Gordon Duncan (aviator)

Flight Commander Gordon Metcalfe Duncan DFC (25 March 1899 – 7 December 1941) was a Scottish flying ace of the Royal Flying Corps in World War 1.

Early life
Born in Edinburgh, the son of John Duncan and his wife Isabel Graham née Gibson, he was educated at The Leys School in Cambridge and later at Edinburgh University.

World War 1
On turning eighteen, Duncan joined the Royal Flying Corps on 20 June 1917 as a Second Lieutenant, and carried out his training with 28 Training Squadron.

He was posted to 60 Squadron, where his first patrol on 10 April 1918 ended with him being forced to land behind the lines. Two months later, on 19 June 1918 he was injured when a mechanical problem again forced him down.

Flying the S.E.5a fighter he gained eight victories in just twenty eight days. Five of these were in August 1918 during the decisive Battle of Amiens and a further three in the first week of September.

On joining 56 Squadron on 15 September 1918 he was promoted from Captain to Flight Commander.

He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross in December 1918, the citation being “A courageous fighter and skilful leader who has accounted for seven enemy aeroplanes. On 5 September [1918], when on escort duty, he attacked a formation of five Fokker biplanes; one of these he engaged at close range and it was seen to break up in the air; he then drove down a second out of control.”

Post war life
Duncan returned to Scotland to study Civil Engineering at the University of Edinburgh. He married Augusta Mildred Durran on 8 December 1929, and had two daughters and a son.

He had a successful career as a civil engineer in Kent, but returned to Edinburgh at the outbreak of war in 1939. Following a period of ill health with Brights Disease he died on 7 December 1941.