Adrian Franklyn

Who is Adrian Franklyn?

Lieutenant Adrian Winfrid Franklyn was a World War I flying ace credited with seven aerial victories, including a Fokker DR1 triplane and a Fokker DVII - the best aircraft used in the First World War.

Adrian was born in the Heathfield area of Twickenham, Middlesex, in 1899. On 20 April 1918, aged just nineteen, he became the last British pilot to engage Manfred von Richthofen. The following day, Richthofen was killed, shot through the heart by an Australian infantryman. He had avoided contact with Canadian ace Arthur Roy Brown and strayed over Allied lines. Adrian stayed with the RAF after the war. In 1934, he married Isabella Milne at Westhampnett, in Sussex. His father, Burdett Caslon Franklyn, was from Melbourne, Australia and worked as a butcher's clerk. Burdett died at the young age of forty-four, when Adrian was fifteen. Violet, Adrian's mother, was born in Brighton, Sussex, and the family maintained a connection with that area. His elder brother, Vere, died aged four and is buried unmarked, at Twickenham. Adrian Franklyn retired with the rank of Group Captain, in 1948. He died in Devon and it may be that he was cremated. References to Adrian Franklyn having been born in Hounslow, probably refer to his birth registration.