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{{short description|Royal Flying Corps commander}}
{{More footnotes|date=January 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= Gordon Strachey Shephard
|image=
|image_size=
|alt=
|caption=
|nickname=
|birth_date= {{Birth date|1885|07|09|df=yes}}
|birth_place= [[Chennai|Madras, India]]
|death_date= {{Death date and age|1918|01|19|1885|07|09|df=yes}}
|death_place= [[Auchel]], France
|placeofburial= Lapugnoy Military Cemetery
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|branch= [[British Army]] (1904–18)
|serviceyears= 1904–1918
|rank= [[Brigadier General]]
|unit=
|commands= I Brigade RFC (1917–18) 12th (Corps) Wing RFC (1915–17) [[No. 6 Squadron RAF|No. 6 Squadron RFC]] (1915) [[No. 10 Squadron RAF|No. 10 Squadron RFC]] (1915)
|battles= [[First World War]]
|awards= [[Distinguished Service Order]] [[Military Cross]] [[Mentioned in Despatches]] (2)
|relations=
|laterwork=
}}
[[Brigadier General]] '''Gordon Strachey Shephard''', {{postnominals|country=GBR|size=100%|sep=,|DSO|MC}} (9 July 1885 – 19 January 1918) was a [[Royal Flying Corps]] commander. He was the highest-ranking officer of the flying services to be killed in service during the [[First World War]].

==Early life and military service==
The second son of [[Hale Horatio Shephard|Sir Horatio Shephard]], a judge, and Lady Shephard, of 58 Montagu Square, London, Shephard attended [[Eton College]] from 1898 to 1903, then the [[Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]. He belonged to the Royal Cruising Club, where his skills as a yachtsman would prove useful later in life. He was gazetted second lieutenant to a [[British Army|Regular Army]] battalion of the [[Royal Fusiliers]] on 28 January 1905. He transferred to the [[Royal Flying Corps]] (RFC) in 1912, the year of its formation.{{Citation needed|date=March 2011}} However, in July 1914, he used his skills as a yachtsman for a quite different purpose, to surreptitiously assist his friend [[Erskine Childers (author)|Erskine Childers]] (who was executed by the Free State government in 1922 during the [[Irish Civil War]]) in landing a consignment of weaponry at [[Howth]] aboard Childers' yacht, [[Asgard (yacht)|The ''Asgard'']], on behalf of the [[Irish Volunteers]], an action which, had it become known, would have resulted in, at a minimum, the termination of Shephard's military career, if not far more drastic punishment. His covert operations came to an abrupt halt when he and a companion were briefly detained by the German authorities at [[Emden]], after they were seen taking photographs in a sensitive area.<ref name="bio">[http://genealogy.links.org/links-cgi/readged?/home/ben/camilla-genealogy/current+c-shephard97024+2-2-0-1-0 Gordon Strachey Shephard extensive biodata]</ref>

On 22 August 1914, Shephard landed near [[Maubeuge]] for [[petrol]], where he was given first-hand accounts of the fighting from French cavalry falling back from the Sambre canal. On 24 August 1914, he and Lieutenant [[Ian Bonham-Carter]] reported to the Staff that General von Kluck's right wing would swamp the British Army unless the retreat was continued. On 4 November 1914, Shephard narrowly escaped after the [[longeron]] of his BE2b, "487", was shot through.<ref name="bio"/>

At the start of 1915 Shephard assumed command of the newly formed [[No. 10 Squadron RAF|No. 10 Squadron]], which was then assigned to a training role at Farnborough. Two months later and before No. 10 Squadron deployed to France, Shephard was reassigned to command [[No. 6 Squadron RAF|No. 6 Squadron]]. In 1917 Shephard was promoted to command [[Royal Flying Corps|I Brigade RFC]] and was promoted to the rank of [[brigadier general]], which gave him greater opportunity to further the careers of able pilots.<ref name="bio"/>

