Description
Object description
British armourer trained with Royal Naval Air Service Station Eastchurch, GB, 2/1917-6/1917; served aboard HMS Furious in GB coastal waters, 6/1917-4/1918; served at RAF Calshot, GB, 1918
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and training with Royal Navy and Royal Naval Air Service in GB, 12/1916-1/1917: initial recruitment as armourer and basic training at HMS Victory VI, Royal Navy Training Depot, Crystal Palace, London, 12/1916; role of armourers in Royal Navy and Royal Naval Air Service; passing trade test as 1st Class Mechanic at HMS Pembroke, Chatham; medical; transfer to Royal Naval Air Service and attitude to flying; daily routine.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of training as armourer with Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Station Eastchurch, GB, 2/1917-6/1917: reception; layout of station; armaments training; method of fusing and arming bombs ready for aircraft take offs; story of narrow escape on aircraft crash landing with bombs still aboard and success in disarming bombs; ring mountings for recoilless rifle and Lewis Gun; training on naval guns at Royal Navy Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island; use of trombone bomb sight; use of 180lb Bombs against submarines.
REEL 3 Continues: Aspects of period as armourer with Royal Naval Air Service aboard HMS Furious in GB coastal waters, 6/1917-4/1918: battlecruiser's prior conversion to aircraft carrier with forward flight deck, wind breaks and aircraft lifts; sea and gunnery trials; trials in landing aircraft on flight deck and death of Squadron Commander Edwin Dunning, Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, 7/8/1917; dangers in taking off and landing on short flight deck; accident on launching seaplane; experiments with air launched torpedoes using converted bomb racks and sights.
REEL 4 Continues: failure of air launched torpedo sights; designing top wing Lewis Gun mounting and story of disciplinary procedure after accidental firing incident; damage from collision with destroyer; period ashore during repairs including assisting with installation of new flight deck and hydraulic landing gear; method of launching seaplanes using bogeys on wheels.
REEL 5 Continues: success of launching seaplanes using bogeys on rails during sea trials; recovery of seaplanes from sea; landing on after installation of new flight deck and modification of hydraulic landing gear; comparison of landing on forward and aft flight decks; sight of sinking of battleship HMS Vanguard in Scapa Flow, Orkney Islands, 9/7/1917; duties as armourer; use of phosphorous coated Rankin Darts against Zeppelins; questions of use of bombs.
REEL 6 Continues: ignorance of technical innovations and consequent replacement as armourers for retraining. Aspects of period as armourer at RAF Calshot, GB, 5/1918-11/1918: casualties during operations in English Channel; method of fusing and loading bombs on flying boats; bombing release mechanism and racks on flying boats; introduction of machine guns using interrupter gear to fire through aircrafts propeller; story illustrating civilian ignorance of work load; method of loading bombs on Short Type 184 seaplane; method of fitting bombing release mechanism and racks on Short Type 184 seaplane.