Page 95 - They Also Served

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Stewart Blacker 1907.
Latham Valentine Stewart Blacker was
born in Cheshire in 1887. Awarded a
gymnastic certificate at Sandhurst, he
was initially commissioned in 1907
into the Royal Irish Fusiliers. He then
transferred to the Indian Army, where he
served variously with the 69th Punjabis,
57th Wilde’s Rifles, and the Queen’s
Own Corps of Guides. During his early
service, he was awarded a MiD on the
North-West Frontier. Returning to
England, he learned to fly in 1911 and was awarded his Royal Aero Club Aviator’s Certificate (121) – the 121st person to ever learn to fly in the UK.
Seconded to the RFC, he tested aircraft at Farnborough before flying through much of the First World War. An illustration of Britain’s readiness for war was when in August 1914, as the senior pilot in the army, he opened the safe to examine his orders – to find that the content was two left boots. Flying reconnaissance missions over the trenches, he was appalled at the carnage he witnessed from the relative safety of his machine. He, therefore, volunteered and was accepted back into the infantry, possibly the only person to do this when the trend was for officers to escape the trenches by volunteering to fly. During the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, Blacker was wounded by shrapnel and, after convalescence, posted back to the RFC as a freelance technical officer. Blacker’s inquisitive mind, coupled with his extensive flying experience, led to him assisting in the development of several war-winning inventions. The Constantinesco synchronisation gear was a hydraulic system that allowed machine guns to fire between the spinning blades of an aircraft propeller. This remained the standard equipment of the RAF until the late 1930s. He also developed the Pomeroy explosive bullet, designed to ignite the hydrogen gas in German airships, ensuring that the threat of Zeppelin raids was nullified by 1917. Blacker ended the war back with the Indian Army, assisting the Cossacks fighting the Russian Bolsheviks in what is now Turkmenistan. Soon after, he was again on operations in Persia, for which he was awarded the OBE.
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