Autumn Offensive complete, a great success!

We left these shores, as did Arthur, from Folkestone (we used Eurotunnel) and crossed to Calais on 7th September. We returned on the 10th after having a superb time visiting Arthur's old haunts, his airfields whilst with 40 Squadron and a few other significant places besides.

Put briefly, our objective was to see what remained of the airfield infrastructure, soak up a little of the atmosphere remaining and bring our small team together as a whole for the first time. I will not write the whole exercise up here but will say it was an unqualified success, we all thought so. The AO concluded with us all paying our respect at Arthur's graveside at Terlincthun, Wimille.

The Sopwith 1½ 'Strutter'

Arthur's first operational posting after a interlude instructing at Montrose was to 70 Squadron during 1916. Rapid promotion facilitated by losses found him still flying the Strutter but as a flight commander with 45 Squadron. This 'fill-in' was tacked onto the end of his tour and he returned to the UK exhausted to rejoin the flying training system.

Reflections on the 'Stutter' from that superb organisation, The Memorial Flight Association at La Ferte Alais who restored this magnificent example to the air.

Copyright  ©The Memorial Flight Association

A handsome but frail-looking biplane powered by a 110 (later 130) h.p. Clerget rotary engine, the Sopwith Two-Seater or Type 9400, to give the respective R.F.C. and R.N.A.S. designations, was produced in December 1915. It was soon given the name 1½ 'Strutter', a reference to its oddly shaped centre-section struts.

An unusual features of its design was the provision of air-brakes in the trailing-edges of the lower wing-roots and a tailplane.

"Airbrakes are used to land on exiguous fields. Operate this device only if you are familiar with the aircraft. The Sopwith aircraft float a lot, therefore it is required to train on large airfields.
To land, glide down with engine in idle, and at approximately 50 meters, increase speed by diving, then raise the airbrakes progressively by rotating the wheel drive ( no needs to release the brake on the wheel as it works only to prevent the airbrakes from lowering due to the airflow)
Aircraft vibrates a little at this moment and seems to sink, dive more and pull up when the aircraft is close to the ground, touch tail first. In these conditions, the aircraft should not roll more than 20 meters.
This landing method requires a consequent training, keep in mind that actuating airbrakes reduce aircraft glide in very large proportions."

The 'Strutter' was the first British aeroplane to go into action with a synchronized Vickers gun for the pilot. The observer's gun was initially set to a Scarff pillar mounting, later on a Nieuport ring and finally on the vastly superior Scarff ring. The 'Strutter' did well as a two-seater fighter/reconnaissance type during the late summer and autumn of 1916. It also was also employed as a bomber, particularly by the R.N.A.S. who developed a single-seat, long-range version.

Copyright: Public Domain

 

The 'Strutter' went to France during 1916 and compared with the Farmans and Breguet-Michelins which formed the main body of the force, they represented a technological advance prompting our French allies to decide to build the type in quantity. Unfortunately production was very slow, by the time the first French Sopwiths reached the front in April 1917 they were  obsolescent.

There were three versions, the SOP. 1 A2 (corps two-seater), the SOP.l B2 (two-seater bomber) and the SOP. Bl (single-seater bomber). Various engines were installed; the 110, 130 and 135 h.p. Clergets, the 80, 110 and 130 h.p. Le Rhones.
Throughout the summer and autumn of 1917 the Sopwiths equipped most of the French day-bombing escadrilles but were hampered by an small available bomb-load and relatively poor performance when matched against newer types.

The Corps d' Armee version was more useful, but as one pilot said wistfully, "the Sopwith is a good tourer, no war-plane!" The type was withdrawn from the Western Front early in 1918 and used as an operational trainer both in the UK and France.

Edited from the original.

