Description
Object description
British NCO served as air mechanic with Royal Naval Air Service in GB, 11/1914-4/1916; served as air gunner/observer with 3 Sqdn, No 3 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service in France, 10/1916-5/1917; served as air gunner with 5 Sqdn, No 5 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Station Dunkirk, France, 6/1917-3/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Recollections of enlistment and training as air mechanic with Royal Naval Air Service in GB, 1914-1915: recruitment as 2nd Class Air Mechanic, 4/11/1914; obtaining release from apprenticeship as motor mechanic; passing trade test at Hendon; reasons for and father's reaction to enlistment; prior failed attempts to enlist; basic training at Royal Naval Air Service Station Sheerness, 11/1914-1/1915 including partial uniform, opinion of marine instructors and lasting influence. Recollections of period as air mechanic with Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Station Great Yarmouth, GB, 1/1915-4/1916: uniform on arrival; situation.
REEL 2 Continues: status as war service volunteers; work in engine workshop; enthusiasm for flying; test flights by Thomas Sopwith using Sopwith Tabloid; question of relations with regular personnel; clearing sand from slipway; station layout; rifle and rifle grenade armament during coastal anti-Zeppelin patrols; minesweeping patrol aboard trawler in North Sea including use of Sopwith Schneider seaplane to spot floating mines and subsequent method of clearing them. Aspects of training as air gunner at Royal Naval Air Service Station Eastchurch, GB, 4/1916-10/1916.
REEL 3 Continues: attending course in naval gunnery at Royal Naval Gunnery School, HMS Excellent, Whale Island, Portsmouth; method of practising bombing on targets from Henri Farman aircraft; machine gun training; impressions of Horace Short; question of adequacy of training; opinion of Henri Farman aircraft.
REEL 4 Continues: Recollections of period as air gunner/observer with 3 Sqdn, No 3 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service at Luxeuil-les-Bains, France, 10/1916-5/1917: crossing English Channel aboard hospital ship; dropping propaganda leaflets threatening retaliatory raid if any more hospital ships were sunk and subsequent raids after further sinking of hospital ship; nature of air combat and Imperial German Army Air Service system of layering fighters at different altitudes; bomb release gear and sights; question of effectiveness of bombing and nature of targets; role as observer; acting as working party when grounded due to bad weather; effects of weather on flying and use of whale oil to prevent frost bite; duration and number of flights.
REEL 5 Continues: relations with officer pilots. Recollections of period as air gunner with 5 Sqdn, No 5 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Station Dunkirk, France, 6/1917-3/1918: prior interval awaiting posting at Royal Naval Air Service Station Eastchurch; role as daylight bombers and escorts; problems in running out of fuel on long range operations and consequent forced landings including ditching in sea off beach at La Panne, Belgium; clashes with Richthofen's 'Flying Circus'.
REEL 6 Continues: story of being shot down during raid on Engel Airfield, Belgium, 28/10/1917 including method of using of stop watch and bomb sight, surprise attack from out of sun, leg wound and shooting down attacker; Imperial German Army Air Service bombing raid during hospitalisation in Dunkirk, France; hospitalisation in GB prior to return to unit, 11/1917-12/1917; question of decorations to other ranks; effects of cold weather; ground strafing role to hamper German offensives, 3/1918; question of value of Royal Naval Air Service operations; bombardments of Dunkirk, France; detachment as gunner on night operations in Handley Page Bombers 0/100 of 7 Sqdn, Royal Naval Air Service.
REEL 7 Continues: reaction to casualties, pooled money for 'binges' and personal morale; grounding through nervous breakdown in air; allocation to airfield anti-aircraft Lewis Gun position; return as unfit for active service to GB, 3/1918; unearned flying pay following formation of Royal Air Force, 1/4/1918; story of using dual control stick to fly aircraft on pilot being sick and fainting in flight; question of contact with Royal Navy; question of relations with Royal Flying Corps; nature of Royal Naval Air Service Station Dunkirk.
