Major (Honorary Air Commodore) Sir Egbert "Bertie" Cadbury DSC, DFC, JP, DL (20 April 1893 – 12 January 1967) was a British businessman, a member of the Cadbury family, who as a First World War pilot shot down two Zeppelins over the North Sea: L.21 on 28 November 1916, and L.70 on 6 August 1918: the latter while flying a De Havilland DH.4 with Robert Leckie as observer/gunner.
Early life and background
Egbert Cadbury was born in Selly Oak, Birmingham, the youngest son of George Cadbury and his second wife Elizabeth Cadbury, and the grandson of John, the founder the family business. A year after he was born the family moved to a new home, Northfield Manor House, in Northfield, Birmingham. He was educated at Leighton Park School in Reading, then went to Trinity College, Cambridge to study economics.
First World War
The Cadburys were Quakers, and thus pacifists, but on the outbreak of the war, Cadbury left Cambridge and volunteered to join the Royal Navy, serving as a seaman aboard the HMY Zarifa, a yacht converted to an armed patrol vessel, manned mainly by Cambridge graduates, while his older brother Laurence joined the Friends' Ambulance Unit. Cadbury was eventually commissioned into the Royal Naval Air Service as a probationary flight sub-lieutenant, being confirmed in his rank on 31 May 1915. He was granted Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 1343 on 19 June, after soloing a Grahame-White Biplane at the Grahame-White Flying School at Hendon. Cadbury was posted to the Naval Air Station at South Denes, Great Yarmouth, Norfolk, where one of his ground crew was Henry Allingham.
Cadbury first saw action on 9/10 August 1915, flying a Sopwith aircraft against four Zeppelins with no success. He later complained in a letter to his brother Laurence that the Sopwith gave him "cold feet". In September, Cadbury expressed his regret at "the murder of war", having lost several close friends in the squadron. In a letter of May 1916, he wrote that he was "sick of the war", expressing his distaste for the Government who "are not being able to use their brains". He also believed that an aircraft would never shoot down a Zeppelin "unless it catches it unawares".
On 30 June 1916, he was promoted to flight lieutenant.
On 27 November 1916, ten Zeppelins set out in two groups, heading for the Midlands and the North of England. One, the L.21, crossed the English coast at Atwick at 21:20, and then turned north to evade patrolling aircraft before heading to Leeds, where it was driven off by heavy anti-aircraft fire. An effective blackout shielded Barnsley from attack, so the airship headed southwest to the Potteries where it dropped a number of bombs on industrial targets in Stoke, causing some damage, but no casualties. At 01:30, it headed for home, setting a course towards Great Yarmouth. It was spotted by two RNAS aircraft north of Peterborough, but managed to evade them. Over East Dereham, it was spotted by Flight Lieutenant W. R. Gaynor, who was forced to abort his attack after suffering engine failure. However, reports of the L.21's movements had reached Great Yarmouth, so at dawn Cadbury and Flight Sub Lieutenant Gerard W. R. Fane took off in their B.E.2c fighters to intercept.