The RAF Museum discovered a letter he wrote to his mother describing the moment he was very seriously injured mid-flight in Belgium. He was flying his R.E.8 biplane over the Western Front to capture images of enemy territory on 28 July 1917 when he was attacked. His Royal Aero Club (RAeC) photograph is held in the RAF Museum’s archive alongside an index card that describes his nationality as British. The RFC became the Royal Air Force in 1918 when it merged with the air arm of the Royal Navy on April 1, 1918. On April 26, 1917 William qualified as a Royal Flying Corps (RFC) pilot.
William sailed to England with many letters from influential Jamaicans recommending him as a perfect candidate to become a pilot. will be very useful in Lord Kitchener’s organization.” Black Poppies - Britain's Black Community and the Great War by author Stephen Bourne
full of energy and is hard as nails.” The journalist wrote of William's accomplishments, courage and pluck – just the sort of man who: The aspiring pilot and skilled car engineer was described as “. With the help of Andrew Dawrant and The Royal Aero Club, Stephen discovered an article, written in June 1915, in Jamaican newspaper ‘The Gleaner’ in which the journalist wrote of William travelling to England to play his part in defending the country. “Training schools were to a large extent privately operated under special contracts with the British Government, so we were told that if we could find £150 each, we could get into such a school and if we qualified in six months and earned flying certificates, we would be considered for admission. I did not have that money.” During his research, Stephen came across “The Autobiography Of Norman Washington Manley” in which Jamaican-born Norman wrote about what it would take to become a pilot. The First World War saw the birth of aeroplanes being used in warfare and an opportunity for men from a variety of different ethnic backgrounds to become pilots.Īuthor Stephen Bourne spent time looking at William’s journey to becoming a pilot for his book ‘Black Poppies: Britain’s Black Community And The Great War’. The brave pioneers who travelled across the world to fight alongside men who looked down upon them did so because they saw the role they could play in the First World War as being of crucial importance. However, it was stated that any ‘alien’, while serving in His Majesty’s regular forces, be entitled to all the “privileges of a natural-born British subject”. “The number of aliens serving together at any one time in any corps of the regular forces shall not exceed the proportion of one alien to every fifty British subjects, and that an alien so enlisted shall not be capable of holding any higher rank in His Majesty’s regular forces than that of a Warrant Officer or non-commissioned officer.” The Manual Of Military Law (1914) made it startlingly clear that people who were considered ‘alien’ – a man or woman who was not a British citizen – were allowed to enlist but there were restrictions that inevitably reminded them they were considered second class citizens: The colour bar prevented people who were not white from having the equal rights as white people. Only men of “pure European descent” could qualify for a commission into the armed forces. When the casualty numbers started rising rapidly during the First World War, it was decided that the ‘colour bar’ would be lifted. The pilot is today being remembered by the RAF Museum, among others, on the anniversary of that day in 1917, an incredible moment in the history of the Great War, as we delve more into the astonishing life of the pioneering Sgt William 'Robbie' Clarke.
Lives that mattered – the black experience of WW2.The remarkable life of the British Army's oldest surviving female veteran.George Arthur Roberts: Black soldier and pioneering civil rights activist.Robbie passed out as the bullet entered his body but his observer managed to take over the controls mid-air before crash-landing the aircraft.Īgainst all odds, both airmen survived the impact. Pilot Sergeant William 'Robbie' Clarke was flying his Royal Aircraft Factory R.E.8, a World War One British two-seat reconnaissance and bomber biplane, over the Western Front with a fellow airman acting as an 'observer' to capture images of enemy territory, when the enemy attacked. Britain's first and only black pilot of the First World War is being remembered for the moment he survived an attack in the air by five enemy fighter planes despite being shot in the spine and knocked unconscious.