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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 0386.PDF
25* FLIGHT NO. 4 SQUADRON R.A.F. . « * prepared so as to hold on to the ground as much as possible. On getting up to about 100ft, Lt. Woodhouse found that his engine was missing badly owing to over-oiling; he therefore landed again, and by dint of running the engine all out on the ground for short bursts, used up the surplus oil. At about 5.40 p.m. he started again and returned to our lines in the direction of Albert, It was, however, very dark, and in the neighbourhood of Maricourt he lost his bearings and eventu- ally landed in the dark at about 6.40 p.m., about 16 miles E. of Amiens. He landed safely, but broke his propeller; how this breakage occurred he could not say. . . . " I consider that Lt. Woodhouse deserves very high com- mendations for his coolness and determination, particularly in refusing the assistance of the agent when his engine stopped, as he thereby very much increased the agent's chances of escape." ; The following year brought an ever-increased tempo, despite a lot of weather unsuitable for flying. That there was no such thing as bombing by radar through the overcast is evidenced by an account of a raid on the night of February 19th, in which Capts. Tennant and Horsfall set out on B.E.s to attack an airfield at Cambrai. Horsfall's two 112-lb bombs failed to leave the racks, so Tennant went down to 30ft to score direct hits with all his seven 20-lb Hales bombs. He was so low that his aircraft was considerably damaged by the bursting bombs. With the opening of the terrific battle of the Somme in July, 1916, came the extended use—first tried in 1915—of contact patrols whereby aircraft kept check on the positions of OUT troops and attacked strong-points, batteries, troops and trans- port. On one occasion ammunition and food were dropped to forward troops cut off from supplies. No. 4 did its share of these patrols and maintained as well its ordinary artillery- observation, reconnaissance, bombing and photographic flights. For the manner in which they aided the artillery the names of Capts. J. C. McMillan, A. A. Walser and T. M. Scott all appear in the records of excellent work during the hard battle. Losses on both sides had been very heavy on the Somme, and at the close of the battle work went back to a more normal intensity until it flared up again in the spring of 1917, when the Germans retreated to the Hindenburg line. In June of that year No. 4 moved north to take part in the operations at Messines and was re-equipped with 24 R.E.8 aircraft. These they kept until the end of the war, and the only addition was a Bristol Fighter which was taken on charge later. ?-##• *f It *v — * ft The third battle of Ypres opened in shocking weather, inspite of which contact patrols were flown. Sometimes as many as 44 patrols a day were made—still a record for No. 4, becausetheir best day's total in the second world war was 43. One thinks of 1917 aircraft as very flimsy by modern stan-dards, but on occasions they took severe punishment and yet got home. An extreme case occurred on August 16th, when2nd Lt. D. R. Starley, while on contact patrol with Lt. B. C. R. Grimwood as observer, had two longerons, a main spar, acentre-section strut, two fuselage struts and an aileron-balance cable cut through by a shell. The transmitter was destroyedand the observer wounded. Before landing—successfully—they wrote out a report and dropped it at Divisional H.Q. For the first three months of the last year of the wax, A flightwas detached for duty with the Portuguese army in France. This detachment was later increased to two flights and becameknown as No. 4A Squadron; after a while it was broken up and relieved by No. 42 Squadron. As in the more recent war,the Germans had a anal kick before giving in. This came in March, 1918, and No. 4 did its full share of harassing theenemy by both day and night. There was no airborne A.I. to help in those days and, at first, the night attacks were confinedto moonlight periods. Later, however, a technique was worked out for using Michelin flares to light up the targets and fornight reconnaissance work. Anyone doing an artillery "shoot" in the latter stages ofthe 1914-18 war was very fully occupied, but never too.busy to go immediately to the asistance of another R.A.F. air-craft in trouble. On October 3rd, 1918, Lt. H. N. Lock and Lt. E. A. Garrison, flying the squadron's sole Bristol Fighter,saw an R.E.8 of No. 53 Squadron being attacked by six Fokkers. Going at once to the R.E.8's assistance, the pilot,to his dismay, found his front gun jammed. The observer was then badly wounded in the stomach and again hit a littlelater. Nevertheless, he kept up a steady stream of fire until he was finally hit in the wrist by an explosive bullet. Althoughthe Brisfit was almost a write-off. Lock brought it back safely to his own airfield and later received the warm thanks of theR.E.8's crew. The tide of battle eventually turned, and when the armisticewas signed on November nth, 1918, the squadron was stationed at Ascq. Three months later it was reduced to cadrestrength and proceeded to Northolt. Unlike many other squadrons. No. 4 was soon revived. To-ward the end of 1919 it moved to Uxbridge, and on April 30th, 1920 it was reformed, under the command of S/L. C. H. B.Blount, M.C., with H.Q., "A" and "B" Flights at Farn- borough and " C" Flight at Stonehenge. It did not stay longat its home bases because later in 1920 "A" Flight was detached for duty with No. 11 (Irish) Wing at Aldergrove,and in the next year moved to Baldonnell, where it remained until it returned to the parent unit in January, 1922. Almostas soon as the squadron was again complete it was despatched to join the British Army of Occupation in Constantinople. Thesquadron embarked in H.M.S. Ark Royal, but on arrival at ^ Kilia the aircraft were transferred to H.M.S. Argus and flowniu* X OQ -j-jjig was an entirely new experience for all the pilots.. % \ Conditions in Turkey were grim. For the first fortnight of occupation the main problems were dust-storms and heat, butwith the advent of rainy weather the airfield quickly became a quagmire. The aircraft could neither land, taxy, nor H.M. King George V, while on a visit to the front In July, 1917. watching mechanics retrieving Lt. Longton's R.E.8. Controls had been shot away but neither pilot ^*wr observer was hurt. f" Imperial War Museum photograph. (Above) An extract from Capt. Shephard'i and Lt. Bonham- Carter's report on the advance of Von Kluck^gytaray. towards the British front, August 22nd, l9l4.^ KfoW) Capt. 1."t. TeWfttOt looping a squadron B.E. over BjnTord Camp, Salisbury Plain. Imperial War Mutuuni photograph.
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