Neville Florian Usborne

Wing Commander Neville Florian Usborne, (27 February, 1883 – 21 February, 1916) served in the Royal Navy. A very clever man, Usborne managed to be active in submarines, wireless and aviation before being killed in an accident in 1916.

Life & Career

Usborne's skills in French earned him the Ryder Memorial Prize as a Sub-Lieutenant.

Usborne was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant on 15 March, 1903.

Usborne submitted a report on German use of Wireless Telegraphy, an extract of which appeared in the Annual Report of the Torpedo School, 1907.

On 1 October 1913, he was appointed in command of Naval Airship No. 3.

Usborne was promoted to the rank of Commander on 1 January, 1914. On 1 April, 1914 he was appointed in command of Kingsnorth Airship Station.

Usborne was promoted to the rank of Wing Commander on 1 July, 1914.

On 21 October 1914, he was appointed in command of Naval Airship No. 8.

Usborne died alongside De Courcy Wyndor Plunkett Ireland in a wartime experiment to launch a fighter plane from airship AP.1 as a defence against Zeppelin attacks.

See Also

• Service Records
• Wikipedia