Flight Commander (Capt) Charles Herbert Collet,
D.S.O. Twice Mentioned in Despatches
Royal Naval Air Service and (Royal
Marine Artillery)
19/08/1915
Son of James Francis Herbert and Teresa Collet (nee
Pilley), of "Woodleigh," Westend, Southampton.
Brother of Francis James.
Killed in a flying accident, aged 27 years.
He is buried at Lancashire Landing Cemetery in Turkey,
his body having been brought in from the island of Imbros
after the Armistice.
Charles Collet, an Old Elizabethan, was
born in Calcutta, India in around 1888. On 22 September
1914, Fl. Lt Collet flew two hundred miles to Düsseldorf
and bombed the Zeppelin shed there. Despite being hit,
he returned safely. For this act he received the D.S.O.
This was the first ever long distance air raid. Collet
was killed in a flying accident at Imbros on 19 August
1915 whilst taking part in the Dardanelles campaign.
Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate no. 666. Passed
in an Avro biplane at the Central Flying School, Upavon,
Wilts. on 21st October 1913.
Elizabeth College, Guernsey. Roll no.
2872
Commonwealth War Graves Commission Record
