Basil Blackett

Lieutenant Basil John Blackett (23 June 1886 – 22 April 1927) was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories as an observer and rear gunner while serving in the Australian Imperial Force, seconded to the Royal Flying Corps. In late 1918 he resigned his Australian commission to join the Royal Air Force.

Biography Blackett was born in Potters Bar, Middlesex, and educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge. Between 1900 and 1905, while at school, he served in the 2nd Bucks (Eton College) Volunteer Rifle Corps, attached to the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry, rising from private to colour sergeant. He joined the Ceylon Planters Rifle Corps in 1907, and was transferred to the Ceylon Mounted Rifles in 1909, serving as private and trooper.

On the outbreak of World War I Blackett was 28 years old and working in Australia as a racehorse trainer and jockey. Australian Naval and Military Expeditionary Force (AN&MEF), bound for German New Guinea. Following the Australian occupation Blackett was employed on special duty at the Government Stores, Rabaul, from 1 October 1914, having been promoted to lance corporal on 29 September, and then to corporal on 29 October.

On 25 June he was promoted to lieutenant in the 18th Battalion, 5th Brigade. during the Battle of Hill 60, and on 18 September, again fell ill with dysentery.

Blackett was given extended leave in order to convalesce, and was judged to be sufficiently recovered by 21 February 1916 for general duties, and placed on the supernumerary list on the 24th. On 26 February he married Jean Mounsey Whittle of Moffat, Dumfriesshire, at the Registry Office on Henrietta Street in Covent Garden, London. They went on to have two daughters.

He finally rejoined the 18th Battalion a year later, on 25 February 1917, and was transferred to the 61st Battalion on 22 March. Selected for training as an observer/air gunner in the Australian Flying Corps, he was sent to No. 1 School of Instruction at Reading on 23 April.

Blackett's first victory came on 5 August 1917, in an Airco DH.4 flown by Canadian Conrad Lally, when he destroyed an Albatros D.V over Pérenchies. On 3 September he and Lally shot down two more D.Vs over Quesnoy and Douai. Blackett spent four days attached to 43 Squadron RFC before transferring to 18 Squadron RFC on 13 October, On 30 May 1918, flying with Irish pilot Albert G. Waller in a DH.4, he shot down two Fokker D.VII over Bac Saint-Maur. This was approved on 13 October, and he was officially released on the 31st. On 1 November he was commissioned as a lieutenant (observer officer) in the RAF. He eventually relinquished his Royal Air Force commission on 4 April 1919.

Blackett was living in Pinner, Middlesex, when he died on 22 April 1927.

Awards

In July 1918 Blackett was awarded the Croix de Guerre by the King of the Belgians. He also qualified for the award of the 1914–15 Star from Australia, and the War Medal and Victory Medal .

Blackett was also awarded an Indian General Service Medal with clasp "Malabar 1921-22" while serving as a Sergeant in the Southern Provinces Mounted Rifles, 1902 Coronation Medal, 1911 Delhi Durbar Medal, Volunteer Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, named Trooper 10 / Southern Provinces Mounted Rifles, and the French Légion d'honneur 5th Class and Croix de Guerre . The award of the Belgian Croix de Guerre is very rare to the Australian Flying Corps, this being one of only two confirmed awards.

Cricket Blackett was a keen cricketer, playing for the Middlesex Second XI in 1903, for the Public Schools team in 1904, and for Eton College in 1904–1905, appearing in the annual fixture against Harrow in 1905. In 1906 he played for Cricket Golfers, and made a single appearance for Hertfordshire in the Minor Counties Championship in July. He was also a long-standing member of the Marylebone Cricket Club, playing in numerous matches between 1906 and 1926.