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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0668.PDF
JULY 5, 1917. AIRCRAFT IN THE MESOPOTAMIA REPORT. THERE are several important references to aircraft in the Mesopotamia Commission Report. In their note on the condition of the Indian Army on the outbreak of war, it is pointed out that " an aircraft establishment had been started a few months before July, 1914, but its scope was very limited." Among the instructions given to General Nixon on his appointment to the command in Mesopotamia was one to report on aircraft. In the section of the Commission's Report dealing with armaments and equipment, it is stated :— " Among the defects of equipment one of the most important was the want of aeroplanes. But for this the Indian military authorities Were not responsible. When the war broke out they Were just beginning to organise an aviation service, and had established a flying school. But at the request of the War Office they closed the school, and sent the officers who were pilots back to England. These Were only three in number, as matters were in a very embryonic stage. But early in the Mesopotamia Expedition the need for aero- planes was apparent. In January, 1915, General Barrett represented the importance of this matter more than once, and Lord Hardinge strongly urged the need for aeroplanes upon the War Office. But it was found impossible to supply any until May, 1915. Then two Maurice Farmans were sent, in July two Caudrons, and in August six Martinsyde Scouts. Somewhat later, three hydroplanes of the Short type were sent, and two naval aeroplanes, one a Voisin and one a Henry Farman, fitted With a Canton Unne engine. In October, four B.E.2 C's arrived. But there Were many misfortunes. The hydroplanes Were not a success, and among the aero- planes there were losses through engine failure, through other- accidents and through normal wear and tear. These mis- fortunes seem to have worked with aggravated effect by reason of the difficulties of repair, which in part depended on the difficulty of transport. The upshot was that at the date of the Battle of Ctesiphon there were only reckoned to be five aeroplanes belonging to the Royal Flying Corps in Meso- potamia, and of these only three seem to have been actually available at the battle—a Maurice Farman, a B.E. 2 C. and a Martinsyde. This reckoning does not appear to include the naval aeroplanes, of which, however, only one Was of any use. None of these machines were fitted either for photo- graphy or with wireless apparatus ; and though valuable work was done, they were of course inadequate for what was required. The personnel of the Royal Flying Corps Was organised as a flight, and there Were six flying officers and 44 rank and file. During December, 1915, and January, 1916, owing to two .machines being shut up in Kut, to accidents, and to the ill-health of pilots, sometimes only one aeroplane Was available. Another flight of aeroplanes was sent out in February, 1916, and from then onward, the Royal Flying Corps maintained a supply of new machines. After that date there does not appear to have been a shortage in numbers of machines, and from the same time apparatus both for photo- graphy and wireless telegraphy came into use. But early in February, 1916, the Turkish troops, who till then had been without aeroplanes, Were furnished with three fast aeroplanes of the Fokker type, which were much more formidable fight- ing machines than anything possessed by the British Army, The presence of these fast machines with the Turkish Army placed the British airmen at a great disadvantage ; and the want of at least one efficient fast fighting machine was keenly felt. "It is clear that the lack of a sufficient supply of aero- planes of any kind in the operations which led to the Battle of Ctesiphon seriously hindered our troops in the task they had to perform, and that the want of fast fighting aeroplanes later prevented the Royal Flying Corps being of as much service to the Expedition as they might have been. How far these defects were remediable by the War Office opens up the wide question of the general supply of aeroplanes for the purposes of the War, which has been the subject of an independent enquiry. We are not in a position to express any opinion «upon that question, and we certainly should not deny that the first claim upon the resources of the Royal Flying Corps Was in Europe and not in Mesopotamia. It is not, hov. ever, clear why a larger number of aeroplanes of a type not suffi- ciently fast for service in France should not have been available for the advance on Bagdad, nor why those which Were sent were not equipped for photography and wireless telegraphy., The difficulty of sparing fast machines in the spring of 1916 to fight the three Turkish Fokkers is more intelligible. But we note the deficiency of aeroplanes as one of the defects of equipment which contributed to the ill- success of the British Army in Mesopotamia during the winter and spring of 1915-16." £•; ,-. . •».•_, THE FATE OF ONE OF THE HUN AIR-RAIDERS.—A German plane in the North Sea, which has been brought down, being gradually consumed by fire. 668
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