In Memory Of

GILES, GOWAN ARBUTHNOT

Service Details
Age:
 42
Date of Birth:
 1898-09-25
Service No:
 203120
Rank:
 Captain
Unit:
 41 Sqdn.
Regiment:
 South African Air Force
Date of Death:
 1941-06-03
Cause of Death:
 Killed in action, Hartbees #861, shot down by AA fire at Daccano and crashing near the Omo River
Commemoration
Grave Reference:
 2. C. 4.
Cemetery:
 ADDIS ABABA WAR CEMETERY
Country:
 Ethiopia
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