JOHNSTON, Edgar Charles
| Service Numbers: | 1550, 1551 |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | 3 May 1915 |
| Last Rank: | Flight Lieutenant |
| Last Unit: | 28th Infantry Battalion |
| Born: | East Perth, Western Australia, 1896 |
| Home Town: | Greenmount, Mundaring, Western Australia |
| Schooling: | Guilford Grammar School, Western Australia |
| Occupation: | Engineer |
| Died: | Malvern, Victoria, Australia, 23 May 1988, cause of death not yet discovered |
| Cemetery: |
Privately Cremated |
| Memorials: | Crawley University of Western Australia Honour Roll, Midland Officers & Contract Surveyors of the Department of Lands & Surveys WA Honour Roll |
World War 1 Service
| 3 May 1915: | Enlisted AIF WW1, Private, 1550, 28th Infantry Battalion | |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Jun 1915: | Embarked AIF WW1, Private, 1551, 28th Infantry Battalion, --- :embarkation_roll: roll_number: '16' embarkation_place: Fremantle embarkation_ship: HMAT Geelong embarkation_ship_number: A2 public_note: '' | |
| 5 Jun 1915: | Embarked Private, 1551, 28th Infantry Battalion, HMAT Geelong, Fremantle | |
| 16 Mar 1919: | Discharged AIF WW1, Private, 1550, 28th Infantry Battalion, To join Royal Flying Corps |
Non Warlike Service
| 19 Jun 1925: | Enlisted Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant | |
|---|---|---|
| 30 Jan 1937: | Discharged Royal Australian Air Force, Flight Lieutenant |
A proud mum
Newspaper article in Western Mail WA 6 September 1918
Mrs. H. F. Johnston, of Mount-street, Perth, has received word that her son
Edgar, has received his captaincy in the Royal Flying Corps.
Captain Edgar Johnston is Flight Commander of Flight C, 88th Squadron, R.F.C., and has six machines under his control. Before enlisting, Captain Johnston was a student at the Perth University.
He went through the Gallipoli campaign with the 28th Battalion, and has been in France on active service for most of the last two years.
Submitted 19 June 2025 by Deb Robinson
Biography contributed by Stephen Brooks
Captain Edgar Charles Johnston D.F.C, RFC was born in Perth during 1896; his father was the Surveyor- General of Perth. Edgar was educated at Guildford Grammar school, but his education was cut short when he enlisted in the AIF in April 1915. Johnston served on Gallipoli with the 28th Battalion and on the Western Front with the 24th Field Artillery Brigade until he was discharged 16 March 1916 to take a commission in the Royal Flying Corps. After a period of training at Uxbridge, with Charles Kingsford Smith and the other Australians, he was sent overseas to join the 24 (later 88) Squadron RFC. He flew first with No.24 Squadron and he scored his first victory during 1917 as a D.H.5 pilot serving with 24 Squadron, and then served with No.88 Squadron, in which he became a flight commander with the rank of captain. As a Flight Commander, he was awarded the DFC for gallantry and was Mentioned in Despatches. The DFC was awarded for being a `brilliant and most dashing leader’, mainly for his conduct in two engagements on 4 September 1918 in which the four Bristol Fighters under his command accounted for seven enemy aircraft. In aerial combat overall, he and his observers claimed twenty victories between his entry into the war in 1917 and the war's end in 1918, making him the 8th highest-scoring Australian pilot of the Great War.He was demobilised from the Royal Air Force and repatriated in 1919. Later Johnston became Assistant Director General of the Department of Civil Aviation in Australia, and later took up a post with Qantas until his retirement in 1967.
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