According to Malcolm Barrass’ Air of Authority:
Peregrine Forbes Morant b: 23 Dec 1883 r: 26 Oct 1910/17 Jul 1933 d: 12 Jun 1955
DSO – 1 Jan 1918, Bar – 8 Feb 1919, MiD – 16 Dec 1919, .
(RN): – Mid’n: xx xxx 1898, Act Sub-Lt: 30 Aug 1903, Sub-Lt: 10 Apr 1905, Lt: 30 Aug 1904, Lt Cdr: 30 Aug 1912/30 Aug 1915, Flt Cdr: 17 Dec 1915, Sqn Cdr: 30 Jun 1916, Wg Cdr: 31 Dec 1917.
(RAF): – (T) Lt Col: 1 Apr 1918, Wg Cdr: 1 Aug 1919 [1 Apr 1918], Gp Capt: 1 Jan 1922, A/Cdre: 1 Jul 1929.
xx xxx xxxx: Attended Britannia Naval College.
xx xxx 1898: Midshipman, Royal Navy.
30 Aug 1903: Officer, Royal Navy
10 Apr 1905: Confirmed in the rank of Sub-Lieutenant.
26 Oct 1910: Retired from Royal Navy
xx xxx 1914: Officer, Royal Navy.
30 Aug 1915: Pilot, RNAS.
1915 Gunnery Staff Officer, Gunnery and Bomb Section, Air Department, Admiralty.
1 Apr 1917: Officer Commanding, No 2 Sqn RNAS.
1 Nov 1917?: Officer Commanding, No 1 Wing RNAS.
1 Apr 1918: Officer Commanding, No 61 Wing.
28 May 1918: Prisoner of War
xx Nov 1918:
1 Aug 1919: Awarded Permanent Commission as a Lieutenant Colonel
xx May 1920: Awaiting disposal, HQ Middle East Area.
7 Jul 1920: Officer Commanding, ‘Q’ Force HQ, Middle East Area
6 Dec 1920: Staff Officer, HQ Palestine Group.
1 Jan 1922: Chief Staff Officer, HQ RAF Middle East.
22 Sep 1922: Supernumerary, Constantinople Wing. (Chanak Crisis)
xx xxx 1922: Officer Commanding, Constantinople Wing. (Chanak Crisis)
2 Oct 1923: Chief Staff Officer, RAF Middle East. (OC until 27 Nov)
16 Jun 1924: Supernumerary, RAF Depot.
1 Jul 1924: Director of Airship Development.
1 Jul 1929: Director of Personal Services.
1 Jul 1929: Relinquishes his appointment as Air ADC to HM The King.
6 Sep 1930: AOC, No 23 Group.
30 Sep 1932: Placed on half pay list, Scale A
He was born at St Kilda in Victoria, Australia, although his parents were English, his father being in the country to assist with the reform of the Australian Army. After attending the Royal Naval College at Dartmouth he joined the Royal Navy in 1898, retiring from in 1910. He then went into business with a Ludvig Friedrich Brenner as a patentee and manufacturer, but in 1912, the partnership was dissolved and he left the business to Ludvig Brenner. Rejoining the Navy on the outbreak of war in 1914, he gained RAeC Certificate No 1697 on 5 Sep 1915.
Leading a raid in DH4, A8065 against the lock gates at Zeebrugge, on 22 May 1918, he was wounded and forced to crash land in the North Sea. Rescued by the Germans he spent the remainder of the war as a POW, later receiving a Mention in Despatches for valuable services whilst in captivity. On 11 August 1919, he was attempting a flight to Africa in the single Felixstowe Fury Flying Boat (N123), when it crashed on take off, all on board were uninjured except the W/T operator, who drowned.
Whilst serving in the Middle East he surveyed and opened the world’s first regular air route between Cairo and Baghdad. In 1933 he was selected to lead the 1933 Everest Air Expedition, which successfully made the first flight over the world’s highest mountain using specially adapted Westland Wallaces. Although he did not fly over Everest himself, his organisational skills and diplomacy were a major factor in the success of this venture. He eventually retired to Pietermauritzberg in South Africa, where he died.