Ralph Peter Whitehead was a WWI pilot in the Royal Naval Air Service. He was born in New South Wales, Australia in 1891 and died in New York in 1982
Ralph Whitehead was born in New South Wales, Australia on 31 Mar 1891 to Arthur Whitehead, a barrister, of Brindle Lodge, Lancashire and Olivia Darley, eldest daughter of the Chief Justice of New South Wales, Sir Frederick Darley, KCMG. It was a relatively short engagement, and the couple married on 20 Mar 1889 with Arthur Whitehead due to return to England by the end of May.
By the mid 1890s, Arthur and Olivia were living in Australia, but Arthur’s health was not good and on 22 Oct 1898, the family, including the three youngest children but not Ralph who would have been at school, boarded RMS Britannia for a short trip in England before wintering in Tenerife. Unfortunately Arthur took ill on the ship and died on 8 Nov 1898.
The 1901 England Census shows widowed Olivia living at Cardfields, Hatfield Peverel, Essex with her three youngest children. Ralph, then aged 10, is noted on the same census as being a pupil, boarding with Anne Rigglestone and Mary Stonley, teachers, at 8 Endwell Rd, Bexhill, Sussex – the census noted that he was ‘Australian’. By 1911, however, the family, including Ralph, had moved to Carmichael House, near Biggar in Lanarkshire, Scotland, part of the estate owned by Olivia’s nephew, Sir Windham Frederick Carmichael-Anstruther, 10th & 7th baronet
Although it is noted that Ralph Whitehead commenced military service in 1912, when he would have been 21, the first mention we have found is on 15 Aug 1914 when Ralph is assigned “For Special Services” – we take this to mean he was approved to learn to fly – as a Flight Sub-Lieutenant in the newly formed Royal Naval Air Service. The RNAS was founded in July 1914 when the naval wing of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was moved out of the RFC and brought under Admiralty control.
Ralph undertook his flying training at Claude Grahame-White’s Flying School in Hendon, which was the main base of RNAS flying training. He received his Royal Aeronautical Club Flying Certificate No. 899 on 8 Sep 1914 – Certificate no. 898 was awarded to Cyril Marconi Crowe, who went on to become a WWI flying ace and a No 56 squadron colleague of Albert Ball.
On 10 December 1914 – HMS Ark Royal, the first ship designed and built as a carrier for seaplanes, was commissioned. Ralph Whitehead was promoted to Flying Lieutenant on 31 December 1914 and the Navy List of April 1915 lists Ralph Whitehead as one of the pilots amongst the HMS Ark Royal officers. It is notable that six of the officers onboard Ark Royal, to include Whitehead, had only taken their pilot’s licence since the outbreak of war, and four of these since 24 Oct 2014, so their experience of flying seaplanes was likely very limited.
HMS Ark Royal was posted to the Dardanelles, leaving port on 1 Feb 2015, carrying the first seaplane unit of the RNAS. Reaching Tenedos, a small island off the Turkish coast, on 17 Feb 2015, that afternoon, Whitehead was one of four pilots who carried out half-hour test flights with no problems, after which they undertook surveillance of the forts at the entrance to the Dardanelles, their first operational sortie. Over the next three and a half months, Whitehead would take part in a number of flying sorties supporting the ANZACS, but Ark Royal suffered from lack of experience amongst both the RNAS crew and the pilots who, used to landplanes, were new to taking off from choppy water. On 31 May, the planes and pilots were moved to a beach airfield at Aliki Bay, Imbros, and Ark Royal acted as a tender for all RNAS units, supplying fresh water and bathing facilities.
The original six seaplanes carried aboard the Ark Royal were: one Short, two Wights Pushers, and three Mono Gnome Sopwiths. Most of Whitehead’s flying appears to have been done in Wight Pusher Improved Navyplane Type A.I, No. 173 and then, when that unreliable aircraft was broken up for spares, in No. 176, and the image shown of No. 176 may well have Lieutenant Whitehead at the controls!
HMS Ark Royal continued its spotting and anti-submarine activities, though we don’t have detail of the actual pilots for this period, for the ANZACS in the Dardanelles when it could – the weather and equipment unreliability hindering efforts – until 1 Nov 1915, when the ship and its company were posted on “Special Operations” to Port Lero in Greece. In early 1916, Ark Royal was stationed off Salonika where a new naval base was bring constructed, and the second photo of Flight Lieutenant Whitehead is taken from that time, when he would have been 24 or just 25.
Ralph Whitehead’s career continued on a steady trajectory:
30 Jun 1916 – Promoted to Flight Commander
30 Jun 1917 – Promoted to Squadron Commander
1918 – Listed as Squadron Commander – Branch: Air & Seaplane
On 1 Apr 1918, the RNAS merged with the newly formed RAF, and at first RAF officers were given army ranks, thus Whitehead is listed in the Air Force List of March 1919 as Major, Air Force, Branch: Air & Seaplane (roughly equivalent to a Squadron Commander).
1 Aug 1919 – the title of Squadron Leader was introduced to replace ‘Major,’ and Whitehead was listed as this rank, Branch: Air & Seaplane
March 1920 – Squadron Leader, Branch: Air & Seaplane
March 1921 – Squadron Leader, Coastal Area Aircraft Depot, Rosyth, Scotland
March 1922 – Squadron Leader, HQ Indian Group, Educational Officer
March 1923 – Squadron Leader, HQ RAF India, Ambala, Air Staff Duties
March 1924 – Squadron Leader, Officer Commanding, No 27 Squadron, No 2 Indian Wing, India (Date of appt: 15 Mar 1923 – 27 Nov 1924)
21 Jan 1925 – Date of Retirement as Group Captain, RAF
Ralph Whitehead remained on the RAF “Retired List – Available for Recall” until 1941 when he appears to have returned to active duty in World War II.
AWARDS
Crown, Cavaliere, Italy, 23 Aug 1919
Victory Medal WWI
WWI British War Medals
War Medal 1939-1945
1939-1945 Star
King’s Birthday Honour List 11 Jun 1942 – Mentioned in Despatches
Ralph Whitehead married Barbara Caroline Jacques and after WWII they moved to the US. Ralph died in 1982, aged 91.