Hamel, Joseph Guillaume Henri Pierre

Killed in Flying Accident 1918-01-10

Birth Date: unkown date

Born: Quebec City, Quebec

Henri Hamel & Alice Lamothe.

Home: Quebec City, Quebec (parents)

Enlistment: Saint John, New Brunswick:

Enlistment Date: 1916-04-15

Service

RFC

Unit

5 (BR) Sqn- Squadron (RFC)

Base

France

Rank

Second-Lieutenant

Position

Second-Lieutenant

Service Numbers

121883, CEF

1918-01-10: Hamel died in RE-8, A-3655; when it crashed on a forced landing after probably being hit by one of our own shells, while on artillery observation. His observer-gunner, 2Lt Laurence Castell Stanley Tatham (British) was also killed in the crash.

Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8

Source: Harold A Skaarup Web Page (Library and Archives Canada Photo, MIKAN No. 3390896)
Royal Aircraft Factory (Reconnaissance Experimental) R.E.8 (Serial No. C2281), "Punjab 22 Simla Hills", built by Daimler Company Ltd. Coventry, ca 1918
60f85e82d2ab7a8215610f7a_RE-8---MIKAN-No--3390896.jpg image not found

The Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8 was a British two-seat biplane reconnaissance and bomber aircraft of the First World War designed and produced at the Royal Aircraft Factory. It was also built under contract by Austin Motors, Daimler, Standard Motors, Siddeley-Deasy and the Coventry Ordnance Works.

Intended as a replacement for the vulnerable B.E.2, the R.E.8 was widely regarded as more difficult to fly and gained a reputation in the Royal Flying Corps for being "unsafe" that was never entirely dispelled. Although eventually it gave reasonably satisfactory service, it was never an outstanding combat aircraft. Nonetheless, it remained the standard British reconnaissance and artillery observation aircraft from mid-1917 to the end of the war, serving alongside the rather more popular Armstrong Whitworth F.K.8.

More than 4,000 R.E.8s were eventually produced; these aircraft saw service in a range of different theatres, including Italy, Russia, Palestine and Mesopotamia, as well as the Western Front. The R.E.8 was rapidly withdrawn from service after the end of the conflict, by which time it was regarded as totally obsolete.Wikipedia

Wikipedia Wikipedia Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8

General Harold A Skaarup Web Page