Wilfred Salmon: an Introduction

Wilfred Salmon was born in Ballarat, Australia on September 2^nd 1894– his grandfather moved there from Notting Hill in London to gain from the gold rush of 1851. He was one of twelve children and was incredibly competitive with his siblings.

Wilfred attended Ballarat College and wasn’t the easiest student to control. His competitive nature meant he was very good at sports. This was where he met his best friend Norman Cathcart, who would be at his side until they joined the Australian army. Wilfred “Wiff”, Norm and Wiff’s brother Jack all trained to become jackaroo’s (the name given to Australian cowboys).

During the war, Wiff, Norm and Jack all enlisted into the 4th Field Artillery and sailed via India and the Suez Canal to reach Egypt. They left Melbourne on the 18th November 1915 and arrived in Egypt on December 15th. Wiff contracted meningitis which delayed his transfer to France, but recovered quickly and they arrived in Marseilles on March 21st 1916. On arrival in France they were sent to the Somme.

Then tragedy struck – a shell exploded near where Wiff, Norm and Jack were stationed. Shrapnel flew everywhere and part of the shell hit Norm in the eye – he was transported to the nearest hospital (which was 30 hours away by train) but he didn’t make it to the hospital. Norman Cathcart died on November 3^rd 1916. This left Wiff distraught and he started to question why he joined the 4th Field Artillery. He left the Australian army and enlisted in the British army – where he joined the Royal Flying Corps. He began his training at Oxford University and finished training at Joyce Green Air Field, under the guidance of ace pilot James McCudden.

In June 1917, the Germans began using a new form of plane (Gotha’s) to attack London. The Gotha’s replaced the Zeppelin’s that were previously used. On June 13^th 1917, the Germans bombed a primary school in Poplar killing 18 children. This outraged the people of London and Wiff (who was unable to do anything about the raid). He vowed that something like this would never happen again.

Wiff gained his wings (which meant he was a fully qualified pilot) on the 4^th July 1917. Three days later he lost his life attempting to prevent 22 German Gotha planes from bombing London. He faced these planes alone despite the odds. The Germans had 66 guns against the single gun Wiff had. A bullet grazed his head and he fell unconscious and lost control of his Sopwith Pup. When he regained consciousness, he tried to regain control of his plane. Sadly, his Sopwith Pup ran out of petrol and he crashed in Slade Green – just a couple of minutes before landing in Joyce Green. On impact, he fractured his skull and died shortly after Many people saw what he had done and he was hailed a hero. Thousands lined the streets at his funeral as his coffin made its way to Watling Street Cemetery.

His crash sparked outrage as to why nobody was defending London – this resulted in the RFC and the RNAS combining to form the RAF. Furthermore, Vickers in Crayford had completed the Vickers Vimy. This plane was designed after the air raids on London, as many citizens wanted revenge on Germany. They wanted to achieve this by bombing Berlin. The war ended before the plane had a chance to bomb Germany – so they used it to fly across the Atlantic making the Vickers Vimy the first plane to achieve this. Without Wilfred Salmon, these events wouldn’t have happened until many years later. Moreover, the Royal family were forced to change their family name to Windsor after these raids because their surname was Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.