircraft, due to the lack of facilities and the poor state of the airfield at San Stefano. However, the crisis was eventually settled by negotiation, and the squadron returned to England in August 1923, proceeding to its new home at RAF Eastchurch.

On 22 October 1923 Trevethan was posted to No. 39 Squadron, also flying the DH.9A, based at RAF Spitalgate, until reassigned to the RAF Depot at Uxbridge on 24 August 1925. On 21 September 1926 he was posted to the headquarters of Iraq Command, serving as Senior Meteorological Officer, until returning to the RAF Depot at Uxbridge on 26 January 1929. He was posted to No. 100 Squadron, based at RAF Bicester on 4 June 1929, and then from August 1931 until April 1933 (when it became 824 Naval Air Squadron) he commanded No. 440 (Fleet Reconnaissance) Flight, flying Fairey IIIF biplanes, and alternating between RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong, and the carrier HMS Hermes, also receiving a promotion to squadron leader on 1 December 1932. He then commanded the Flying and Parachute Test Squadron at the RAF Home Aircraft Depot at RAF Henlow from November 1934 until retiring from the RAF on 1 June 1935. In 1937, he became Air Advisor to the Kwantung Government in China. During the Second World War, he was attached to the Admiralty, serving as mate and second officer in small Royal Navy ships.

Post-war he was made a Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society, and was for many years Superintendent of the Falmouth Meteorological Observatory.

Trevethan died on 30 December 1971, at the Royal Cornwall Hospital, Treliske, Truro.

Personal life

In 1920 Trevethan married Muriel Doris Moon, the daughter of Major Wilfred Graham Moon, and granddaughter of Sir Edward Moon, but they were divorced in 1936. They had a son, Gerald Michael Trevethan.

References

1. ^ "Richard Michael Trevethan". The Aerodrome. 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
2. ^ Trevathan, Kenneth (2016). "Trevathan family tree (No.39)" (PDF). Trevethan.net. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
3. Haigh, Les (2012). "Trevethan Families Perranzabuloe Area". leshaigh.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
4. Haigh, Les (2008). "Perranzabuloe". leshaigh.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
5. "History of Park City". historytogo.utah.gov. 2013. Archived from the original on 11 March 2010. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
6. ^ "Lot 407". Dix Noonan Webb. 18 June 1997. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
7. "No. 28910". The London Gazette. 22 September 1914. p. 7489.
8. "Private Papers: Squadron Leader R. M. Trevethan, MC". Imperial War Museum. 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
9. Baker, Chris (2015). "The South Lancashire Regiment in 1914–1918". The Long, Long Trail: The British Army in the Great War. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
10. "South Lancashire Regiment 6th Btn in the Great War". The Wartime Memories Project. 2016. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
11. "No. 30115". The London Gazette (Supplement). 5 June 1917. p. 5580.
12. "No. 30262". The London Gazette (Supplement). 31 August 1917. p. 9088.
13. Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920, p. 368.
14. "No. 30287". The London Gazette (Supplement). 14 September 1917. p. 9585.
15. "Roll of Honour: Wounded". Flight. IX (458): 1028. 4 October 1917. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
16. see also ]
17. "No. 31669". The London Gazette. 2 December 1919. p. 14924.
18. "No. 31703". The London Gazette (Supplement). 19 December 1919. p. 15842.
19. "No. 32563". The London Gazette (Supplement). 30 December 1921. p. 10720.
20. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XIV (715): 521. 7 September 1922. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
21. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XIV (721): 617. 19 October 1922. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
22. Yoxall, John (17 April 1953). "No. 207 Squadron: History of a Famous Bomber Unit (Part I)". Flight. LXIII (2308): 486–490. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
23. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XV (663): 774. 25 October 1923. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
24. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XVII (873): 605. 17 September 1925. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
25. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XVIII (681): 929. 14 October 1926. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
26. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XXI (1056): 249. 21 March 1929. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
27. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XXI (1068): 493. 13 June 1929. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
28. Barrass, M. B. (2015). "No 440 (Fleet Reconnaissance) Flight". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
29. Barrass, M. B. (2015). "No. 824 Squadron Personnel, aircraft and locations". Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
30. "No. 33889". The London Gazette. 6 December 1932. p. 7748.
31. "Royal Air Force: Appointments". Flight. XXVI (1355): 1332. 13 December 1934. Retrieved 21 March 2016.
32. "No. 34167". The London Gazette. 4 June 1935. p. 3625.
33. "No. 45585". The London Gazette. 31 January 1972. p. 1264.
34. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage. Vol. 2 (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 2757. Retrieved 21 March 2014.

Bibliography

• Shores, Christopher F.; Franks, Norman & Guest, Russell F. (1990). Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920. London, UK: Grub Street. ISBN 978-0-948817-19-9.

• 1895 births
• 1971 deaths
• People from Truro
• People educated at The Portsmouth Grammar School
• Alumni of Imperial College London
• South Lancashire Regiment officers
• Royal Flying Corps officers
• British World War I flying aces
• Royal Air Force personnel of World War I
• Royal Air Force personnel of the Russian Civil War
• Royal Air Force squadron leaders
• Recipients of the Military Cross
• Recipients of the Order of St. Anna, 2nd class
• People educated at Falmouth Grammar School
• Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society
• Military personnel from Utah
• American emigrants to the United Kingdom
• British Army personnel of World War I