Name/Title
Flying Goggles, Conn SmytheEntry/Object ID
82.3.11Description
First World War Flying Goggles. "A" with wings badge between the eyes. Glass, Steel, Rubber, and Elastic. The left eye piece is missing.Use
Eye protection while engaged in flying dutiesContext
Conn Smythe enlisted in the artillery in March of 1915. He was selected aa possible officer in July of 1915 and commissioned in August 1915. He was posted to the 40th Battery and went overseas in February of 1916. While with the 40th Battery, he was awarded the Military Cross for his actions in repelling a German attack. In July of 1917 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps. Although he qualified as a pilot, most of his RFC service was spent as an observer, directing artillery fire. He was flying as an observer on 14 October 1917 when he was shot down and captured, spending the remainder of the war in a POW camp in Schweidnitz, Upper Silesia (now in southwestern Poland).
The flying googles, along with many other military items belonging to Lieutenant Colonel Smythe were given to the Museum f=by the Smythe family after his death in 1980.
