Royal Air Force
In St Martin’s Churchyard at Charlton Abbots, near Sudeley there is only one Great War-related war grave. It is that of Allan John Braine Meikle who was born at Barnham, Suffolk in 1900 and came from a farming family. Latterly the family relocated to Cotehay Farm, Andoversford and Allan was educated at Belmore House School, Cheltenham.
After leaving school he became an apprentice tool maker with an engineering company in Coventry and then in January 1917, at the age of sixteen, he enlisted in the Army obviously overstating his real age.
He was posted to the Motor Transport section of the Army Service Corps and saw service in Ireland. In about 1917 he applied to join the Royal Flying Corps and his service record records his date of birth as 24 January 1889. He was accepted and became a Cadet on 13 August 1917 and undertook training in Buckinghamshire. By 8 November 1917 he had qualified as a pilot and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant.
He specialised in flying single seater aircraft, which included the Sopwith Pup, Camel and Triplane. In July 1918 he came home on leave, in anticipation of a posting overseas. Whilst awaiting this he was posted to No 4 Training Depot Station at Hooten Park aerodrome on the Wirral, Cheshire.
On 5 August 1918 he took off on his final flight, in a Sopwith Dolphin.
A report of the inquest appeared in the Chester Chronicle of 10 August 1918: (Second Lieutenant Meikle) started (the) flight at about 10.40 am. When about 250 feet up the machine ‘flattened out’ a little, then did a flat turn to the left, thus causing it to spin immediately and crash to the ground. (The) deceased, it was stated, appeared to ‘take off’ at too great an angle, which caused a loss of flying speed. The machine burst into flames. Verdict … accidental death.
Allan was baptised on 29 July 1900 and BMD records indicated his birth registration was in the third quarter of that year – so most likely he was born in either late June or July 1900.
He evidently concealed his real age when enlisting in the Army and transferring into the RFC and he was therefore only just 18 when he died.
Research by Graham Adams (Research for the Gloucestershire War Graves Project)