Neville Usborne

In 1897 he became a cadet in the Royal Navy, entering the training ship HMS Britannia. In 1898, now a midshipman, he achieved the second-highest marks in his year and was also awarded a prize for French.[1] In December 1899 he was posted to HMS Canopus[2] and in 1903 he was promoted to sub-lieutenant, and entered the newly formed submarine service, joining HMS Latona[3] In January 1904 he was promoted to full lieutenant, with seniority back-dated to March 1903.[4] and shortly afterwards posted to HMS Doris[5] In March 1905 he was posted to the torpedo school at HMS Vernon.[6]

Usborne in the gondola of the airship Beta II, 1913

In 1909 he was sent to Barrow-in-Furness to supervise the construction of the Navy's first rigid airship, H.M.A. No. 1 being built by Vickers,[7] and was posted to HMS Hermione, a cruiser acting as the tender for the airship, in September 1910. He is credited with having made significant contributions to the design of the airship,[8] and the Inspecting Captain of Airships Murray Sueter later appointed him to be the captain of the airship when it was completed.[9] Unfortunately the airship subsequently broke its back without having made a successful flight, and development was abandoned. Usborne remained attached to Hermione until January 1912. In April 1912 he was promoted to Squadron Commander in the RNAS.[10]

His interest in flying was not confined to lighter-than air flight, and he took flying lessons at the Ewen School at Hendon, and was awarded Aero Club Certificate No. 449 on 1 April 1913.[11] In October 1913 he was given command of HMA No. 3, an Astra-Torres airship, in which capacity he once had Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, as a passenger.[12]

H.M.A.3 in the shed at Kingsnorth, painted by his father-in-law Vereker Hamilton

He was promoted to Commander on 1 January 1914, and in April 1914 was appointed the commanding officer of RNAS Kingsnorth. On 1 July 1914 Neville was promoted to Wing-Commander, and on 13 August 1915 he was appointed Inspector Commander of Airships at the Admiralty.

As a defence against the German Zeppelin bombing raids Usborne and Squadron Commander de Courcy Ireland (of RNAS Great Yarmouth) had developed a method of suspending a B.E.2c airplane from an envelope: this would be able to reach altitude quickly and patrol as an airship, the airplane being detached once a Zeppelin had been found. Some preliminary trials were made in August 1915, and a full trial was attempted on 21 February 1916. This trial, however, ended in disaster: the "airship-plane" had lifted off from RNAS Kingsnorth with Usborne and Ireland in the cockpit. They floated to an altitude of about 4,000 ft (1,200 m) when a sudden and unexpected loss of pressure in the envelope above them caused the envelope to buckle, in turn causing the forward suspension cable supporting the airplane to part. For a moment the plane hung vertically from the envelope, nose-down. Then the overloaded rear cables also failed, and the airplane began to fall in a slideslip: it then flipped, ejecting Ireland who fell 15 seconds to his death:[13] Usborne remained with the plane until it crashed in Strood railway station goods yard, killing him.[14][15]

He married Betty Hamilton, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Vereker Monteith Hamilton at St Margaret's, Westminster on 23 February 1914.