Edward Maitland Maitland (1880-1921) formerly Gee
Captain, made his Solo Ascent on Wednesday, the 16th inst., in the "Pompadour," qualifying for an Aeronaut's Certificate.
1880 February 21st. Born Edward Maitland Gee, at Shelford, Cambs., the eldest son of Arthur Gee, a barrister from Cambridgeshire, and his wife Margaretta Marianne
1903 The family name was changed to 'Maitland'
He was educated at Haileybury and Trinity College, Cambridge, leaving Trinity without taking his degree to enlist in the Army.
1900 Officer, Essex Regiment.
During the South African War, he served in the Orange River Colony. He took up ballooning in 1908 and on 18 November 1908, together with C. C. Turner and Prof. A. E. Gaudron he flew in the Mammoth from Crystal Palace to Meeki Derevi in Russia a distance of 1,117 miles in 36.5 hours.
In 1909 and 1910 he was attached to the Balloon School and whilst here he also undertook experiments with powered aircraft but following a bad crash, decided to concentrate on airships. On one occasion, he took a couple of young ladies aloft in a balloon, only to come down on the rooftops of Kensington necessitating rescue by the fire brigade.
In 1913, due to the illness of Prof. Gaudron, he undertook the first parachute descent from the airship Delta. He continued to experiment with parachutes, which he considered to be a vital adjunct to the airship. He gained his RAeC Certificate 1281Fr on 4 April 1913.
In 1919 he was involved in the first transatlantic crossing aboard the R34, for which he received the AFC.
On 24 August 1921 A/Cdre Maitland was aboard the Airship R38 when it broke up in mid air over the Humber killing 44 of the 49 occupants aboard.
Obituary 1921
Air-Commodore E. M. Maitland, G.M.G., D.S.O., was the elder son of the late Mr. Arthur Maitland, Barrister-at-Law, of Shudy Camps Park. Cambridgeshire. Born in 1880, he was educated at Haileybury, and at Cambridge (Trinity), and saw service in South Africa.
In 1908, he first came before the public in connection with a balloon, journey, in company with the Frenchman M. Gaudron and Maj. C. C. Turner, from London to Russia, a distance of 1,117 miles which is, we believe, a record to this day.
In the very early days of flying, Maitland built and flew his own aeroplane, on which he had a crash that resulted in his breaking both ankles. However, nothing daunted, he continued to fly after he got well again, and did a great deal of ballooning and also airship work.
In 1913, he was placed in charge of No. 1 (Airships) Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps at Farnborough, in which capacity he did some very valuable work. He was an early believer in parachutes as life-saving appliances, and he it was who made the first parachute jump from an airship in flight.
Early in 1914, he was gazetted Wing-Commander in the R.N.A.S., the Admiralty having taken over the Army airships. Shortly before the outbreak of War, Maitland was in Germany in connection with trials of a Parseval airship, but he managed to get back safely to this country.
In November of 1914 he went out to Belgium on work connected with the R.N.A.S., taking with him a kite balloon, and also the small non-rigid airship "Beta." While out there he saw some of the captive balloons in use by the Belgians and French, and so impressed was he by their possibilities that he came home especially to urge the extensive use of kite balloons for observation purposes.
When the kite balloon station was established at Roehampton in 1914 Col. Maitland was appointed to command it, and in this capacity he did excellent work, always being the first to try out any experiments entailing any personal risk. One of his experiments in this way was a journey in a kite balloon slipped from her moorings, undertaken in order to discover if it was possible to make a safe landing in case of a balloon breaking away.
While stationed at Roehampton, Maitland also carried out a series of parachute descents, including one from 10,000 ft. with a view to studying the phenomenon of "swinging."
Later he was appointed to command the airship station at Pulham, where he continued his experiments.
In 1917 he was called to the Admiralty to take charge of the Airships Headquarters Staff. It was almost entirely due to his personal effort that a greatly inoreased programme of airship construction was inaugurated.
When the R.A.F. was formed in 1918, Col. Maitland was given acting rank of Brigadier- General, and in 1919 he was awarded the C.M.G. In that year also, it may be remembered, he made the double trip across the Atlantic in the R.34, his log of the trip having since been published.
After the return of "R.34," General Maitland became O.C. of the airship base at Howden, and he made a close study of the commercial possibilities of airships, with the result that he became thoroughly convinced that airships have a brilliant future as civil aircraft.