Charles Jeffs

{{Short description|British flying ace}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}  {{Infobox military person | name = Charles Hubert Jeffs | image = | caption = | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=yes|1895|7|11}} | death_date = 1974 (aged 79) | birth_place = Holton-le-Clay, Lincolnshire, England | death_place = Romsey, Hampshire | burial_label = | burial_place = | burial_coordinates =  | nickname = | allegiance = {{flagcountry|UKGBI}} | branch = {{army|UK}}<br/>{{air force|UK}} | service_years = 1916–1949 | rank = Major | unit = Border Regiment<br/>No. 56 Squadron RFC | commands = | battles = World War I<br/>{{*}}Western Front<br/>World War II | awards = Military Cross | relations = | other_work = }} Major '''Charles Hubert Jeffs'''<ref group=note>Listed in some sources as '''Charles Hugh Jeffs'''.</ref> {{post-nominals|country=GBR|MC}} (11 July 1895 – 1974) was a British World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories.<ref name="theaerodrome">{{cite web |url=http://www.theaerodrome.com/aces/england/jeffs.php |title=Charles Hubert Jeffs |work=The Aerodrome |year=2015 |accessdate=12 April 2015}}</ref>

==Military service== Jeffs was trained in the Inns of Court Officers' Training Corps. On 8 June 1916 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation)<ref>{{London Gazette |date=13 June 1916 |supp=y |issue=29621 |page=5833 |nolink=yes}}</ref> in the 5th Battalion, Border Regiment, Territorial Force. He was later seconded to the Royal Flying Corps, trained as a pilot, and was appointed a flying officer on 14 June 1917.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=7 July 1917 |supp=y |issue=30171 |page=6796 |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Jeffs was posted to No. 56 Squadron RFC on 18 August 1917. Only four days later, he scored his first kill, flying Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a No. B524 to destroy an Albatros D.V. In the same aircraft, he tallied four more wins, with the last one coming on 29 September; shared with fellow ace Gerald J. C. Maxwell and five other pilots. On 5 October, Jeffs fell beneath the guns of Bruno Loerzer as the German's eleventh victim. Jeffs survived, but was captured.<ref name="ATT">Shores ''et.al.'' (1990), p.210.</ref> On 8 December 1917, while a prisoner, Jeffs was promoted to lieutenant in the Border Regiment.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=4 January 1918 |supp=y |issue=30463 |page=468 |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Jeffs was held as a POW until after the armistice in November 1918, then returned to Royal Air Force service, until transferred to the unemployed list on 19 October 1919.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=7 November 1919 |issue=31632 |page=13547 |nolink=yes}}</ref> On 7 July 1920 Jeffs relinquished his RAF commission, and returned to serve in the 5th Bn., Border Regiment.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=7 September 1920 |issue=32043 |page=9057 |nolink=yes}}</ref><ref>{{London Gazette |date=21 September 1920 |supp=y |issue=32059 |page=9432 |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Jeffs served in the Border Regiment during the Second World War with the war substantive rank of captain. On 12 March 1949, having exceeded the age limit, he relinquished his army commission, and was granted the honorary rank of major.<ref>{{London Gazette |date=11 March 1949 |supp=y |issue=38557 |page=1260 |nolink=yes}}</ref>

Jeffs, alongside two other men of the same surname, is listed on the "Roll of Honour" – men from the village who served in the First World War – at St. Peter's Church, Holton-le-Clay.<ref>{{cite web |url= http://www.genuki.org.uk/big/eng/LIN/HoltonleClay/ |title=GENUKI: Holton le Clay, Lincolnshire |work=genuki.org.uk |year=2015 |accessdate=12 April 2015}}</ref>

==Notes== {{reflist|group=note}}

==References== ;Citations {{reflist}} ;Bibliography * {{cite book |first1=Christopher F. |last1=Shores |first2=Norman |last2=Franks |authorlink2=Norman Franks |first3=Russell F. |last3=Guest |title=Above the Trenches: a Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915–1920 |location=London, UK |publisher=Grub Street |year=1990 |isbn=978-0-948817-19-9 |name-list-style=amp}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Jeffs, Charles H.}} Category:1895 births Category:1974 deaths Category:Territorial Force soldiers Category:People from East Lindsey District Category:British Army personnel of World War I Category:Border Regiment officers Category:Royal Flying Corps officers Category:British World War I prisoners of war Category:British World War I flying aces Category:World War I prisoners of war held by Germany Category:Recipients of the Military Cross Category:British Army personnel of World War II Category:Military personnel from Lincolnshire