Current Information:

Age-23

28, Westbourne Road, Forest Hill

Chingford Mount Cemetery

The following extract and the photograph are from the Dulwich College-The fallen of the Great War website

When war began Charles Arnold at first joined the Honourable Artillery Company but by March 1915 he had transferred to the Royal Naval Air Service and was training as a pilot. He spent most of 1916 working in the Eastern Mediterranean against the Turks where he became particularly renowned for his ability at aerial photography, as well as teaching flying to the local Greek pilots. In May 1917 he returned to England to accept the post of Instructor at Chingford Naval Aerodrome. Having survived many close calls, particularly one in 1915 where he was rescued from the sinking wreckage after his plane had come down in the sea twelve miles off Littlehampton, on August 16th 1917 his luck ran out; whilst out on a training flight his plane was brought down by engine trouble, killing both Charles and his pupil, one Flight Officer Forman.