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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 2252.PDF
of the unit's squadron marking for many years, owes its incep-tion to this reconnaissance. By the end of 1914 No. 6 had become a fully developed armyco-operation squadron working with the 2nd Corps. Duties included tactical reconnaissance, artillery observation with W/T,photography and trench mapping. In the terrible gale which blew during the night of December28th, in which the R.F.C. lost about half of its serviceable air- craft, No. 6 got off lightly with only one B.E. damaged. Severalhangars, however, were wrecked. Early in 1915 came a decision to provide each squadron witha wireless flight. To implement this decision A Flight of No. 9 Squadron (which squadron was originally the wireless flight ofNo. 4) under Capt. B. T. James, the W/T pioneer, was posted to No. 6. It replaced C Flight (Bleriots) which, with flightssimilarly displaced from Nos. 2 and 5 Squadrons, formed No. 16 Squadron. The beginnings of interdiction as an aid to attacking troopscould be seen in the attack by Capt. L. A. Strange (pre-1914 demonstration pilot and still, as Col. Louis Strange, D.S.Q,O.B.E., M.C., D.F.C. and Bar, air-racing today) on Coutrai and Menin rail junctions behind the German front. This wason the first day of the battle of Neuve Chapelle in March, 1915. There were no computing bomb-sights in those days; Strangecame down to 150ft before dropping his missiles over the side. It was in this battle, also, that the ground troops had, for thefirst time, air photographs of the area over which they had to fight. By this time air interception had become sufficiently serious asto make some sort of defence necessary. On March 17th, 1915, two Martinsyde scouts were posted to No. 6 Squadron to chaseaway any enemy aircraft interfering with our patrols. Thus was the germ of Fighter Command born; from two aircraft persquadron came the fighting flights which developed until pro- tection and offensive duties were taken over by specialized fightersquadrons. A month after Neuve Chapelle the R.F.C. started to take aninterest in the Zeppelin airship bases which the Germans were establishing in Belgium. With the object of gaining informationas to the best means of destroying the sheds and their contents, Lt. L. G. Hawker started out alone on a B.£.2c. with two bombsto test the Controde airship-base defences. Arriving over die shed at 6,000ft, he released one of his bombs.He then noticed above the shed a large captive balloon, in the basket of which was a machine-gunner; he demoralized this un-comfortably posted sentry by throwing hand grenades at him as he went by in a steep spiral to within 200ft of the shed beforereleasing his second bomb. Hawker's aircraft was hit 24 times but he succeeded in coaxing it back to base. For this exploithe was awarded the D.S.O. and given command of a flight. Although the prevailing west wind was all in the favour ofGerman airmen their brothers-in-arms on the ground had to wait a long time before they had a north-east wind that wouldenable them safely to release poison gas (Ypres, April 22nd) for the first time. This dreadful business occurred within thesquadron's patrol area and from aloft they watched a gap of some 5,000 yards driven into the Allied lines. The gap waseventually closed, mostly by the heroic efforts of the Canadian division of the 5th Corps. ' Fighting between aircraft developed very quickly in 1915, tobecome an established part of air warfare. Offensive devices were many and peculiar. In May, Capt. Strange fixed up his Martin-syde with a weight dangling at the end of a 150-ft cable. The idea was to fly over an enemy aircraft and catch his airscrewwith the wire. Twice he tried this device and each time suc- ceeded in making the enemy pilot land, though he failed tobreak their airscrews. On May 10th he was on patrol with his weight dangling andattacked an Otto biplane making for Menin. Strange headed it off with his Lewis gun, but while he was changing the drumthe Martinsyde went out of control and into an inverted spin, throwing its pilot from the cockpit Hanging on only by acentre-section strut and the gun mounting and with his feet caught in his safety-belt, Strange managed to kick his feetfree, climb upwards back into the cockpit and regain control. Recording the incident, the squadron's chronicles make thelaconic statement: " the squadron was fortunate in its personnel." The summer and winter of 1915 saw a big increase in airfighting, The Germans had the new synchronized gun gear which enabled them to fire directly through the airscrew disc,sighting their guns by aiming the whole aircraft, whereas our pilots still had to use machine-guns on articulated mountings,detaching a hand from the controls to sight and fire. Though this equipment gave the enemy a great advantage the R.F.C.never lost the initiative. No. 6 did its full share, and in doing so gained the third airVictoria Cross. Capt. L. G. Hawker, flying a Bristol Scout during an evening patrol on July 25th, attacked two enemy air-craft, one over Passchendale and another near Houthulst forest, both without decisive results. Climbing again to 11,000ft, hefound another German over Hooge. In this attack he closed within 100yd before opening fire and as the enemy burst intonames it turned over on its back throwing the observer out. This encounter won the first V.C. given for air-to-air fightingand it is curious that the honour should fall to an officer of an army co-operation squadron. No. 6 was also the first squadron to try landing intelligenceagents behind the enemy lines. On September13th, 1915, Capt. T. W. Mulcahy-Morgan set outin a B.E.2c. with an agent on board. Attempting alanding near Courtrai, he hit a tree and a wing wastorn off. Mulcahy-Mor- gan and his passengerwere injured but were able to dispose of theirsecret papers before being captured. Copt. L G. Hawker, who won both the V.C. and DS.O. while serving with No. 6 in the early part of the First World War. The officers of the squadron in August, 1918. Back row : Lt». C. A. Lucy. G. E. Herring, E. A. Ealding, A. M. Anderson, J. T. Sorley, J. Owen, J. A. Howard, F. J. Russell, E. C. Clege, M.C., F. C Cook, C. D. Churchward, J. A. Holmes. Third row : Us. E. F. V. Chard, R. Sterling, H. E. Fenwick, H. A. Record, W. T. Rees, M. A. Wattrer, S. H. Scott, A. C. J. Payne, Capt. W. C. Shedel. Us. H. E. Pettit, R. E. Towler, G. A. King, D.F.C, W. A. Clark, H. H. E. Holt. Second Row : Us. A. E. Gay, T. Harris, Capt. H. Mundtn, D.F.C., Maior G C. Pirie, M.C., Capt. G. J. Scaramann, Capt. G. D. Begg, M.C., Lts. O. C. Skinner, J. B. Mulvey. Front Row : Us. D. A. McK»rron, E. D. Dalmaine, F. W. Bate, G. Row.ll, E. E. Wilby, E. L. Gilthenan, B. Martin, H. Douthwaite. s $
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