Service Details
Name:
 GILES
Given Name:
 GOWAN ARBUTHNOT
Initials:
 G A
Service No:
 203120
Rank:
 Captain
Other Casualties of this Rank
Regiment:
 South African Air Force
Other Casualties from this Regiment
Unit:
 41 Sqdn.
Other Casualties from this Unit
Date of Death:
 1941-06-03
Other Casualties on this Date
Date of Birth:
 1898-09-25
Age:
 42
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action, Hartbees #861, shot down by AA fire at Daccano and crashing near the Omo River
Additional
Information:
Son of Douglas Gowan and Corinna Evangeline (Arbuthnot) Giles; husband of Harriet M. Giles, of Flagstaff, Cape Province, South Africa. Born Upper Tugela, Natal. Educated at Hilton College. Left school to enlist in the RFC 2/6/1916; served with #60, #209 & #70 Squadrons in WWI. Credited with a kill shared with 2 other pilots. He farmed for 6 years, a trader in the Transkei before returning to aviation in 1935; served with 41 Squadron in East Africa. Believed to be South Africa's oldest combat pilot when he died. Commemorated on Greytown, KZN & Hilton College, KZN Midlands WWII Memorials
Commemoration
Country:
 Ethiopia
Other Casualties commemorated in Ethiopia
Cemetery:
 ADDIS ABABA WAR CEMETERY
Other Casualties commemorated in this Cemetery
Grave Reference:
 2. C. 4.

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