Johnston, Cadet Noble John

Service highlights

  • Service number: 152681
  • Rank: Cadet
  • Born: 5 June 1896, St. Marys
  • Enlisted: 14 November 1917, Royal Flying Corps, in Toronto
  • Training: ground school at Long Branch, then flight training at Leaside
  • Flying status: solo by 12 May 1918
  • Died: 12 May 1918, following a training crash near Leaside, after evacuation to Toronto General Hospital
  • Burial: St. Marys Cemetery, war grave maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission
  • Commemorated: cenotaph in St. Marys

A Life and Service Remembered

Noble John Johnston was born in St. Marys on 5 June 1896, the son of Robert Young Johnston. Before he entered military service, he worked a variety of jobs. He was a clerk with the A.H. Lofft clothing store in St. Marys, and he also worked with branches of the Royal Bank in Wallaceburg and Sarnia. His attestation papers describe him as a banker, and they place him living in St. Marys.

He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in Toronto on 14 November 1917. The details of his early training are thin in the record, but he likely completed ground school at Long Branch before being posted to Leaside for flying training. Pilot training in the Great War moved fast, and by May 1918 Noble was flying solo.

On Sunday, 12 May 1918, he took off from the Leaside field on a routine training flight. About two miles from the airstrip, at roughly 500 feet, his engine quit and he was forced to land. He managed to restart the engine, but only briefly. Moments later, his aircraft dropped suddenly to the ground. Other pilots nearby saw the crash and were able to summon help, but Noble was pinned in the wreckage with a fractured skull. the extracted his and evacuated him to Toronto General Hospital and died about an hour later, at 2 p.m. on 12 May 1918.

Noble was buried in St. Marys Cemetery. His grave is considered a war grave and is inspected and maintained by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. The crest on his headstone is that of the Royal Air Force, not the Royal Flying Corps, reflecting the formation of the Royal Air Force on 1 April 1918 and the automatic transfer of Royal Flying Corps personnel into the new service.

He was survived by his parents, Robert and Isabella Johnston of Queen Street West, and by two brothers and a sister, Thomas (Tommy), Wesley, and May. Noble Johnston is commemorated on the cenotaph in St. Marys.

Major battles and operations

  • Home front air service training in Canada
  • Ground school at Long Branch
  • Flight training at Leaside
  • Fatal training crash during a solo flight, 12 May 1918

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