E C Cramp: photograph album

The above photo, taken in the first months of 1916, shows officers and warrant officers from a number of services, who either were based at Stavros airbase or other locations in the Aegean region.

A similar photo to the one that appears in Edgar Cramp’s album, provided by Paschalis Palavouzis who also provided the information on which this entry is based, shows four additional naval personnel. This photo can be found on the Great War Forum.

The names of those men not shown in the Cramp photo are marked with an asterisk.

Standing (from left to right)

*Chief Petty Officer (CPO) William George Finbow, who later trained as a pilot and lost his life while flying with the Royal Air Force on 27 October, 1918, just two weeks before the end of the war.

Flight Sub-Lieutenant Luck, Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve (RNVR), observer. On 30 June, 1916 Luck and his pilot Flight Commander Thomas A. Rainey were injured when their Nieuport 12 No. 8919 of A Sqn based on the island of Thasos overturned on landing at Kazaviti aerodrome due to strong turbulence. They were returning from a crop burning mission.

Flight Lieutenant William Park DSC, RNAS, observer. Mentioned in dispatches on 14 March 1916 published in the London Gazette for “meritorious service”, Park was subsequently awarded the Distinguished Service Cross (DSC). In between bouts of malaria in March and October 1916, he served with A Squadron based on Thasos, flying numerous missions over the mainland during the Bulgarian advance into eastern Macedonia.

After coming down with malaria a second time, Park was hospitalised first in Malta and then the UK. While overcoming the malaria and being rated fit to fly he then suffered from a ruptured spleen and died on 26 January 1917.

Flight Lieutenant John Stanley Fleming Morrison, RNAS, pilot.

Flight Lieutenant Ralph Whitehead, RNAS, pilot.

Lieutenant J. H. de W. Waller, Royal Engineers. Waller was responsible for the design and construction of the second pier at Stavros, and was in charge of the pier works at Stavros in general. According to Captain Cecil Raikes of HMS Raglan, the Senior Naval Officer (SNO) 6th Detached Squadron, Royal Navy, Waller “did excellent work”.

Flight Lieutenant Edwin Harris Dunning DSC, RNAS, pilot. After serving in the Aegean theatre of operations, where he was awarded the DSC and mentioned in dispatches for his work in the Gallipoli Campaign, the South African born Dunning returned to home waters.

In August 1917, and by then holding the rank of squadron commander, Dunning became the first pilot to land an aircraft on a moving ship, setting down his Sopwith Pup on HMS Furious, a battlecruiser modified during construction to be an aircraft carrier. On August 7, five days after his first successful deck landing, Dunning was killed when attempting to repeat the feat, drowning after his plane fell overboard after touching down.

*Flight Sub-Lieutenant Arthur Edward Hilary Roberts, RNVR, observer.

Sitting (from left to right)

*Lieutenant Commander Sterike Finnis, Royal Navy, staff paymaster HMS Ark Royal.

Lieutenant Miller, Royal Marine Light Infantry (RMLI).

Commander Winstanley Robert Cloverdale Moorsom, RN, captain of HMS Ark Royal from 11 January 1916.

Major Cecil Francis Kilner DSO and bar, RMLI. Commanding officer of the seaplane base at Stavros, later also of the Thasos aerodrome.

Kilner was awarded the Distinguished Service Order (DSO) in February 1915 for his part in an air raid on the German naval and air facilities in the Heligoland Bight on 25 December 1914. He was awarded a bar to his DSO in October 1917 for his services in the Eastern Mediterranean, with both his work in bombing and reconnaissance being cited.

Engineer Commander George William Wooldridge, HMS Ark Royal. Wooldridge served on the Ark Royal in the early part of its commission, returning to England in May1916.

Unknown Lieutenant Commander

*Flight Sub-Lieutenant Albert George Errington, Royal Navy Reserve, observer. Errington was killed in action on 18 November 1917 while serving on HMS Candytuft, and is buried in Bougie (Bejaia) Communal Cemetery in Algeria.