William Gobert Dreschfeld (DRE1914)

Places

Addresses

1939 Register:

27 Queens Gate Terrace, Kensington, London (29 September 1939)

Schools

Name:

Clifton College, Bristol

Year started:

1909

Year left:

1912

Name:

Moravian School, Neuwied, Rhineland, Germany from May 1913 -July 1914

The records of the 2nd Balloon Wing show that between August 1916 and June 1917 William flew as a kite -balloon observer for 404 hours and was forced to use make a parachute decent from the balloon basket three times.

William continued to serve with the RAF after the end of the war. In 1919 he was posted to the RAF Search unit in Cologne, Germany because of his ability to speak German. He was a member of the team whose role was to look for crash sites and where missing airmen had been buried in civilian areas as well as for ordinance dumps and weapon stores.

William served with the rank of Squadron Leader in the RAF throughout the Second World War.

During the 1920s William changed his surname to Dreschfield

Researched for 'We were there Too' by Dr Ronnie Fraser

Military Record

Military service:

Army, RFC and RAF

Military record no.:

16607

Date enlisted/conscripted:

09 October 1914

Assignments

Regiment:

East Lancs Regiment

Battalion/unit:

8th Battalion

Posting:

War was declared two weeks after William returned to Manchester from Germany and at the age of 19 he enlisted on 9 October 1914 in the 8th battalion of the East Lancashire regiment. Two months later, in December 1914 he obtained his commission on in the 9th Border regiment.

Regiment:

Border Regiment

Battalion/unit:

9th battalion

Posting:

In January 1916 William was posted to Catterick in Yorkshire where in May 1916 he obtained his aviators certificate no 3080 on a Farman biplane at the military school of flying Catterick Bridge.

Rather than use his flying skills with the RFC William was posted to Roehampton in south London where the Kite Balloon Training Wing trained him as a Balloon officer.

Regiment:

Royal Flying Corps

Battalion/unit:

No. 2 and no.17 Balloon company.

Posting:

William went on to serve in France during 1917 and 1918 as a Balloon Officer. In April 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Captain Kite balloon officer.

Contact the Author

Any messages sent via this facility are not the responsibility of the WWTT site and are simply passed onto the account holder’s contact and not stored here. Should the author choose to reply to you, all further contact made will not be transmitted through the site but independently through your own email or the details you leave here.

SEND MESSAGE

Contact the Author

Please note that the recipient will be provided with the email address linked to your account, and any response will not be transmitted through the site but independently through your own email.