Alfred Sinclair Johnstone was still a boy when the First World War drew him into military life. What followed was an extraordinary journey through aviation, engineering, adventure and reinvention — a story now reconstructed from family memories, photographs and surviving records.
The Johnstone family in 1910
Alfred Sinclair Johnstone (born 4 June 1900) with his mother, Eliza Ann Johnstone, and his four sisters.
Dorothea Bessie Milicent Johnstone born 4th May 1902
Olive Alfreda Myra Janet Johnstone born 6 April 1904
Mavis Estelle Johnstone born 12 March 1905
Leonora Denise Johnstone born 20 October 1906
Alfred Sinclair Johnstone
In this photograph Alfred is aged about 12 (1912)
The Royal Flying Corps
By September 1913, thirteen-year-old Alfred was already appearing in the military press as “Boy Johnstone, Royal Flying Corps.”
This report from the Aldershot Military Gazette, recording an athletics meeting between enlisted boys from several branches of the Army, shows Alfred winning his heat in the 66-yard race.
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200 Newport Road, Aldershot, 1914
Alfred’s sisters Lennie and Dolly outside the family home, shortly before the First World War changed everything.
Alfred with his bicycle, c.1913–14
The reverse of the photograph is marked “1914”, although a newspaper report from September 1913 already identifies him as “Boy Johnstone, Royal Flying Corps.”