A fascinating Test Pilot’s General Service Medal 1918-1962, GVR coinage profile, 1 Clasp: Kurdistan awarded to Flight Lieutenant A.M. Blake, Royal Air Force who had seen service with the Royal Naval Air Service prior to that services amalgamation with the Royal Flying Corps on 1st April 1918. He would be awarded the Air Force Cross in the London Gazette of 1st January 1919 presumably for his work as Flight Commander at No.2 School of Special Flying. Continuing to serve after the Great War he would take part in operations in Kurdistan. He would go on to become the Chief Test Pilot for the Blackburn Aircraft Company between 1927 and 1937 before he tragically died at home in Hull on 16th October 1937
General Service Medal 1918-1962, GVR coinage profile, 1 Clasp: Kurdistan; (F/L. A.M. BLAKE. R.A.F.)
Condition: Nearly Extremely Fine
Along with mounted miniature group comprising: Air Force Cross, 1914-1915 Star; British War Medal; Victory Medal; General Service Medal 1918-1962, GVR coinage bust, 1 Clasp: Kurdistan.
Alfred ‘Dasher’ Blake was born on 30th November 1899 and had initially learnt to fly at the South Coast Flying School in 1912. He enlisted for Royal Naval Air Service on 25th June 1915 and on 9th August 1915 he was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate (No. 1554) following training at Grahame-White School of Flying at Hendon. He serve with No.2 Wing at Malta but returned to England having contracted Malaria. By the end of November 1916 he was assessed as being fit for light duties though not flying for duties. He was due to report to RNAS Redcar on 4th December 1916 but was still unfit. In January and February 1917 he was admitted to Haslar Hospital and when discharged as fit on 5th February 1917 he then appears to have transferred to RNAS Redcar having been assessed as fit for flying duties. He served as an instructor at RNAS Redcar which must have been with the RNAS Flying School through was also recognised by his commanding officer as a first class engineer.
On 21st May 1917 he would crash his BE.2e aircraft at Redcar aerodrome when it was caught by a strong gust of wind which caused it to overturn. The aircraft was repaired and later returned to service, with Blake suffering no injuries.
He served at Redcar until March 1918 rising to Flight Commander at No.2 School of Special Flying in 1918. He transferred to the newly formed RAF in April 1918 and was awarded the Air Force Cross on 1st January 1919 while in the rank of Captain. Post-WW1 he was granted a short service commission in the RAF on 16th September 1919 to the rank of F.Lt. in July 1921 he flew in the RAF’s Aerial Pageant at Hendon.
In December 1922 he would be posted to No.5 Flying Training School (Inland Area) to 70 Squadron (Iraq Command) then later to No.4 Flying Training School in Egypt in December 1923 and in February 1924 to Egyptian Group HQ. He was posted back to England in January 1926 and then to Northolt in March 1926. In later 1926, early 1927 he joined Robert Blackburn’s company and soon became Chief Test Pilot; a position he held for the next decade and all Blackburn types produced between 1927 and 1937 at Brough were tested by Blake. He died suddenly at his home in Hull on 16th October 1937.
The tragic tale of Blake’s death is covered in a newspaper article:
‘The death of a distinguished airman, Flight-Lieutenant Alfred Montague Blake chief test pilot for the Blackburn Aircraft Company, Brough, was the subject of an inquest held by the Hill City Coroner, Dr Norman Jennings today.
Flight Lieutenant Blake lived at 22 Plantation Drive, Anlaby Common, Hull and on Saturday night was found dead in his garage with the engine of his car running. The garage door was fastened from the inside. The Coroner recorded an open verdict.
Dr M. McLeod, police surgeon, said the case of death was asphyxia from the inhalation of carbon monoxide and other gases generated by the engine.
Kirsten Johansen a maid employed in Plantation Drive, said that on returning home about 10.30 on Saturday night, she passed the garage at the rear of No.22 and heard a noise as of a car engine running. She tried the doors and found they were locked. She went to the house and informed Miss Enid Longley. They both went to the garage but could not open the door and Miss Longley called a neighbour, Mr. Lee who got the doors open.
Enid Longley, a nurse engaged by Mrs. Blake, said that Mr. Lee entered the garage first. When she saw him Flight-Lt Blake looked as if he was just getting out of the car, but she could not say whether Mr. Lee had opened the door or whether it had been found opened. Mr Lee stopped the engine and attempted to push the car out. The last time she saw Flight-Lt Blake he was perfectly normal, and he was no the kind of man with whom one would associate the idea of suicide.
A police constable said there were no windows in the garage, except those in the doors, and there were no ventilators.
Mr. Reginald Thomas Ebery, Hessle, called by Mr. Iveson, who appeared for the family, said he had been a person friend of Flight Lieutenant Blake for a number of years. Blake had told him that when he had gone home having had a little drink he had run the car into the garage, locked the door and gone to sleep. He had done it as a joke and it was regarded as a private joke between the,. He thought Blake had done the same thing on Saturday and had probably forgotten to turn the engine off. A few drinks got him down and he fell asleep easily. Reverting to the subject of the joke, Mr. Ebery said he had treated it in the same way and told Flight-Lieutenant Blake that if he were his wife he would throw him out by the scruff of the neck.
Mr Iveson: Could you imagine he was the kind of man who would deliberately take his own life? ‘No’ replied Mr. Ebery ‘He thoroughly enjoyed life. He was the last man in the world to think of taking his own life. ‘He saw him within 48 hours of his death and he was then quite jovial. He was the chief test pilot and ‘if he had wanted to do away with himself he could have done it a lot easier than that.’ He had no financial embarrassments and was a man who looked upon life as something to be lived and enjoyed. The Coroner found that death was due to the causes stated by Dr. McLeod and recorded an open verdict.
Known to his friends as ‘The Dasher’. Flt-Lt Blake was 48 years of age. He leaves a widow and two children. Joining the Royal Flying Corps in the early days of the war, he had a distinguished record as a daring flyer and was decorated with the Air Force Cross. He remained with the Royal Air Force until 1926, when he transferred to the Reserve.
During the next two years or so he had flying engagements in Russia, America and the colonies and then joined the Blackburn Aircraft Company as Chief Test Pilot. Among the machines which had their initial tests at his hand were the single seater fighter Lincock, the flying boats Iris, Perth and Sydney and the Shark, used by the Fleet Air Arm.’
