FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1949
1949 - 1074.PDF
June gth, 1949 was held at Netheravon and No. 2 Squadron flew down from Scotland. On the journey from West Hartlepool to York the aircraft ran into a thick bank of fog. Three were wrecked and one damaged in a forced landing, one of the accidents caus- ing the deaths of Lt. Empson and his pas- senger, Air Mech. Cudmore. When the fog cleared Major Burke concentrated the Squadron at York and, after a week-end's halt, proceeded south again, arriving at Netheravon on the 30th. The camp lasted the whole month of June. Mornings were devoted to flying trials and experiments; afternoons to lectures and discussion. Major Burke's contribution to the lecture series was "Notes on Aviation." Tactical exercises, reconnaissance, photography, balloon handling and co-operation with other arms were all practised. Rivalry between squadrons was intense, but records seem to' prove that No. 2 Squadron had the more skilled pilots. Just over a month later, with the great war imminent, the Squadron was again on its way south. Of the four squadrons which flew to France with the British Ex- peditionary Force No. 2 had the'most diffi- cult task. The pilots started south on August 3rd and the unit was at Dover, all set for the Channel crossing, by the evening of the 12th. Lt. Harvey-Kelly got away at 0625 hours the next morning and reached Amiens at 0820, the first R.F.C. pilot to land in a foreign country. (Harvey-Kelly was killed on April 29th, 1917, while commanding No. 19 Squadron." Leading an offensive patrol of three Spads, he attacked the famous Richthofen Circus; all the Spads were lost; but not before they had disposed of five of the enemy,) A week after arriving in France the Squadron made its first war reconnaissances. They were flown by Major Long- croft with Capt. U. J. D. Bourke as observer, and Capt. Todd, who had Lt. Corbalhs with him. On August 25th No. 2 achieved the distinction of driving down the first enemy aircraft, Lts. Mansfield and Harvey-Kelly attacking an enemy monoplane and forcing it to land. The occupants escaped into a wood, but the British pilots landed nearby, hoping to fly the captured aircraft back to base. Before they could do so, however, it was destroyed by a party of retreating British soldiers. During the retreat from Mons the R.F.C. shared to some extent the experiences of the Army. It did not, of course, have to fight the terrible and wearisome rearguard actions, but air- fields and bases had to be changed frequently while the aircraft had, at the same time, to be kept in flying trim. In November, 1914, following the First Battle of Ypres, the May I \th, 1914 : A B.£. of the Squadron starting from Montrose at 0530 hours on its long journey south to Netheravon. R.F.C. was re-organized and the squadrons formed into wings. Major Burke was promoted to Lt. Colonel and given command of No. 2 Wing (Nos. 5 and 6 Squadrons) and Nos. 2 and 3 Squadrons formed No. 1 Wing. Major G. W. P. Dawes took over command of No. 2 Squadron. During this early period of fluid and strenuous warfare the value of artillery co-operation had made itself very apparent. The greatest problem to be solved, however, was that of com- munication between aircraft and ground. Very pistols and signalling lamps had been tried with varying success, but during the Battle of the Aisne No. 4 Squadron had put in some very effective work with airborne wireless. In February, 1915, a flight of wireless machines was allotted to No. 2 Squadron and in the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, which began in March, they proved invaluable. It was during the Battle of Neuve Chapelle, also, that the value of interdiction was shown to be so effective and.a little later—in April, 1915, while the Squadron was on this work in the Second Battle of Ypres—the first air V.C. was won. Sec. Lt. W. B. Rhodes Moorhouse, an outstanding civil pilot before the 1914 war, was given as his objective in an interdiction sortie the railway junction at Courtrai, with the intention of stopping enemy reinforcements being brought up by rail. Coming down to less than 400ft he hit his target with a ioolb bomb. Being so low, he came under intense small-arms fire, particularly from the belfry of Courtrai Church. Immediately after dropping his B.e. tws-mr (Left) One of No. Ts original pilots : Lt. C. A. H. Longcroft, in civilian clothes, learning to fly on a Bristol Box-kite. His licence was number 192 and 4*t€d 5-3-12. JRrgMmflie early starters: The ground party with their Leyiand lorries ready at 0430 hours to start south for the Concentration Camp.. ' Flight " photograph.
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
