CARDIFFREMEMBERED Hubert last surviving Great War pilot – until his death aged 106

CARDIFF man Hubert Williams, who died in a Cardiff nursing home at the age of 106 in September 2002, was the last Royal Air Force pilot of the Great War.

This is revealed in Dr Jonathan Hicks’ splendid Wales And The First Air War 1914-18.

Hubert was transferred from the Royal Engineers to the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 and was sent to the de Havilland training school in Northern France.

After the final stage of his training he moved on to fighter training and flew a Sopwith Camel, bombing and attacking German trenches during the battle of the Somme.

Recalling his experiences, he said: “I was keen to get cracking to stop the enemy coming into the country.

“We knew we might die but we were prepared to die for our country.

“I can remember the bombing, the shrapnel, shells going off all round, the guns flashing. It was terrible.

“There was smoke everywhere. I could hear people screaming and there was masses of blood.

“I lost a lot of my friends. I can remember waving to one colleague as we were flying and the next second he was a ball of flames.

“He had been shot down by a German plane and I expected the same thing to happen to me.”

Hubert rejoined the RAF during the Second World War and, after retiring from service, he ran a successful electrical business in Cardiff for more than 40 years.

Of his time as a pilot he said: “I’m no hero. I just consider myself a remarkably lucky man to have survived.”

I was surprised to learn of the number of First World War airmen who came from Cardiff and Wales.

Lieutenant George Guy Barry Dowling from Llanishen, for instance, is buried in St Isan Church cemetery in Llanishen.