Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Text supplied by Chas Schaedel and the South Australian Aviation Museum History Group

Gavin Alexander PORTER was born on 23 June 1891 in Parkside, South Australia and educated at Guildford Grammar School, WA. He visited England in 1905 and again in 1910 returning in 1914 and subsequently enlisting in the Royal Field Artillery (RFA) when the First World War was declared. After seeing early action in  France with the RFA  he gained expereince with the RFC as an observer before training as a pilot.

Porter gained his RAeC Certificate 1907 on a Maurice Farman Biplane at the Farman School,  29 April 1915,  before completing his pilot training in England. Posted to No.13 Squadron RFC he was promoted to Captain and further to Flight Commander.  He served in France until 5 December 1915. when he and 1AM H J Kirkbride were shot down in a BE2c 4092. Kirkbride was killed during the fight and Porter died the following day. They were both buried with full military honours in Havrincourt Cemetery. They were later reburied in Aichet-le-Grand Communal Cemetery.

Gavin Alexander Porter was born 23 June 1891 at Parkside, Adelaide, South Australia to parents Hannah and Alexander Porter. He was the eldest having both a younger brother and sister. In childhood he shifted with his parents to Kalgoorlie, his father Alexander pursuing business interests in the rapidly expanding goldfields town. Gavin attended Guildford Grammar School in Perth. At 14 years he passed five subjects in the University of Adelaide Junior Examinations and sat matriculation exams through the University College of London in 1906 when visiting with his parents.

He passed exams in only one subject in his final year at Guildford, academics proving of little interest at this time. With his parents' persuasion he was enrolled in an electricity course at the University College of London, a six year degree, and he returned to England aboard the Orsova in July/August 1910.

Interest in completing the degree soon waned and the adventures London provided prevailed. Gavin was taken by the opportunity of a military career and entered the army via the University College of London Officer Training Unit. He was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant Royal Artillery gazetted from 30 September 1911. It was reported in the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper that in his last commissioning exam he came out first of all candidates, 200 marks ahead of the next man. He  had found his calling. 

It appears he continued to study at the UC of London, but transferred as a full member of the Royal Artillery on 24 May 1913.

Gavin was a member of 68th Battery RFA as part of the XIVth Artillery Brigade at Colchester. With the declaration of war the Brigade prepared and left England 23 August 1914, the day the British Army began its retreat from Mons. The 68th Battery and Gavin's first action was at the Battle of Le Cateau on 26 August. The British lost 5000 men at Le Cateau, the Germans 2000. Gavin survived this baptism of fire seemingky unscathed.

The Germans were finally stopped at the Battle of the Marne, 6-12 September, the British then withdrawing and establishing themselves in the Somme area of France. Overall including the Battle of the Marne casualties had been 13000 British, 420000 French and 500000 German. Gavin Porter had aquitted himself well as a member of the British 'Contemptibles'.

It is very likely that Gavin had visited Hendon aerodrome in London pre WW1  and had followed the early aviators who captured the public imagination. The development of flight in the 1900s was akin to the 1960s-70s space race in terms of development. Hence he had a strong interest in aviation. He requested to be attached to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer in November 1914 and this was approved in December. After three months of flying as an observer his application for pilot trauning was approved.

In April 1915 Gavin trravelled to Etampes 50 kms south of Paris where he learnt to fly at the Henri Farman Aviation School. Here he completed a very rudimentary course of instrauction of around ten hours flying time and gained his Royal Aero Club Certificate (No 1907) on 29 April 1915 flying a Maurice Farman biplane. He then travelled to England to undertake more advanced flying tuition at the Royal Flying Corps school at Upavon, Wiltshire.

He was gazetted on 5 July as a member of the Royal Flying Corps and proudly wore his flying badge. As an artillery officer attached to the Royal Flying Corps originally, he was unsurprisingly assigned to an artillery observation unit, 13 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps. He was stationed at Gosport, on the Portsmouth Harbour, the squadron being equipped with the BE2c, a slow but stable observation machine widely used to spot for the artillery. In his role as pilot of an artillery observation machine, his own background as an artilleryman was invaluable.

Gavin was able to ‘ease his way in’ with his squadron as they prepared to move to France. He had the advantage of getting to know the men and machines before being thrown into active flying on the Western Front.

19 October 1915 was an important date for 13 Squadron and for Lieutenant Gavin Porter. He was one of twelve pilots scheduled to fly their machines from Gosport to St Omer. Of the twelve only eight reached St Omer on the day, including Gavin, the other four being delayed for a variety of technical reasons. It is an indication of the advances in flight that just seven years earlier Bleriot had achieved international fame as the first aviator to successfully complete the perilous crossing of the English Channel in an aeroplane, but now the crossing was considered ‘routine’. No doubt, standing on French soil that day, Gavin would have contemplated the events of the past eighteen months from threat of war, to landing in France as an artillery officer, the retreat from Mons, his work as an observer attached to the RFC and finally his role as a pilot and his crossing of the Channel. He and his observer Air Mechanic 1st Class Henry Kirkbride were to forge a team with BE2c 4092 as their favourite ‘kite’. A few days later 13 Squadron’s OC Major Phillip Herbert could at last boast that he had a squadron, with the late arrival of a few of the aircraft and personnel, and that they were ready for their first operations.

