Cecil Gardner

Captain Cecil Vernon Gardner was a World War I flying ace credited with ten aerial victories.

Cecil was born in or near Banbury c1888, the son of James and Hannah Elizabeth Gardner, who raised him at Grovehill Farm in the parish of Tingewick, near Buckingham. He enlisted in the British Army in December 1915. He became a Second Class Air Mechanic when he transferred into the Royal Flying Corps in March 1917. April 1917 saw the RFC suffering crippling losses against superior German planes and tactics, and Gardner was commissioned in July of that year.

After training as an officer and a pilot, he was assigned to 19 Squadron RFC in January 1918 to fly a Sopwith Dolphin. On 1 April 1918, the Royal Flying Corps and the Royal Naval Air Service merged, to create the Royal Air Force.

His first victory came on 6 June 1918 (during the desperate German offensive that had begun in March, pushing the British back over all of the ground they had gained since the Battle of the Somme in 1916) It was shared with 3 other pilots, Gordon Budd Irving, Finlay McQuistan, and John De Pencier.

Between the first and last days of July, he brought down a further 4 enemy aircraft

August 8 saw the start of the decisive Allied counter-offensive that, in 100 days leading up to 11 November 1918, completely crushed the German Army, and on 11 August Gardner shot down 2 enemy planes in one afternoon. He shared his ninth victory, on 16 September 1918, with James Hardman.

His final fight took place on 27 September, when he destroyed a Fokker D.VII over Haynecourt, bringing his total to six enemy planes destroyed and four driven down out of control. Gardner then was shot down by German ace Leutnant Gustav Borm of Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 1, and fatally injured. He died of his wounds three days later.

He was buried at Grevillers British Cemetery, near Bapaume where he was shot down. His name is also recorded on the War Memorial at the Parish Church of St Peter & St Paul in Buckingham, together with that of his older brother, Percy, killed on the Western Front in May 1917, serving as a Private in the London Regiment (Artists Rifles).

Honors and awards
Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC)

Lieut. (T./Capt.) Cecil Vernon Gardner. A bold and skilful leader, who has carried out many offensive patrols, proving himself at all times to be a brilliant fighting pilot. During recent operations he has accounted for eight enemy machines. (FLIGHT Magazine, 7 November 1918)