Edwin Moon Squadron Leader Edwin Rowland Moon DSO * ( 8 June 1886 – 29 April 1920 ) was an English aviation pioneer who served in the Royal Naval Air Service and Royal Air Force during the First World War . He was a prisoner of war and he was twice awarded a DSO . Family . Moon was one of four children of Edwin George Wade Moon and Catherine Esther Butt , who lived in Cranbury Avenue in Southampton . Moon married Isabel Madeline Waldron in 1911 and had a daughter named Mary in 1913 . The aviation dream . The Moon family owned a boat - building business based at the Wool House . The Moonbeam Engineering Company Limited built motor launches and later expanded to include the sale of wrought iron propellers and marine engines for export around the world . Edwin Moon , possibly inspired by the 1903 Wright brothers flight , took a corner of the workshop to realise his dream of constructing and flying an aircraft of his own design . He tested his first plane , " Moonbeam I " , in the Fawley area , near the home of his future bride . His first short " hop " took place on Websters Field at Ower Farm , near Calshot and at Moulands Field , Regents Park . Following these test flights on the prototype plane , he built a second plane , " Moonbeam II " . " Moonbeam II " was a monoplane , weighing 260 lbs , of which 160 lbs was engine and propeller . A V - 4 cylinder , 20 h . p . J . A . P engine was fitted , and it had a 6 ft wooden propeller . In 1910 , the plane was conveyed by horse - drawn cart to the meadows belonging to North Stoneham farm from where he made the first successful flight ; the precise date of the first flight is not known , although researchers believe that it was between 12 April 1910 and 11 June 1910 . The following year , on 2 April 1911 , a French pilot , Maurice Tétard , flying from Brooklands to Larkhill , called at North Stoneham to make some adjustments ; although he only stayed for about half an hour , a large inquisitive crowd rapidly gathered to admire the plane . In 1917 , the field at North Stoneham was requisitioned by the War Office as an Aircraft Acceptance Park , but before completion , the base was given to the US Navy to develop an assembly area ; this subsequently evolved into Southampton International Airport . Moon later regularly flew his plane from Stoneham , as well as from Beaulieu Heath ( near the site of the later World War II airfield ) and Paultons Park . He gained his aviator ' s certificate in 1914 . Military career . Following the start of World War I , Moon soon enlisted in the Royal Naval Air Service with the rank of Flight Sub - Lieutenant . His military service took him to East Africa , based on " HMS Hyacinth " , from where on 6 January 1917 he was on a reconnaissance flight with Cdr . Richard Bridgeman as observer . They were forced to land with engine trouble and came down in a creek of the Rufiji River delta where they destroyed the seaplane to avoid the possibility of its being captured by the enemy . They then spent three days wandering in the delta trying to avoid capture and to rejoin their ship . During this time they had little or nothing to eat , and were continually obliged to swim across the creeks , the bush on the banks being impenetrable . On 7 January , they constructed a raft from the window frame of a house ; after two days of drifting on the raft they were swept out to sea on the morning of 9 January , where Cdr . Bridgeman , who was not a strong swimmer , died of exhaustion and exposure . Moon tried to keep Bridgman on the raft but he slipped off into the sea . After Moon had been on the raft for some thirteen hours the tide turned and the raft was thrown onto the shore . Moon was rescued by natives who handed him over to the Germans , who interred him in a prisoner of war camp . He was released from captivity on 21 November 1917 . In June 1917 , Moon was awarded the Distinguished Service Order ; the citation read : Since April 1916 , has carried out constant flights over the enemy ' s coast , including reconnaissances , bomb - dropping and spotting for gun fire in all weathers . Has shown great coolness and resource on all occasions . Following his release from captivity , Moon received a bar to his DSO , for the display of " the greatest gallantry in attempting to save the life of his companion " . Bridgeman ' s body was recovered from the sea and is buried in Dar es Salaam CWGC Cemetery . As well as the DSO , Moon was awarded the Royal Humane Society ' s silver medal for his attempts to save Bridgeman ' s life and The Legion of Honour – Croix de Chevalier . He was also recommended for the Victoria Cross , but this was not awarded . His other military awards were : Later career and death . After the war Moon was in command of the flying boat station at Felixstowe with the rank of Squadron Leader in the newly formed RAF . On 11 August 1919 , Moon survived a crash of the Felixstowe Fury flying boat which killed one of the crew . The Fury was a large five - engined flying boat which had just left Felixstowe on a test flight to Plymouth ; she was due the next day to attempt a long - distance 8 , 000 - mile ( 12 , 875 km ) flight from England to South Africa and return . In December 1919 Moon represented the Minister of War at the funeral of Sir John Alcock the transatlantic pioneer . On 29 April 1920 , Moon was at the controls of a flying boat on an instructional cruise when it crashed into the sea . Moon and three other crew members were killed , while two were rescued , slightly injured . At the inquest a survivor , Observer - Officer L . H . Pakenham Walsh , D . F . C . said that the flying boat started off all right , and it had made several practice landings on the water . After about an hour , and at 2 , 000 ft . up , Squadron - Leader Moon took control , as he wished to do a glide . When about 1 , 500 ft . up the machine received a bump on the tail , which threw the machine out of control and developed into a spin . Squadron - Leader Moon then did all he could to right the machine but the distance from the water was not sufficient to allow of a complete recovery . The machine struck the water on a fairly natural keel . Witness was of opinion that if they had had another 100 ft . or 200 ft . they would have got out of it all right . On striking the water the machine absolutely collapsed . It was impossible to do anything , because the boat was upside down . Witness went under , and when he came up he did not see anybody else . The Coroner said , so far as he could make out , there was nothing wrong with the machine or the piloting . It appeared to be a pure accident . He recorded a verdict of " Death from injuries received through the sudden accidental fall of a flying boat . " Moon was buried at Southampton Old Cemetery with a wooden marker which is believed to be part of the propeller of the plane in which he died , which was erected by his comrades of 230 Squadron , Royal Air Force .