Francis Mellersh (RAF officer)

Air Vice Marshal Sir Francis John Williamson Mellersh KBE, AFC, RAF (22 September 1898 – 25 May 1955) was a World War I pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service credited with five aerial victories, and a senior Royal Air Force commander during World War II. He was killed in a bizarre helicopter accident in 1955.

World War I service

Mellersh joined the Royal Naval Air Service in 1916. He trained as a fighter pilot and was posted to 9 Naval Squadron in 1917. While flying a Sopwith Triplane on 28 July 1917, he drove down an Aviatik C. He switched to flying a Sopwith Camel and scored victories 15 October 1917 and 12 April 1918; the latter win was shared with squadron-mate Roy Brown. On 21 April 1918, Mellersh was a flight commander involved in the dogfight that brought down the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen; Mellersh claimed a Fokker Dr.I triplane destroyed on that date. His last victory came two days later.^[1]

Post World War I

In 1922 Mellersh had a son born to him. He named the boy Francis Richard Lee and he followed his father's example, joining the RAF and rising to the rank of Air Vice-Marshal himself.^[2]

Death

Mellersh debarked from a helicopter onto a quay on 25 May 1955; he had been invited to cruise on a yacht belonging to the Itchenor Yacht Club. As the helicopter departed, one of its rotors hit the mast of a yacht. As the copter crashed, the main rotor killed Mellersh.^[3]

References

• Air of Authority - A History of RAF Organisation - Air Vice Marshal Sir Francis Mellersh
• The Aerodrome - Francis Mellersh
• King's College London - Liddell Hart Centre for Military Archives - MELLERSH, Sir Francis John Williamson
• Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915-1920. Christopher F. Shores, Norman L. R. Franks, Russell Guest. Grub Street, 1990. ISBN 0-948817-19-4, 9780948817199.