James Lionel Montague SANDY

SANDY, James Lionel Montague

Service Number: Officer
Enlisted: 16 August 1914
Last Rank: Lieutenant
Last Unit: No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
Born: Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, 4 February 1886
Home Town: Burwood, Burwood, New South Wales
Schooling: Newington College, Stanmore, New South Wales, Australia
Occupation: Company Secretary
Died: Killed In Action, France, 17 December 1917, aged 31 years
Cemetery: St Pol Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France.
Grave Ref: H 8
Memorials: Brisbane No 3 Squadron Roll of Honour
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World War 1 Service

16 Aug 1914: Enlisted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 1st Field Artillery Brigade
18 Oct 1914: Embarked 1st Field Artillery Brigade, HMAT Argyllshire, Sydney
18 Oct 1914: Involvement 1st Field Artillery Brigade, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '3' embarkation_place: Sydney embarkation_ship: HMAT Argyllshire embarkation_ship_number: A8 public_note: ''
1 Aug 1916: Discharged AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, 1st Field Artillery Brigade
1 Sep 1916: Enlisted AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps
25 Oct 1916: Embarked AIF WW1, Lieutenant, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, HMAT Ulysses, Melbourne
25 Oct 1916: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, No. 2 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '1' embarkation_place: Melbourne embarkation_ship: HMAT Ulysses embarkation_ship_number: A38 public_note: ''
17 Dec 1917: Involvement AIF WW1, Lieutenant, Officer

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Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks

From a stationary hospital near St. Pol came a telegram to the effect that the dead bodies of Lieutenant James Lionel Sandy and Sergeant Henry Francis Hughes had been found in a wrecked RE.8 of 3 Squadron Australian Flying Corps in a neighbouring field.  The report of a subsequent examination by officers of the squadron states: From a post-mortem on the bodies at the hospital, and an examination of the scene of the crash, it would appear that both pilot and observer were killed in the aerial combat, and that the machine flew itself in wide left-hand circles until the petrol supply ran out.  An armour-piercing bullet had passed through the observer’s left lung and thence into the base of the pilot’s skull.  Medical opinion was that the pilot had been killed instantly.  It was apparent that the observer had made no attempt to ship the auxiliary joy-stick, and that the throttle was open when the machine crashed.  The theory that the machine flew itself in wide circles is supported by the fact that the wind that day was north-east, which would cause a south-west drift. The place where the machine was found is on an air-line distant fifty miles south-west from the scene of the combat.  The bodies of neither pilot nor observer were further injured in the crash.”

Extract from Cutlack, F.M. (Frederic Morley) The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War 1914-8, Pages 204-5

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Biography contributed by Elizabeth Allen

James Lionel Montague SANDY was born in Sydney , NSW on 4th February, 1886

His parents were James Montague SANDY & Evaline Martha BACKHOUSE

He enlisted on 16th August, 1914 and served with the 1st Field Artillery Brigade & returned to Australia due to illness and re-enlisted again the same year and served with the Australian Flying Corp (RFC) Squadron

James was Killed in Action on 17th December, 1917