The BE2c was a steady but vulnerable observation and bombing aircraft. At this time the German scout (fighter) the Fokker Eindecker 'ruled the skies' and the BE2 was no match. Into this aerial maelstrom 13 Squadron began its active service life. It was a very difficult period for the RFC and losses were very high leading to thos perod of the aerial war being named the 'Fokker Scourge' (July 1915-early 1916).

The squadron began operations soon after arrival and suffered their first casualties on 23 October, Flight Commander Captain Cecil Marks and observer 2nd Lt Will Lawrence, one of Lawrence of Arabia's brothers. With the loss of Marks, Gavin Porter took over as flight leader and was confimred as Acting Captain and Flight Leader from 17 November 1915. The squadron lost a pilot and observer on 11 November (pilot POW, observer killed) in a disastrous weather-affected multi-squadron raid on a German airfield, a number of aircrcaft from other squadrons on this raid were lost or damaged. 

Gavin’s tenure as Flight Commander was to be short-lived.  Sunday 13 December 1916 was to prove a disastrous day for 13 squadron. Two machines were sent out to undertake photographic artillery observation in the early afternoon. Both were intercepted by German scouts. The German pilots had noticed anti-aircraft fire and were drawn to the two 13 Squadron BE2s. Both German airmen went onto the attack. Leutnant Gustav Leffers did not have things all his own way when he attacked Australian pilot Lt Arthur Browne (Tasmania) and his observer AM1 William Cox. Cox returned fire accurately until Browne was wounded and the BE2 fell in a dive to crash near Bapaume. Both men died. This was Leffers’ first victory.

Meanwhile Oberleutnant Ernst von Althaus was attacking BE2 4092 flown by Gavin with his observer Henry Kilbride. Again, the observer certainly put up a spirited response but the result of this action was confirmed in a note dropped over the British lines a few days later which read: With regard to the BE4092 and other aircraft brought down after a violent fight in the air. The pilots and observers, 4, met with an honourable flying man’s death and were buried yesterday with all military honours. Gavin Porter and Henry Kilbride’s BE2 was von Althaus’s first victory, but he went on to destroy nine aircraft between December 1915 and July 1917. He was awarded the Military Order of St Henry and Iron Cross 2nd Class as a Hussar in 1914-15 and the Orden Pour le Merite and Iron Cross First Class as a pilot. Failing eyesight prematurely ended his flying in 1917.

A funeral with full military honours was held on the Tuesday at Havrincourt, but the Germans expressly banned the attendance of the local French people. In defiance of the Germans many of the local French both attended the funeral and daily tended the graves of the four 13 Squadron airmen until all villagers were evacuated when Havrincourt was overtaken by the front lines.

It was of little consolation to Gavin Porter’s distraught parents that their son had been so honoured in death. Gavin’s mother and father, Hannah and Alexander Porter, soon after receiving the news of their son’s death travelled to England. There they sought information about the circumstances of Gavin’s death and also canvassed the War Office. There had been no official recognition of Gavin’s promotion to Captain as a Flight Commander. This parental intervention led to the promotions being gazetted on 19 May 1916, five months after their son’s death. They returned many months later to Australia with their son’s possessions, including some Gavin had with him when he crashed, including a silver cigarette case, watch chain, a pipe lighter and his aviator’s certificate. These were returned by the Germans via the American ambassador in Berlin. (Reported in the Kalgoorlie Miner newspaper, “Personal Items”, P4, Saturday 30 September 1916                                                              (Source: https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/92164158 ).

A ‘first’ no-one wanted to achieve

Both Gavin Porter and Arthur Browne were the first recorded Australian air to air combat deaths. Both were shot down and killed at about 1400 hrs on 5 December 1915 (there are some indications that Gavin Porter may have died of wounds the following day). It is difficult to unravel which of the two Australians died first so it appears they attained a shared ‘first’ that no-one wanted to achieve.

Prior to this action on 5 December 1915, three other Australians had died serving in the Royal Naval Air Service, the Royal Flying Corps or the Australian Flying Corps:

·        Lt Basil Drummond Ash RNAS. Died 30 September 1914. Lost over the Noth Sea.

·        Major George Hebden Raleigh, 4 Squadron RFC. Died 20 January 1915 aircraft accident.

·        Lt George Pinnock Merz, Half Flight AFC. Died 30 July 1915. Attacked and killed by Arabs.

Gavin Porter represents a rare combination  for an Ausralian: An Australian ‘Old Contemptible’, Royal Flying Corps pilot and, along with Arthur Browne, Australia’s first air to air combat casualties.

