Gillies and the Royal Air Force

It is a common misconception that burns surgery was invented by Archibald McIndoe on his “Guinea Pigs”at East Grinstead during the second world war.

The Guinea Pig Club gained great fame thanks to McIndoe’s flair for publicity. Members of the Royal Air Force he treated were not just fighter pilots from the Battle of Britain, but also members of the bomber crews who made great sacrifices during the later part of the conflict.

Indeed, the modern era of burns surgery began at the Queen’s Hospital, Sidcup, pioneered by Gillies and his colleagues. Several patients there belonged to the Royal Flying Corps, which amalgamated with the Royal Naval Air Service to become the Royal Air Force in 1918.

The surviving Sidcup patient records show that 85 of the 2300 British Section patients were airmen. 13 had suffered burns.  Altogether there were 48 burns patients recorded in the British and New Zealand Section notes at Sidcup, this number is likely to be an underestimate.  12 such patients illustrated in “Plastic Surgery of the Face” 3 of whom remain unidentified.

Gillies’s tube pedicle flap became a vital feature of many reconstructions during the years between the First and Second World Wars. He went on to operate upon a number of civilian patients while at Rooksdown Hospital in the Second World War. Right up until 1960 a number were from the

RAF. 164 burns cases were seen between 1941 and 1947.  The use of Tannic acid as an initial dressing ointment was rapidly abandoned at Rooksdown, and saline baths were used routinely. East Grinstead’s Guinea Pig Club had 649 members.

As can be seen in the imaging page, many of the Rooksdown patients were photographed, with a number of early colour photographs by Percy Hennell surviving.

Contributor: Andrew Bamji