Description
Object description
Ms diary covering the period Monday 22nd April 1918 – Friday 19th September 1919, kept whilst serving with a maintenance flight in the Royal Naval Air Service in Lemnos, Greece, and then moving as 221 Squadron RAF to Petrovsk, Russia in January 1919 as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, mentioning his duties, movements and leisure activities as well as some more detailed entries which mention aeroplane crashes, raids on Astrakhan and his fellow servicemen; together with a ms journal (29pp plus 14pp of loose notes) titled "A Visit to Russia" containing a more detailed account of his service from October 1918 (finishing abruptly in about June 1919), describing his experiences and conditions in Lemnos, where his squadron had been involved in anti-submarine work, including packing up the stores and equipment and his observations of a nearby Greek Squadron; he was selected for service in Russia where his squadron were involved in bombing the Astrakhan area, giving details of the equipment taken, describing his journey from Greece on the SS JOHN SANDERSON to Batumi Harbour (Georgia) where they were caught in a bad storm resulting in the loss of some equipment, continuing by train through Azerbaijan, noting the scorched country, establishing the aerodrome in a small village just outside Petrovsk (Dagestan, Russia), describing his duties working on the aeroplanes, their relationships with the local Russians, his opinions of members of the Sikh, Punjab and Ghurkha Regiments that were sent to help guard the aerodrome, his surprise at finding a Cossack who had been to Cambridge and spoke perfect English, sabotage by and conflict with local agitators, and his leisure activities, including mention of fellow servicemen and their experiences. The back of the diary contains some training notes.
Content description
Ms diary covering the period Monday 22nd April 1918 – Friday 19th September 1919, kept whilst serving with a maintenance flight in the Royal Naval Air Service in Lemnos, Greece, and then moving as 221 Squadron RAF to Petrovsk, Russia in January 1919 as part of the Allied intervention in the Russian Civil War, mentioning his duties, movements and leisure activities as well as some more detailed entries which mention aeroplane crashes, raids on Astrakhan and his fellow servicemen; together with a ms journal (29pp plus 14pp of loose notes) titled "A Visit to Russia" containing a more detailed account of his service from October 1918 (finishing abruptly in about June 1919), describing his experiences and conditions in Lemnos, where his squadron had been involved in anti-submarine work, including packing up the stores and equipment and his observations of a nearby Greek Squadron; he was selected for service in Russia where his squadron were involved in bombing the Astrakhan area, giving details of the equipment taken, describing his journey from Greece on the SS JOHN SANDERSON to Batumi Harbour (Georgia) where they were caught in a bad storm resulting in the loss of some equipment, continuing by train through Azerbaijan, noting the scorched country, establishing the aerodrome in a small village just outside Petrovsk (Dagestan, Russia), describing his duties working on the aeroplanes, their relationships with the local Russians, his opinions of members of the Sikh, Punjab and Ghurkha Regiments that were sent to help guard the aerodrome, his surprise at finding a Cossack who had been to Cambridge and spoke perfect English, sabotage by and conflict with local agitators, and his leisure activities, including mention of fellow servicemen and their experiences. The back of the diary contains some training notes.
History note
MP