Charles Edmonds

Air Vice Marshal Charles Humphrey Kingsman Edmonds, (20 April 1891 – 26 September 1954) was an air officer of the Royal Air Force (RAF). He first served in the Royal Navy and was a naval aviator during the First World War, taking part in the Cuxhaven Raid in December 1914; and while serving in the Gallipoli Campaign (1915) he was the first man to sink an enemy ship from an aircraft, using a torpedo. In the interbellum he remained in the RAF, becoming a senior staff officer during World War II. Early life Edmonds was one of four children born to Charles Edmonds and his wife Mary Elizabeth (née Harris), in Lincoln, Lincolnshire. In 1903, at the age of 14, he joined the Royal Navy as cadet. On 15 July 1911 he was promoted from midshipman to sub-lieutenant, serving aboard the battleship from 10 October 1911, taking part in blockade operations during the First Balkan War.