FLIGHT SUB-LIEUT. ERIC JAMES KERSHAW BUCKLEY, R.N.A.S. KILLED ON ACTIVE SERVICE, SEPTEMBER 28TH 1917. AGED 22. At the School, 1909-14 (Day Boy). Flight Sub-Lieut. E. J. K. Buckley was the only son of the late James Kershaw Buckley, of Rochdale, Lancashire, and of Mrs. Buckley, of 6 Dry Hill Park, Tonbridge, and grandson of the late Nathaniel Buckley, M.D., F.R.C.S., of Rochdale. Entering the School from Yardley Court in September 1909, he left in July 1914, and proceeded to Queens' College, Cambridge. During the early part of the War he remained at Cambridge working with a view to taking Holy Orders, and devoting his vacations to Y.M.C.A. work with the troops. The Dean of Queens' wrote: - "You know how we loved Eric here and looked forward to his being a great influence in life, especially in work with boys. . . . His memory with us is without any shadow at all."Early in 1916 he determined that he ought to give up his work in order to serve, and selected the R.N.A.S. He was gazetted a Temporary Probationary Flight Sub-Lieutenant, July 16th 1916, and developed into an excellent airman, obtaining his certificate early in 1917, and the confirmation of his commission appeared in Gazette on March 13th 1917. In May he went out to the Front and soon did good work there. In that month he brought down a Hun two-seater, and again in August, when on patrol at 15,000 feet, he dived on a Hun scout and shot him down into the sea, five miles N.E. of Dixmude. He had a very narrow escape on this occasion, as his engine was damaged and stopped dead when he was at 5,000 feet; but fortunately he sighted some French destroyers and managed to alight on the water near them. He and his machine were rescued, and a most interesting photograph appeared in a London paper, reproduced from Le Miroir, showing the machine secured to the destroyer in such a position that one wing pointed to the sky. At the beginning of September he came home on eight days' leave. On September 21st, the day that the School returned, exactly a week before his death, he had come over for a new machine and, at 6 p.m. on his way back accompanied by another Pilot on the same errand, he bade farewell to the School and to his home by circling low over the School buildings and the Park, and then returned to France in record time. On September 28th 1917, he was flying in a " formation squadron" on patrol over the sea at a height of some 15,000 feet, when his machine and another collided and they both fell into the sea, about two miles out from Nieuport. Boats and flying men raced to the spot, but no sign of either could be found, and though they were reported as "missing, believed killed," it was from the first felt that there was no hope for them. After six weeks his body was recovered from the sea and was buried at Renesse, near Flushing, but on June 2nd 1918, was re-interred in the British cemetery at Flushing, with full military honours, in the presence of the British and Belgian Consuls, a number of Dutch officers, and many others. A brother Pilot wrote that he was "absolutely reliable when the Squadron was in a tight corner," and the following are extracts from two of the letters of his brother officers: - "Every one respected him and realised how good was the influence of his example." "He was such a splendid friend and a really good man. Every one thought the same of him, and he was an universal favourite." His CO. testified to his good work with the Squadron, and to his great popularity, and other letters tell of his absolute fearlessness and of his love of flying and determination to keep it up if possible, after the War, liven after he should have been ordained. The Chaplain wrote: - "He was regarded as a skilful and brave pilot, always keen and ready to do his duty, and has done excellent work since he has been out."The award of the Croix de Guerre and of the Croix de Chevalier de I'Ordre de la Couronne, conferred upon him by H.M. the King of the Belgians, appeared in the Gazette on February 22nd 1918.