ONE OF THE MANY WW1 warplanes that was flown in battle by Gauld, inset.
The Gaulds’ are a prominent family in Mimico with one member having a school named after him and the other a true hero and Canadian World War 1 flying ace.
Lieutenant George William Gladstone Gauld, lived on Lake Shore Blvd. W., for many years and was a legendary aviator in WW1, who was credited with five aerial victories.
Gauld prowess with aircraft occurred while flying a Royal Aircraft Factory SE.5a for 74th ‘Tiger’ Squadron in 1918. He, and fellow aces Ira Jones and Harold Shoemaker, in July 1918, ‘flamed’ a Rumpler reconnaissance plane.
And on August 2, he and Frederick Gordon, cooperated to capture an LVG German recon plane. On 26 October, Gauld drove down a German-made Fokker D.VII out of control. On 1 November 1918, he captured a Fokker D.VII and drove another one down out of control.
The Germans had produced more than 3,300 of the formidable Fokkers fighters by late 1918.
After the war, according to The Mimico Story by Harvey Currell, Gauld studied law at Osgoode Hall and in addition to his practice, went on to serve as Mimico’s town solicitor for 40 years.
Gauld was married to Irene Davidson, daughter of Douglas Davidson the local Justice of the Peace. Her brother Bryce Davidson was shot down over Germany on July 1918 and killed.
The aviator son of Janet and George Gauld, was a practicising barrister by 1930.
The flying Gauld was well-placed and belonged to the Connought and Lakeshore Lodges. He was also a member of the Ontario Club, the Royal Canadian Yacht Club and the Rotary Club.
During the war, about some 207 pilots had died in combat and 79 pilots died from non-combat related causes while flying the British bi-plane fighter aircraft, called the S.E.5 and S.E.5a, during World War I.
Fellow Ace James Ira Thomas Jones scored 37 victories flying the British-made S.E.5a. He volunteered to fight the Bolsheviks and was posted to the Archangel front but saw no further air combat. He retired from the Royal Air Force in 1936.
Ace Harold Goodman Shoemaker, of New Jersey, answered a call for volunteers in 1917 and was sent to Toronto for training with the Royal Flying Corps. To gain combat experience, he was attached to the Royal Air Force, joining 74 Squadron in July 1918. After scoring five victories as an S.E.5a pilot, he was reassigned in 1918. Shoemaker and another U.S. pilot went down over German lines when their Sopwith Camels collided. Reported missing on 5 October 1918, the International Red Cross later reported that Shoemaker died in a prisoner of war camp in Germany. He was buried in the cemetery at Bony.
A school was also named after the family. The George R. Gauld Junior School, at 200 Melrose St., was opened in 1923 and has been named after the Superintendent of Education for almost 100 years.