Herbert A. Patey


Captain Herbert Andrew Patey was an English World War I flying ace credited with 11 aerial victories.

World War I

Patey began his military career by joining the Royal Naval Division early in World War I. He served with them in both Egypt and Gallipoli, and was invalided back to England in September 1915. Two months later, the authorities realized he was underage, and discharged him. Nothing daunted, Patey rejoined the Royal Navy in March 1917, this time choosing the Royal Naval Air Service. Having completed his training, he was commissioned as a temporary flight sub-lieutenant on 13 November, and joined No. 10 Squadron in January 1918, which became No. 210 Squadron RAF in April.
He began his victory string with No. 210 Squadron on 17 May, sharing in the shooting down of a Rumpler reconnaissance aircraft. On 11 June he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain. By 3 September, his tally stood at 11, and he had been awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross. Two days later, he was shot down by Ludwig Beckmann of Jasta 56. He survived the resultant crashlanding, his Sopwith Camel relatively intact, to become a prisoner of war.
On 21 September 1918, while Patey was a prisoner, his Distinguished Flying Cross was gazetted. The citation read:
No.Date/
Time
Aircraft/
Serial No.
OpponentResultLocationNotes
117 May 1918
11:05
Sopwith Camel
Rumpler CDestroyedNorth-east of BailleulShared with Lieutenant Albert Leslie Jones
221 May 1918
11:20
Sopwith Camel
BalloonDestroyedPloegsteert WoodShared with Lieutenants Hugh Maund
and G. B. Wootten
317 June 1918
15:00
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyedSouth-east of Zillebeke Lake
426 June 1918
19:20
Sopwith Camel
Halberstadt CDestroyed in flamesWest of Armentières
529 June 1918
19:30
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyed in flamesArmentièresShared with Lieutenant W. W. Gyles
616 July 1918
11:55
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDriven down out of controlZeebrugge
720 July 1918
09:50
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDriven down out of controlSouth-east of Ostend
831 July 1918
11:15
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyedSouth-west of Gistel
91 August 1918
19:25
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyed in flamesNorth of Lille
106 August 1918
19:15
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyedSouth-west of Gistel
113 September 1918
18:30
Sopwith Camel
Fokker D.VIIDestroyed in flamesNorth-east of Roulers

Post World War I

Patey was repatriated after the armistice at the end of World War I; he arrived home on Christmas Eve, 1918. He became a victim of the 1918 flu pandemic, dying of double pneumonia in West Hampstead on 18 February 1919.
Herbert Andrew Patey was buried in Plot P. 2. 38 of Hampstead Cemetery, Hampstead, England.

Legacy

Herbert Patey's Sopwith Camel survived him. After being repaired and flown by the Germans until the end of the war, it was taken to Berlin for exhibit in an aviation museum. The advent of World War II saw it moved to Kraków, Poland, and stored to escape bombing raids. The Polish Aviation Museum recently restored it; restoration was basically complete by mid-2010.