Sources:

Early life story:

https://www.kalgoorliehistory.org.au/towns/Kalgoorlie                                                                                     Eastern Goldfields Historical Society Inc website, history of the city of Kalgoorlie, western Australia and surrounds.

https://m.facebook.com/museumofperth/photos/woodbridge-house-the-original-location-of-guildford-grammar-school-guildford-188/767206966695669/                                                                 Museum of Perth photograph of the original Guildford Grammar School.

British Army: Royal Artillery

https://www.britishbattles.com/first-world-war/battle-of-etreux/                                                              Information about the Battle of Etreux, 1914.

https://www.thecolchesterarchaeologist.co.uk/?p=14689)                                                                                   The Colchester Archaeologist, information about the Battle of Le Cateau 1914.

Royal Flying Corps

https://www.aircraftinvestigation.info/airplanes/RAF%20BE-2c.html                                                       Information, plans and specifications relating to the BE2c.

https://www.cwgc.org/visit-us/find-cemeteries-memorials/cemetery-details/30002/achiet-le-grand-communal-cemetery-extension/%20%20%20%20commonwealth%20war%20graves%20commission%20entry%20for%20g.%20a.%20porter/                                                                                                                                Commonwealth War Graves Commission entry for G. A. Porter

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/35169-13-squadron-a-vc/                                                                       Great War Forum discussion form for military historians.

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/24760322/william-george-lawrence                                                      Grave of 2nd Lt William George Lawrence, 13 Squadron RFC, brother to T. E. Lawrence (of Arabia)

https://historicgosport.uk/royal-flying-corps-at-grange/                                                                                    Historic Gosport, information regarding the RFC at Grange Fort, Gosport, Hampshire, South East England.

https://www.greatwarforum.org/topic/191474-13-sqn-war-diaries/page/3/)                                                  Entries on the Great War Forum including excerpts from the 13 Squadron RFC war diary.

https://www.jewsfww.uk/cecil-hoffnung-marks-1820.php                                                                               British Jews in the First World War, profile of 13 Squadron pilot Captain Cecil Hoffnung Marks.

https://nzhistory.govt.nz/media/photo/fokker-scourge                                                                                            New Zealand History website, outline of the WW1 Fokker Scourge.

https://www.pinterest.nz/pin/544935623652598925/                                                                                  Photograph of Havrincourt Chateau

https://telsociety.org.uk/23-october-1915/                                                                                                                    The T. E. Lawrence Society, information re William George Lawrence.

https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/33606856?searchTerm=G.%20A.%20Porter%20%20%20G.%20A.%20Porter%20newspaper%20article                                                                                                              Trove newspaper archive, Australia. G. A. Porter newspaper article.

https://utd-ir.tdl.org/handle/10735.1/2540                                                                                                      University of Texas Dallas, Eugene McDermott Library, aerial photograph of Havrincourt.  

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Space:WW1_Airmen_-_December_Tree                                                                                   List of Australian aviators killed during World War One  Form

https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/showthread.php?19689-100-Years-Ago-Today/page20&styleid=22                                                                                                                                           Wings of Glory Aerodrome forum, outlining RFC events of 5 December 1915, including 13 Squadron losses.

https:// ww1-wa.weebly.com/po.html                                                                                                                              WW1 Pictorial Honour Roll of the West Australians. Photograph of Gavin Porter in full flying gear.

Information re German pilots:

http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/germany/althaus.php                                                                                Profile Ernst Freiherr von Aklhaus, on aerodrome.com, used as Appendix 3: A brief biography of German pilot Ernst von Althaus.

General profile/information and background

https://www.guildfordanzacs.org.au/anzac/528                                                                                                         Biography of G. A. Porter. Guildford Grammar School, Guildford, Western Australia.

https://aviationmuseumwa.org.au/afcraaf-roll/porter-gavin-alexander/                                                  Biography of G. A. Porter, Aviation Museum of western Australia

https://livesofthefirstworldwar.iwm.org.uk/lifestory/3558027                                                                                  Life Story, Gavin Alexander Porter, Imperial War Museum

https://vwma.org.au/explore/people/797165                                                                                                   Biography of G. A. Porter, Virtual War Memorial of Australia

https://www.masonicgreatwarproject.org.uk/legend.php?id=2455                                                               Biography of G. A. Porter, The Masonic Great War Project

https://www.saam.org.au/history_group_biographies/SAAM%20Profiles%20-%20SA%20WW1%20AIRMEN%20OMITTED%20FROM%20WAR%20MEMORIAL.pdf                                  Profiles of South Australian WW1 aviators, South Australia Aviation Museum.

Books: Background information

Adam Claasen. Fearless: The extraordinary untold story of New Zealand's Great War Airmen, Massey University Press, 2017.

Christine Clement, Glyn Harper and Rebecca Johns.  For King and Other Countries, Massey University Press, 2019.

F. S. Cutlack. First World War Official Histories- Volume VIII – The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918 (11th edition, 1941) accessed online for PDF at: https://www.awm.gov.au/collection/C1416880