BRUCE, Talbot Baines
| Service Numbers: | Not yet discovered |
|---|---|
| Enlisted: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Rank: | Not yet discovered |
| Last Unit: | Royal Flying Corps |
| Born: | Hyde Park, SA, 20 August 1897 |
| Home Town: | Not yet discovered |
| Schooling: | St. Peter's College |
| Occupation: | Not yet discovered |
| Memorials: | Hackney St Peter's College Honour Board |
World War 1 Service
| Date unknown: | Involvement Royal Flying Corps |
|---|
Help us honour Talbot Baines Bruce's service by contributing information, stories, and images so that they can be preserved for future generations.
Add my storyBiography contributed by Faithe Jones
Son of Theodore BRUCE and Mary Ellen nee McFIE
Awarded Military Cross - Edinburgh Gazette, December 19, 1919 page 4106
3 Squadron RFC, a flight of four Sopwith Camels on patrol got blown eastwards and found themselves well behind enemy lines. They had no clear idea of their position and so they decided to land. Inquiries with local civilians indicated that the patrol had strayed to the neighbourhood of Namur. Three of the Camels took off again but one (B6392) belonging to 2nd Lieutenant Talbot Baines Bruce had engine trouble. Bruce then burned his aircraft and mingles with the crowd that gathered.
The other three flew on for 100 miles but found luck against them as they got lost again due to poor weather and eventually had to land near Rheims out of petrol. All three were taken prisoner:
Lieutenant Rowland Cecil Taylor (B5160)
2nd Lieutenant Arthur Gordon Cribb (B6355)
2nd Lieutenant Edmond Percy Wilmot MC (B6382)
Bruce managed to evade capture and escaped into the Netherlands in January 1918. He later wrote about his experience in “Missing” (published 1930).
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