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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 1436.PDF
588 FLIGHT, 5 October 1956 (Left) 1 ft -Strutter taking off from a ship's gun turret. (Right) laying the sections of a gun-turret take-oft platform for a shipboard 1'A-Strutter. Note the external control locks on the aircraft. THE SOPWITH 1^-STRUTTER . . . duction difficulties further delayed deliveries and, by a coinci-dence, it was not until September 30, 1916, that the second lj- Strutter squadron of the R.F.C. received its full complement oftwelve aircraft. The unit was No. 45 Sqn., and it did not reach Fienvillers until October 15. One week later, three of its Sop-withs failed to return from an offensive patrol. Only one other R.F.C. squadron, No. 43, was equipped with11-Strurters. It did not arrive in France until January 17,1917, by which time the Sopwiths were outclassed. In the autumn of1916 the U-Strutter's 110 h.p. Clerget was replaced by the 130 h.p. engine of the same make. The more powerful engine wasstandardized; with it the aircraft's rate of climb was improved, but there was little worthwhile improvement in terms of level speed. In March 1917, No. 70 Sqn. suffered heavy losses. The enemyhad withdrawn to the Hindenburg Line in the middle of the month, and the R.F.C.'s Ninth Wing was required to make longreconnaissances to seek out new defence systems east of that line and to watch for indications of further withdrawals. At thattime it was desired to restrict the use of the new D.H.4s and Bristol Fighters until the opening of the Arras offensive: thatexcluded No. 55 Sqn. from the reconnaissance work, which then fell upon the F.E.2Ds of No. 57 Sqn. and the Sopwith H-Strutters of No. 70 Sqn. On March 24, six of No. 70's Sopwiths were attacked by asuperior force of enemy fighters while on the way to Valenciennes. Two H-Strutters were shot down and the battle-scarred re-mainder got back only with difficulty. Next morning another six machines set out for the same objective; this time only one sur-vived, and that because its defective engine obliged the pilot to turn back over Cambrai. All five others were lost. The Valen-ciennes reconnaissance had always been a hazardous mission, and on those two March days it deprived No. 70 Sqn. of fourteenof its officers and seven aircraft. The H-Strutters of Nos. 43 and 70 Sqns. played their partin the Battles of Arras, mostly in performing long-range recon- naissances, but by then they were usually given strong escortsof single-seaters. Ground-strafing was not a normal duty for the H-Strutter, but on May 3, 1917, five machines of No. 43 Sqn.attacked enemy troops massing in the trenches for a counter- attack on the British XIII Corps. The same squadron madesimilar attacks on bodies of enemy troops during the afternoon of the 3rd. On the following day the Sopwiths of No. 70 Sqn. fought witha flash of their old fire when nine of them, unescorted, were attacked over Tournai by several groups of enemy single-seaters.The H-Strutters were in the act of taking their photographs when the enemy fighters struck. Some successful photographswere taken, but the Sopwiths had to fight all the way home. One was forced to land with a holed fuel tank; another brought backa dead observer. Three of the enemy were sent down, one of them out of control. The three li-Strutter squadrons carried on gallantly duringthe Battle of Messines. No. 43 Sqn. again went ground-strafing on June 7, two days after No. 45 had suffered heavy losses whileattempting a photographic reconnaissance near Menin. By that time the end of their tribulations was in sight: re- A l'/i -Strutter with skid undercarriage taking off from H.M.S. "Vindexf equipment with Camels was intended, No. 70 by July 31, No. 45by August 15, and No. 43 by August 31. Only No. 70 Sqn. was re-equipped on schedule, however; by August 15 No. 45 hadreceived only eight Camels, and did not complete its complement until September 1; and the last of No. 43's Camels did not arriveuntil October 3. So the Battles of Ypres began with Nos. 43 and 45 Sqns. still flying to war in l|-Strutters. No. 43 did ex-cellent work on August 15, 1917, flying from an advanced land- ing ground. Eighteen sorties, all flown at less than 1,000ft, weremounted; 5,000 rounds of ammunition were fired, chiefly at ground targets; much information was passed to Corps H.Q. andartillery; an enemy two-seater was shot down and a single-seater was forced down out of control. The squadron lost two 1-J-Strutters, and two pilots and one observer were wounded. The re-equipment of Nos. 43 and 45 was delayed becauseGothas bombed tondon in daylight on June 13 and July 7, 1917. In order to strengthen Home Defence units, No. 46 (Pup) Sqn.was withdrawn from France on July 10, and on the 13th Maj-Gen. Trenchard was told by the War Office that twenty-four Camelswhich had been destined to re-equip one of the H-Strutter squadrons were to be diverted to Home Defence squadrons. The l^-Strutter was itself used on Home Defence duties on amodest scale. Fifty-six two-seaters and three single-seaters were delivered to Home Defence units, and were used by SquadronsNos. 37 and 44. The latter unit began to form at Hainault Farm on July 24, 1917, but did not keep its H-Strutters for long.Re-equipment with Camels began in August and was completed in the following month. On July 7 one of No. 37 Squadron's 1|-Strutters, manned by Lt. J. E. R. Young and A/M. C. C. Taylor, was among the heterogeneous collection of 95 R.F.C. andR.N.A.S. aircraft which rose in a haphazard swarm to attack the
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