Neville Usborne
| Neville Florian Usborne | |
|---|---|
| Born | 27 February 1883 Queenstown, Ireland |
| Died | 21 February 1916, aged 32 Strood |
| Buried | Woodlands cemetery, Gillingham, Kent |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Service/branch |
Royal Navy Royal Naval Air Service |
| Years of service | 1897-1916 |
| Rank | Wing Commander |
Neville Usborne (27 February 1888 – 21 February 1916) was a British naval officer who played a prominent part in British military lighter-than-air aviation before the First World War. He was involved with the construction of the first British rigid airship HMA No. 1 and was killed in one of the first experiments in launching an aeroplane from an airship.
Usborne was born on 27 February 1883 in Queenstown, Ireland, the third son of George Usborne, a former naval officer who was deputy harbourmaster at Cork, and his wife Edith Josephine.
In 1897 he became a cadet in the Royal Navy, entering the training ship HMS Britannia. In 1898, now a midshipman, he achieved the second-highest marks in his year and was also awarded a prize for French. In December 1899 he was posted to HMS Canopus and in 1903 he was promoted to sub-lieutenant, and entered the newly formed submarine service, joining HMS Latona In January 1904 he was promoted to full lieutenant, with seniority back-dated to March 1903. and shortly afterwards posted to HMS Doris In March 1905 he was posted to the torpedo school at HMS Vernon.
In 1909 he was sent to Barrow-in-Furness to supervise the construction of the Navy's first rigid airship, H.M.A. No. 1 being built by Vickers, and was posted to HMS Hermione, a cruiser acting as the tender for the airship, in September 1910. He is credited with making significant contributions to the design of the airship, and the Inspecting Captain of Airships Murray Sueter later appointed him to be the captain of the airship when it was completed. Unfortunately the airship subsequently broke its back without having made a successful flight, and development was abandoned. Usborne remained attached to Hermione until January 1912. In April 1912 he was promoted to Squadron Commander in the RNAS.
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