Second Lieutenant Robert Leonard Grahame Skinner was a pilot with RAF 46 Squadron attached to 1st/2nd Battalion, Black Watch (Royal Highlanders). Robert Skinner was the son of the Rev. Henry Leonard Skinner and Susanna Maria Skinner, of The Rectory, Callander. Perthshire.
Most of this personal information below was researched by ‘The Ellesmerian Club’, the alumni organisation for Ellesmere College where Robert was a pupil. Robert Leonard Grahame Skinner went to Ellesmere College from the McLaren High School, Callander in Perthshire, Scotland. He arrived in May 1911 and stayed until July 1914. His father, the Reverend Henry L. Skinner, lived at the St. Andrews Rectory, Callander with his mother Susannah. From the Scottish Census of 1901 it seems that Robert had a twin, Helen.
Robert was allocated a bed in the ‘Arthur’ dormitory and placed in Form Upper II under the instruction of Mr. J. G. Sinclair. There were 158 on the nominal roll. During his time at Ellesmere, Robert represented his dormitory in all the major sports, cricket, rugby, football, and hockey. In his senior years, he was a frequent speaker from the floor in the Debating Society and took the part of ‘the widow’ in the Shakespearian Society production of “The Taming of the Shrew” (1913), the last such play before the outbreak of war.
He passed Arithmetic, Divinity, History, English, Geography, Drawing and Chemistry in the Oxford Local Examinations of 1913, the same year that he was confirmed. He was awarded the Vth Form Science prize in his final term.
As soon as he was able, he enlisted in the 8th Battalion, the Cameron Highlanders, serving with them in the trenches for five months. Afterwards he received a commission in the 1/2nd Battalion, the Black Watch. He was then commissioned to the Royal Air Force and soon obtained his Royal Aero Aviators Certificate # 5374 (his “wings”) on 27th October 1917 at the Graham-White Flying School, Hendon.
Second Lieutenant Robert Skinner returned to France at Easter time 1918, as a pilot with RAF 46 Squadron which was part of the 22nd (Army) Wing, the 5th Brigade, based at Busigny, southwest of Cambrai. Within five weeks, on 3rd May 1918, he was reported missing over German lines when flying with five others. At 1.00pm he was last seen entering a cloud in his Sopwith Camel, single seater fighter bi-plane, B7357.
When his British War Medal was put up for auction in 2012 the documentation accompanying it stated that he was shot down by Leutnant Paul Billick, Staffelführer (Commanding Officer) of the Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel 52. Robert Skinner was the 14th of his 31 ‘victories’.
News came through on 31st May that Robert was a prisoner of war. His wounds and injuries, however, were too great and he died very soon after age 20 years.
Robert Skinner has no known grave but is remembered on the Arras Flying Services Memorial and on the War Memorials at Ellesmere College and at Callander. His sacrifice is also commemorated on a cairn on Dounmhor (Dunmore), erected by Callander Scouts in 1921 to commemorate the sacrifice made by past members of their local group.
The Flight-Commander of No. 46 Squadron wrote of him: Although he had been with us such a short time, he had endeared himself to us all and proved a very brave boy, who was always there when he was wanted.
Notes: Leutnant Paul Billik commanded Jagdstaffel 52 from 27 December 1917 to 10 August 1918 (POW). He died in a landing accident in Staaken, Berlin, on 8 March 1926 while piloting one of the world’s first passenger liners, the Junkers F.13.
Paul Billick was the highest ‘scoring’ German ace not to be awarded the “pour le Merite” (known as the Blue Max during the war). His capture and interment as a prisoner of war prevented him being awarded the medal.
At the same time as Robert Skinner was shot down, 1.00pm, 2nd Lieutenant Victor Maslin Yeates also of RAF 46 squadron claimed his first victory, shared with Captain D R McLaren (also 46 Squadron). Yeates is best known for his book, Winged Victory, widely regarded as a classic description of aerial combat and the futility of war. Captain Donald Roderick McLaren was a WW1 ace, credited with 54 victories. McLaren helped found the Royal Canadian Air Force.
