Valentine Collins
{{Short description|British flying ace}}
{{hatnote|For the boundary separating Vermont and New York from Quebec, see Collins–Valentine line.}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2014}}
{{Infobox military person
| name = Valentine St. Barbe Collins
| image =
| caption =
| birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1894|1|2}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=yes|1918|9|2|1894|1|2}}
| placeofburial_label =
| birth_place = Bermuda
| death_place = France
| allegiance = {{UK}}
| branch = {{army|United Kingdom}}
{{air force|United Kingdom}}
| serviceyears =
| rank = Lieutenant
| unit = No. 45 Squadron and No. 48 Squadron Royal Flying Corps
No. 22 Squadron RAF
}}
Lieutenant Valentine St. Barbe Collins (2 January 1894 – 2 September 1918) was a World War I British flying ace credited with ten aerial victories who served with the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Air Force.
Background
Valentine St. Barbe Collins, son of Colonel Charles Bury Collins, CMG DSO (RE), and his wife Etheldred St. Barbe Collins, was born on 2 January 1894 in Bermuda.{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine|title=1901 England Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1901. The National Archives, 1901 (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine St Barbe|title=1911 England Census|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Census Returns of England and Wales, 1911. The National Archives of the UK, 1911 (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine St. Barbe|title=Casualty details|url=http://www.cwgc.org/search-for-war-dead/casualty/745167/COLLINS,%20VALENTINE%20St%20BARBE|work=cwgc.org|publisher=Commonwealth War Graves Commission|accessdate=27 March 2012}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine|title=Aces|url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/collins2.php|work=theaerodrome.com|publisher=The Aerodrome|accessdate=27 March 2012}} He studied at Wellington College, built as a national monument to the Duke of Wellington, in Crowthorne, Berkshire, England.{{cite web|title=History|url=http://www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/history|work=wellingtoncollege.org.uk|publisher=Wellington College|accessdate=27 March 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120219145327/http://www.wellingtoncollege.org.uk/history|archive-date=19 February 2012|url-status=dead|df=dmy-all}} In June 1916, his father, then a lieutenant colonel, was awarded the Distinguished Service Order; however, he died the following year, on 1 March 1917, at or near Dar es Salaam, East Africa.{{cite news|last=Collins, R.E.|first=Lt.-Col. Charles Bury|title=The Edinburgh Gazette|url=http://www.edinburgh-gazette.co.uk/issues/12957/pages/1183/page.pdf|accessdate=27 March 2012|newspaper=The Edinburgh Gazette|date=30 June 1916|page=1183}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Charles Bury|title=UK, Soldiers Died in the Great War, 1914–1919|work=ancestry.com|publisher=British and Irish Military Databases. The Naval and Military Press Ltd. (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Charles Bury|title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861–1941|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Principal Probate Registry (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}} He was with the Corps of Royal Engineers and part of the East African Expeditionary Force stationed at Quetta in India.{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Charles Bury|title=England, Andrews Newspaper Index Cards, 1790–1976|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Andrews Collection. Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Charles Bury|title=British Army WWI Medal Rolls Index Cards, 1914–1920|work=ancestry.com|publisher=WWI Medal Index Cards. Army Medal Office (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}}
Military career
Image:Bristol F2B D8096 flying 1.jpg, a two-seat biplane]]
Valentine Collins joined the Royal Flying Corps in October 1916.{{cite book|title=Above The War Fronts|year=1997|publisher=Grub Street|isbn=1-898697-56-6|author=Norman Franks|author2=Russell Guest |author3=Gregory Alegi |page=10|chapter=Two-seat Fighter Observer Aces}} He served with the RFC Special Reserve. He was posted first to No. 45 Squadron, but was injured on 29 November 1916. In 1917, he served with No. 48 Squadron in France, before his return to France in December 1917. After 1 April 1918 merger of the Royal Flying Corps with the Royal Naval Air Service, he served with No. 22 Squadron of the Royal Air Force.{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine St. Barbe|title=Information|url=http://twgpp.org/information.php?id=2379085|work=twgpp.org|publisher=The War Graves Photographic Project|accessdate=27 March 2012}} Lieutenant Collins is credited with ten aerial victories, all as an observer. The first three were with No. 48 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps and the next seven were with No. 22 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. Collins scored all of his victories from a Bristol F.2b, a two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft, also known as a Bristol Fighter.{{cite web|last=Bristol F.2b Fighter|title=Aircraft|url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aircraft/gbritain/bristol_f2b.php|work=theaerodrome.com|publisher=The Aerodrome|accessdate=27 March 2012}}
Each of his first three scores was against an Albatros D.V, from his Bristol F.2b piloted by Australian Second Lieutenant William Dowling Bostock. Pilot Bostock went on to become Air Vice Marshal, a senior commander in the Royal Australian Air Force, by the onset of World War II.{{cite Australian Dictionary of Biography |last=Garrisson|first=A. D|title=Bostock, William Dowling (1892–1968)|id2=bostock-william-dowling-9546|accessdate=27 March 2012}}{{cite web|last=Bostock, CB, DSO, OBE|first=Air Vice Marshal William Dowling|title=People profiles|url=http://www.awm.gov.au/people/8014.asp|work=awm.gov.au|publisher=Australian War Memorial|accessdate=27 March 2012}} Collins' first victory occurred on 4 September 1917 from his Bristol F.2b with serial number A7224, piloted by Bostock. His opponent's aircraft was sent out of control over Middelkerke and Ostend, both in West Flanders, Belgium. On 27 September 1917, Collins scored a double victory over Pervijze, West Flanders, again in a Bristol Fighter piloted by Bostock. One opponent's Albatros D.V was destroyed, and 15 minutes later another's was sent out of control.