==Death==
On 19 January 1918, aged 32, Shephard decided to visit the aerodrome at [[Auchel]], where three of his squadrons were stationed. His Nieuport Scout "B3610" spun into the ground. He was lifted from the wreckage but died several hours later in hospital. He was the highest-ranking officer of the flying services to be killed in a theatre of war in the First World War,<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=06TdWzZyH3sC&pg=PA264&lpg=PA264&dq=Royal+Flying+Corps+pilot+Gordon+Shephard+was+killed&source=bl&ots=ePhhIwceFO&sig=fcgyyhC5EbEPbYrXX--wBVlfVmo&hl=en&ei=VLZGTbGWGMjagQe09Ly-AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=7&ved=0CD0Q6AEwBg Circumstances of Shepard's death detailed]</ref> and was buried in the [[Lapugnoy]] Military Cemetery, in the [[Pas de Calais]], France (plot VI, B15).<ref name="bio"/>

==Legacy==
The Gordon Shephard Memorial Essay Prize was established as a memorial to Shephard.<ref>[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1937/1937%20-%200939.html '''Gordon Shephard Memorial Prize Essay''' (PDF)]</ref> Shepard's father, Sir Horatio, left a sum of money in trust to award annual prizes for essays on reconnaissance and related subjects submitted by RAF officers and airmen.

==Other reading==
* ''The Memoirs of Gordon Shephard'' (edited by [[Shane Leslie]]); privately published (1924)

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110928210107/http://toto.lib.unca.edu/findingaids/mss/sargent_roland/cross_and_cock_gb.htm "Roland Sargent Collection Journals Cross and Cockade, Great Britain", ''Journal of the British Society of World War I Aero Historians'']
* [https://books.google.com/books?id=_eRmAAAAMAAJ&q=Royal+Flying+Corps+pilot+Gordon+Shephard+was+killed&dq=Royal+Flying+Corps+pilot+Gordon+Shephard+was+killed&hl=en&ei=Y7dGTdHtNobbgQfypIG5AQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved=0CCwQ6AEwAA Profile of Gordon Strachey Shephard excerpted from ''"Bloody red tabs: general officer casualties of the Great War 1914–1918"'']
* [http://www.docstoc.com/docs/14739936/British-Generals-List---Centre-for-First-World-War-Studies Centre for World War I Studies (UK)]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20110725211150/http://www.airpowerstudies.co.uk/APR%20Vol%2012%20No%201.pdf Air Power Studies website (UK)]
*[http://www.rafweb.org/Biographies/Shephard_GS.htm Air of Authority – A History of RAF Organisation – Brigadier-General G S Shephard]
*[http://afloat.ie/blogs/sailing-saturday-with-wm-nixon/item/32383-hms-caroline-shared-belfast-commemoraton-expresses-new-attitude-to-world-war-i-in-ireland HMS Caroline: Shared Belfast Commemoration Expresses New Attitude To World War I In Ireland] by W. M. Nixon in Sailing on Saturdays, ''Afloat'' magazine, 28 May 2016
* ''Memoir of Gordon Shephard'', edited by Sir Shane Leslie, privately printed in 1924, held in the library at Castle Leslie in County Monaghan

{{s-start}}
{{s-mil}}
|-
{{s-new|reason=Squadron established}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commanding Officer [[No. 10 Squadron RAF|No. 10 Squadron RFC]]|years=January - March 1915}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Ulick Bourke (RAF officer)|U J D Bourke]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[John Becke|J H W Becke]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Commanding Officer [[No. 6 Squadron RAF|No. 6 Squadron RFC]]|years=March - December 1915}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Reginald Mills (RAF officer)|R P Mills]]}}
|-
{{s-bef|before=[[Duncan Pitcher]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=Brigadier-General Commanding [[I Brigade RFC]]| years=1917–1918}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Cuthbert MacLean]] Temporary appointment, followed by: [[Duncan Pitcher]]}}
{{s-end}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Shephard, Gordonstrachey}}
[[Category:1885 births]]
[[Category:1918 deaths]]
[[Category:British military personnel killed in World War I]]
[[Category:Chevaliers of the Légion d'honneur]]
[[Category:Companions of the Distinguished Service Order]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst]]
[[Category:People from Chennai]]
[[Category:Royal Fusiliers officers]]
[[Category:People educated at Eton College]]
[[Category:Royal Flying Corps officers]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]

Gordon Strachey Shephard - Revision history

Bot at 03:13, 23 November 2022