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Aviation History
1950
1950 - 2253.PDF
B.i Zc, Zd 1 915 No. 6 SQUADRON, RAF. Even as early as December, 1915, it had begun to be realizedthat bombing of important targets could be effective only if a considerable number of aircraft struck together. This led toformation flying and to the interdependence of aircraft in a formation, one upon the others, for protection. The first of these " concentrated" raids, four days afterChristmas, was against Comines railway station. Fourteen B.E.2cs made up die formation: four from No. 5, three fromNo. 6 and seven from No. 7 Squadron. One fighter aircraft from each squadron acted as escort. By the standards of thosedays the raid was successful. Hostile aircraft were seen but they did not venture to attack. Widi the turn of the year the tempo of the fighting increasedand frequently the squadron had to drop all normal duties to attend to a "General Artillery Action." This was an agreedsignal whereby all action was concentrated on a particular area in which the Germans were suddenly attacking our lines or,perhaps, were putting in a counter attack. On one very busy day during a G.A.A., No. 6 engaged no fewer than 51 hostilebatteries. Despite die intensity of the fighting the unit did not at thistime suffer many casualties. In the first half of 1916 only one B.E. was lost—shot down by a Fokker—and this in face of thefact that no specialised fighter squadron appeared in No. 6 squadron's area until No. 29 arrived in March with theirD.H.2s. For its splendid work at this difficult time the squadron was mentioned in Sir Douglas Haig's first despatch. No. 2Squadron was the only other unit to be accorded this honour. The ferocious battle of the Sommej which opened on July,1916, was not on the front patrolled by No. 6 but they did do a number of strategic bombing raids and kept up a continualpressure in their area to prevent the Germans from moving troops, guns or aircraft from the Ypres salient to reinforcethose on the Somme. It was during the Somme battles that No. 6 started nightbombing. The first objective was again the railway station at Comines. Four of the squadron's BJLs took part, each loadedwith eight 20-lb bombs. The attack was made from 2,000ft, widi good results. All the aircraft returned safely. General H. AA. Trenchard (now Marshal of the R.A.F. Lord Trenchard) was as much the advocate of independent air-force action in 1916 as he is now. In some of the raids ordered by him at that time the beginnings of air power as such can be discerned. In one such raid six aircraft from No. 6 joined forces with five of No. 5 and another five from No. 16 in an attack on Ledeghem railway station. Fighter escort was made up of five F.E.2ds of No. 20 Squadron and six D.H.2s belonging to No. 29. Thirty-one 112-lb bombs were dropped. September, 1916, saw another change in command of the squadron, Maj. A. S. Barratt taking over from Maj. Mills, who had commanded for the past nine months. Maj. Barratt, who retired in 1947 as Air Chief Marshal Sir Arthur S. Barratt, has always been identified with army co-operation; he commanded the Advanced Air Striking Force in France in 1939. Before Maj. Barratt left the squadron in the middle of 1917, their B.E.S had been replaced by the R.E.8s—a much-needed change. The new aircraft, which were the first to have tail- trimming gear, had a vee-twelve air-cooled 150 h.p. engine (designed by the Royal Aircraft Factory, a maximum speed of 102 m.p.h. and a service ceiling of 13,000ft. The first big job with the new equipment came in the prepara- tion, on June 5th and 6th, for the battle of Messines Ridge— a position from which the Germans had overlooked our trenches for more than two years. In the two days of preparation No. 6 were responsible for 31 knock-out shoots, 24 gun-pits destroyed, a further 25 pits hit, 10 explosions caused and 38 successful trench and wire-cutting bombardments. In addition, 80 photo- graphs were taken and 1,146 prints issued to the ground troops. The battle proper opened on the 7th with the biggest bang of all time. Nineteen deep mines, containing nearly a million pounds of high explosive, were detonated under the German positions.. For miles on either side of the sector our infantry were not allowed to be in their dug-outs in case of collapse when the explosion occurred. The aircrews of No. 6 concentrated on contact patrol work, flying at 500ft-l,000ft and, although it was no part of their duties, they indulged in a little ground strafing as opportunity afforded. The battle was a success, but at a terrible price. Just over a month later the squadron was involved in yet another major operation—the third battle of Ypres. In this connection it is interesting to read an account written by Capt. Wadham, who had only just joined the unit as a pilot. He wrote: — Officers in tropical kit at Mosul in 1929. Back row : F/Os. Parkin, Bett, Fairhead, Rowe, Potter, Moore, Evans. Front row : FjO. Griffin, Flits. Carter, Russell, Howard, S/L Kieth, F/Lt. Perry-keen, F/Os. Spaight, Selk, Mr. Silver. The portrait on the right is that of S/L C. N. Lowe, who commanded the unit from 1926 to 1928. Rristol Fighter F2Rs and crews on parade for an A.O.C's inspection—by A. V-M. Sir Robert Brooke-Popham—in 1928.
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