The letters, documents and photographs in this resource have been selected from the Hume family papers that are preserved in the National Archives of Scotland.

John Douglas Hume, known as Douglas by his family and friends, was a prolific letter writer. Thanks to his family who kept all his letters, we can discover what life was like for this young Scottish pilot from May 1915 until his untimely death in December 1916.

When war broke out in 1914, aeroplanes were still a relatively new invention. The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) was formed in May 1912 as an army corps to provide air power to support the land war. The Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) did the same to support the Navy fleet. Douglas joined the RNAS, trained in England, and saw action in Mesopotamia (modern day Iraq) and Turkey. His correspondence, although informal, displays a breadth of style, content and feeling that cannot fail to stir the interest and emotions of the reader. Visit the Life of John Douglas Hume, 1915-16 for a more detailed account of his service career.

This resource is designed to support the teaching of reading and writing skills for Standard Grade, Intermediate and Higher English within the Curriculum for Excellence. In using this resource, students will have the opportunity to practise close reading, textual analysis, creative and discursive writing and take part in discussions.

The resource is set out in three units, with sources and activities in each. Teachers' notes are available. Some activities are online. All archive sources and activities are printable.