Canada's Naval History

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First World War (1914-1918)
Canadians in the Royal Naval Air Service

Among the Canadians serving with the Royal Navy were those in its aviation branch, the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). They included aces and future leaders of the Royal Canadian Air Force. The dangers they faced included the enemy, the elements, and their own unreliable aircraft.

Artifact Record

Propeller Fragments, Flight Lieutenant Harry Wambolt

These propeller fragments are from the aircraft of Flight Lieutenant Harry Wambolt of the Royal Naval Air Service, who was killed in a dogfight with two German aircraft.

Wambolt enlisted from Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, and was killed on 4 March 1917. Jean Thuillier, a French boy who witnessed the crash, saved the fragments and corresponded with Wambolt's grieving parents for years after the war. Thuillier sent this wreckage to the family and, in letters, described Wambolt's death and his subsequent burial by the Germans.

Propeller Fragments
CWM 19720147-010