Collins did not have another kill until June of the next year, as a member of No. 22 Squadron of the Royal Air Force. On 28 June 1918, his Bristol F.2b (C989) piloted by Lieutenant Frank George Gibbons, a flying ace credited with 14 aerial victories, destroyed a Fokker Dr.I, a single-seat triplane fighter, north of Estaires, Nord, France.{{cite web|last=Gibbons|first=Frank|title=Aces|url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/gibbons1.php|work=theaerodrome.com|publisher=The Aerodrome|accessdate=27 March 2012}} The following month, on 10 July 1918, the same Bristol Fighter piloted by Gibbons sent another Fokker Dr.I out of control over Lille, Nord, France.
All of the aviator's remaining five victories were in aircraft piloted by Lieutenant Leslie Walter King, a flying ace credited with nine aerial victories.{{cite web|last=King|first=Leslie|title=Aces|url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/king3.php|work=theaerodrome.com|publisher=The Aerodrome|accessdate=27 March 2012}} On 8 August 1918, Collins scored his sixth victory, from Bristol F.2b (D7894) piloted by King, when a Pfalz D.III was sent out of control south of Douai, Nord, France. Two days later, from the same Bristol Fighter piloted by King, Collins destroyed two Fokker D.VII aircraft southwest of Péronne, France. On 21 August 1918, Collins scored his ninth victory over Albert and Cambrai, Nord, France. His Bristol F.2b (E2454) piloted again by King sent a Fokker D.VII out of control. His tenth and last victory occurred on 27 August 1918. His Bristol F.2b piloted by Lieutenant King defeated a Fokker D.VII which was sent out of control over Senlemont.
Death
Lieutenant Valentine St. Barbe Collins was killed in action at age 24 on 2 September 1918 in France.{{cite news|last=Collins|first=Valentine St. Barbe|title=The London Gazette|url=http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/32193/pages/417/page.pdf|accessdate=27 March 2012|newspaper=The London Gazette|date=14 January 1921|page=417}}{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Valentine St Barbe|title=England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1861–1941|work=ancestry.com|publisher=Calendar of the Grants of Probate and Letters of Administration made in the Probate Registries of the High Court of Justice in England. Principal Probate Registry (as re-printed on Ancestry.com)}} He is commemorated on the Arras Flying Services Memorial at the Faubourg d'Amiens Cemetery on the Boulevard du General de Gaulle in Arras, Pas-de-Calais, France.{{cite web|last=Collins|first=Lieutenant Valentine St. Barbe|title=Burial Record|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=Collins&GSiman=1&GScid=2189153&GRid=15751764&|work=findagrave.com|publisher=International Wargraves Photography Project, hosted on Find A Grave|accessdate=27 March 2012}} Killed with him was Captain Brian Laidley Dowling from Sydney, Australia, who was piloting D7790. He is commemorated on the same memorial.{{cite web|last=Dowling|first=Captain Brian Laidley|title=Burial Record|url=https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/15751849|work=findagrave.com|publisher=International Wargraves Photography Project, hosted on Find A Grave|accessdate=29 March 2012}}
Gallery of aeroplanes downed
Image:ZK-DVA2 IMG 3492-Edit.jpg|Albatros D.V
Victories 1–3
Image:Fokker DR1 at Airpower11 18.jpg|Fokker Dr.I
Victories 4,5
Image:Pfalzdiiia.jpg|Pfalz D.III
Victory 6
Image:Fokker D. VII USAF.jpg|Fokker D.VII
Victories 7–10
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSfn=Valentine&GSiman=1&GScid=2189153&GRid=15751764& International Wargraves Photography Project – Collins] Photographs of inscriptions
{{DEFAULTSORT:Collins, Valentine}}
Category:People educated at Wellington College, Berkshire
Category:British World War I flying aces
Category:Royal Flying Corps officers
Category:Royal Air Force personnel of World War I