Clive Franklyn Collett
| Clive Franklyn Collett | |
|---|---|
| Born |
28 August 1886 Spring Creek, New Zealand |
| Died | 23 December 1917 (aged 31) Firth of Forth, Scotland |
| Buried at | Grave no. K903, Comely Bank Cemetery, Edinburgh, Scotland |
| Allegiance |
 New Zealand
|
| Service/branch |
 Royal New Zealand Air Force
|
| Years of service | 1914—1917 |
| Rank | Captain |
| Unit | No. 11 Squadron RFC, No. 8 Squadron RFC, No. 32 Squadron RFC, No. 18 Squadron RFC, No. 70 Squadron RFC, No. 73 Squadron RFC |
| Awards | Military Cross with Bar |
Captain Clive Franklyn Collett was a World War I flying ace from New Zealand credited with 11 aerial victories. He was the first British or Commonwealth military pilot to use a parachute, in a test.
Collett was born in Blenheim, New Zealand on 28 August 1886. His father, Horace Edwin Collett, lived at Lambeth, London, England. His mother, Alice Marguerite Radford, the senior Collett's wife, resided in Tauranga. After completing his education at Queen's College in Tauranga, Clive Collett chose a career in engineering.
Collett was in Britain when World War I broke out. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1914. He earned his Royal Aero Club Pilot's Certificate number 1057 at a private flying school on 29 January 1915. He was transferred to Brooklands on 17 February. Two months later, he was commissioned. On 25 May, he joined 11 Squadron. On 6 July, he was hospitalized for an injury suffered in an aircraft mishap at Hendon. On 30 July, he was posted to 8 Squadron at Netheravon, Wiltshire.
Collett pulled an on-base transfer to join 32 Squadron on 1 March 1916; however, he was then posted to 18 Squadron on 9 March 1916 as a Vickers FB.5 pilot. After a month's service, he was admitted to hospital on 18 April with a broken nose, and returned to Home Establishment in England via the merchant ship Delta.
On 13 June 1916, he was posted to the Experimental Station at Orfordness, Suffolk as a test pilot. His duties there included undertaking the British military's first parachute jump from an aeroplane, a Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2c, during January 1917.
On 24 July 1917, he joined 70 Squadron, which had just upgraded to Sopwith Camels. As a Captain, he was a Flight Commander. Three days later, he destroyed a German Albatros D.V over Ypres for his first victory. He would win six more victories in August. Collett was accounted an aggressive pilot by fellow ace than James McCudden, who noted that Collett "...used to come back shot to ribbons nearly every time he went out." Collett himself noted in his combat reports an incident when he continued to fire on a crashed German plane.
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