'The Spring Offensive' slips to the Autumn

Well, we had it in mind to pop across to France to visit the air and land-space of the drama along with the last resting places of the central characters within our story. Sadly I had a mishap, 'ended up having an operation and the subsequent rehab and further investigations have made the trip impractical. My stoic allies, though inconvenienced, have sportingly agreed not to go without me. We have realigned our  sights on the Autumn - an 'Autumn Offensive' so to speak - where we will try and be as 'inoffensive' as possible.

The research and the writing continues, the project is no less exciting - more so even as we unearth connections from the existing well of enthusiasm and expertise that surrounds the events of 100 years ago.

Messines Ridge - Photograph Mike St Maur Shiel 

See this wonderful image and others at  Western Front Photography

The Learning Curve

I spent an hour chatting to Syd my co-author/researcher yesterday about Arthur’s initial exposure to combat flying. After spending time in the UK, both being trained and immediately afterwards teaching others as a ‘creamy’[1]. We both agree that this consolidation process added massively to his ‘longevity’ and took him from fledgling to comparatively experienced aviator with ability before being exposed to combat.

Syd used to be an RAF (CFS) QFI, I was the civil equivalent. We both remember clearly the impressions formed during and after our own instructors courses back in the day: the way our eyes were opened wide to the complexities of ‘how’ where previously, as pilots we learnt just enough to ‘do’ in the air. A frequent comment from my fellow course members (1975) was ‘how the hell did we manage to stagger around the sky prior to this course?’ Whilst we were engaged in playful banter we all knew the deeper truth behind the self effacing humour.

Beyond the technical achievement that came with understanding how an aircraft flies  would be the craft of moving around safely ‘up there’. Further bonuses arrived for Arthur attached to the opportunity he gained from his students as they took him to the margins of safety with their inept handling as they learned their art. Teaching others is a gift to those wishing to improve, even perfect their own techniques - their craft, it's perhaps the most rapid and effective ways to learn.

To be able to pass on his accumulating knowledge and skill, Arthur would have evolved different ways of presenting individual concepts and techniques to his students, or ‘Huns’ as they called them then. In short, he would have re-visited every corner of his own experience and in the process, turned himself into a rounded, competent aviator.

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1. A newly trained pilot selected (‘creamed off’) after training to immediately become a flying instructor.  ↩
   

 

Arthur's arrival in France during July 1916 blasted him into an entirely new world. Fortunately his hand contained these aforementioned cards, his developed understanding of flight and the confidence this gave him. Any veil of naivety normally present in a pilot fresh from training would have been wiped away by his duties as a flight commander which included clearing up the aftermath of numerous 'smashes', dealing with the fallout of injury and death close up. His letters document plenty of that, but even the exuberance and confidence of youth married to some early military experience would have been unlikely to shield him completely: but the hardening process had started.

So to recap, we are discussing the elements of preparedness for combat, the very structure of what has become to be known as Situational Awareness (SA).  As is well documented and even understood at the time, flight training was rudimentary and largely ineffective until late 1917 when Smith Barry turned that world on its head. A victory for the power of vicarious learning as these lads, initially at least, probably learnt more from their aircraft and each other than they did from some instructors.That has changed with time of course, but we possibly still don't fully appreciate how much the environment and others are responsible for the learning we absorb. The majority lived through the initial learning experience... just.

Without wishing to dwell on accidents...

These factors in turn led to a critical period in the life of new arrivals at the Front, they were either lucky in their leaders and the prevailing circumstances, caught on very quickly or died equally so.
Squadron and Flight Commanders tried hard to ensure that their new boys were up to the job but often they were hard pressed in the extreme themselves to maintain unit strength and at times of great demand had little choice but to use replacements immediately. Poorly selected and trained pilots damaged aircraft and were a liability in the air and constituted a waste of life and resources. They were generally either returned to the UK for further training or posted back to their parent or other units.
Keeping new boys on our side of the line for a while to learn the rudiments of combat flying, build confidence and gather the threads to generate or strengthen their SA was key to their survival and everyone knew it. Yes, Arthur started war flying with a head start but it was what he did following that made the man.

70 Squadron Sopwith 'Strutter'