 Pentland enlisted as a private in the AIF on 5 March 1915 , sailing for Egypt with the 12th Light Horse Regiment aboard HMAT A29 Suevic on 13 June . In August , his unit deployed to Gallipoli , where he fought as a machine gunner before being hospitalised the following month , suffering from typhoid fever ; he was evacuated to England in December . Determined to leave the trenches behind after recovering , he volunteered for the Royal Flying Corps ( RFC ) and was discharged from the AIF on 21 February 1916 to take up his commission as a temporary second lieutenant in the RFC . His first solo flight in a Maurice Farman Longhorn at Brooklands , after two hours of dual instruction , ended with him overshooting the runway and crashing in a sewage farm , but he was unhurt and immediately undertook a second solo attempt , landing successfully . It was at Brooklands that he was first nicknamed " Jerry " . After completing pilot training , he was posted to France in June , flying B.E.2s with No. 16 Squadron . Though the slow and vulnerable B.E.2 was considered " Fokker fodder " by its crews , Pentland and his observer quickly managed to score the former 's first aerial victory , bringing down a German Eindecker over Habourdin on 9 June . He was then posted to No. 29 Squadron and was converting to DH.2 " pusher " fighters when he broke his leg playing rugby . After recovering , he instructed at London Colney until June 1917 , when he joined No. 19 Squadron , flying SPAD S.VIIs. This would become Pentland 's favourite type due to its strength and manoeuvrability , even though it had to be ' flown ' constantly and was unforgiving at low speed . 
