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George Darvill

British flying ace

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionMay 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ5538387
Source-derived summary

Captain George William Francis Darvill (26 October 1898 – September 1950) was an English World War I flying ace credited with nine aerial victories.

Early life

Darvill was born in East Meon, Petersfield, Hampshire, England, the son of Minnie M. and George Darvill. He worked as a farmer until he joined the Royal Flying Corps during World War I.

World War I

Darvill was commissioned as a probationary second lieutenant on 20 April 1917. He was awarded Royal Aero Club Aviators Certificate No. 4973 at RAF Hendon on 13 July 1917. His first, brief, assignment was a posting to No. 9 Squadron from October to December 1917; the squadron then moved forward to action in France. On 13 January 1918, he transferred to No. 18 Squadron to fly Airco DH.4 light bombers. Beginning on 10 March 1918, he began a string of nine aerial victories that did not end until 4 September 1918.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “George Darvill” as british flying ace. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around George, Darvill and British.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1898, 1950, 1917, 1918—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1898-10-26. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with George, Darvill and British providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “George Darvill”, the useful work is to connect “british flying ace” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated May 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q5538387. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1898, 1950, 1917 and 1918.

Critical limits

The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

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  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “George Darvill”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow George Darvill primary sources, George Darvill archive and George research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from George Darvill” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.