Background
The son of Charles Edmonds of Stamford, Lincolnshire, and Mary Elizabeth ("Ella") Harris of Liverpool, Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1903, serving in the Balkan War of 1911-1912.
The son of Charles Edmonds of Stamford, Lincolnshire, and Mary Elizabeth ("Ella") Harris of Liverpool, Charles joined the Royal Navy in 1903, serving in the Balkan War of 1911-1912.
He then attended the Military Pilot"s Course at the Central Flying School, in the year of its establishment at Wiltshire in 1912.
Air Vice-Marshal Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds Commander of the Order of the British Empire Defence Science Organisation Royal Air Force (20 April 1891 – 26 September 1954) was a decorated British naval aviator during World War I and a senior commander in the Royal Air Force during World World War World War II One of the earliest pilots in the Royal Naval Air Service, he was one of the pilots selected to take part in the Cuxhaven Raid on Christmas Day 1914, flying Short Admiralty Type 74 (Number 811), for which he received his Defence Science Organisation. Edmonds was a Flight Commander of the seaplane carrier HMS Ben-my-Chree during the Gallipoli Campaign. On 12 August 1915, flying a Short 184 seaplane, he made history by launching the first ever aerial torpedo attack on a Turkish merchant ship. lieutenant subsequently sank, although it had already been hit by the British submarine HMS E14.
Five days later, he successfully attacked another Turkish ship, the first to have been sunk entirely by this method.
Flying Short Type 184 Number 849 on 11 February 1916, he suffered engine failure and on landing on a heavy sea, the aircraft capsized. Edmonds and his observer (Irish nationalist Lieutenant R Erskine Childers, the author of "The Riddle of the Sands") were rescued by HMT Charlsen.
He served aboard HMS Raven II and HMS Otranto before being awarded a permanent commission as Major on 1 August 1919. In that same year, he was awarded an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire. Her served in a number of senior roles between the wars and through World World War II, being awarded a Commander of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1943.
He retired on 3 October 1945 and died on 26 September 1954.
By 1913, he was a member of staff at the Calshot Naval Air Station, and in 1914 pilot of HMS Riviera.