BRISTOW, Conrad Phillip (#250)

Pilot Lieutenant Conrad Philip BRISTOW for the ROYAL NAVAL AIR SERVICE then Flight Lieutenant as ROYAL AIR FORCE formed on 1 Apr 1918: Philip flew the SHORT 184 for 2 years on ANTI-SUBMARINE PATROL and NAVAL RECONNAISSANCE, mainly from Eastgate. These RN seaplanes (over 900 completed for RNAS – Span 63ft 6in, max wt 5,5601b and speed 88mph, rear Lewis gun and bomb s or torpedo, 12 cylinder water cooled 225 or 260hp Sunbeam or 250hp Renault engine) played a significant part in WW1, being the first to be used in a naval engagement, as the only aircraft involved in the Battle of Jutland (Flt Lt RUTLAND & Asst Paymaster TREWIN Observer praised highly by BEATTY, May16) and in the Dardanelles Campaign had been. the first aircraft ever to sink an enemy ship bv using a torpedo; Philip during WW2 was in FACTORY PRODUCTION & SENIOR AIR RAID & CIVIL DEFENCE WARDEN.

Born in Nov.1899, he joined the RNAS for war service at age 17 years 8 months at the Hotel Cecil in the Strand, going to Greenwich then Vendome near Tours for flying training on CAUDRON Gills then Curtiss J-4 Jenny (150 hp, bigger and heavier) – he would see a total of 33 crashes there and remembers being told by two French civilians about Big Bertha’s shelling of Paris from 50 miles away; Calshot (for Gunnery & Bombing training over Warsash), Felixstowe, Lee on Solent and Westgate on Sea followed with conversion to his wartime CONVOY PROTECTION and ANTI SUBMARINE role – his voung CO with the Westgate 406 & 442 Flights (later on 22Jul18 became 219 Sqn with the very close landplane 470, 555 & 556 Flights at Manston) not 21 was the late Gp Capt Gerald E LIVOCK DFC AFC RAF, involved much in Flving boats and engine development, serving throughout WW2 as well; Philip flew on patrol often at 1,200ft with his 2301b bomb and two pigeons and 100 feet of copper cable for communications – on the lookout for submarines and mines during the war and mines even after the Armistice, he would alight on the sea and machine gun the mines.