William Earl Johns

A few photographs and publicity materials which should be preserved and on the record.Captain W. E. Johns, 1893 - 1968, WWI trench soldier 1914-1916, machine gunner and pilot 1916-18, illustrator, founder of Popular Flying and Flying magazines, technical aviation writer, recruiter of Lawrence of Arabia into the RAF, and author of Biggles books.In WWI, he had enlisted prior to the outbreak of war and was called up the day war was declared against Germany, 4 August 1914. He fought in Churchill's doomed offensive at Gallipoli against the Turks and the Germans. Becoming a machine gunner, Johns was sent to Salonika in Greece. He took part in the spring offensive of April 1917, but contracted malaria and was transferred to theRoyal Flying Corps, which became the RAF in April 1918. Shot down in combat over Mannheim on Monday 16th September 1918, he sentenced to execution after being captured and repeatedly tried to escape. Fortunately, the war ended his death sentence. He was fired from his anti-appeasement based editorships of Popular Flying and Flying, under pressure to his publisher from Chamberlain's government. Johns held the rank of Captain in the Royal Flying Corps, not the RAF where he held the rank of a Flying Officer (although it is accepted practise to be promoted by one rank on the day of retirement, for pension-purposes).