Description
Object description
British leading mechanic served with Air Gunnery School, Royal Naval Air Station Eastchurch, GB, 9/1916-8/1917; NCO served as observer with 7 Sqdn, No 5 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service and 207 Sqdn, No 54 Wing, RAF at Coudekerque, France, 9/1917-11/1918
Content description
REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment in Royal Naval Air Service at Whitehall, London, GB, 5/8/1915: abortive attempts to join British Army; question of physical suitability. Aspects of period as leading mechanic with Royal Naval Air Service Station Felixstowe, GB, 8/1915-8/1916: prior drill instruction without uniforms at Sheerness; lectures on venereal disease (VD); reaction to absence of flying opportunities; disciplinary punishments; opinion of Lieutenant Commander John Porte; duties launching seaplanes and flying boats with wading party; question of use of motor launches to rescue ditched crews; rum ration; first flight.
REEL 2 Continues: Aspects of period as pupil and instructor at Air Gunnery School, Royal Naval Air Station Eastchurch, GB, 9/1916-8/1917: reception; naval gunnery course at HMS Excellent, Whale Island; importance of team work; ruse to secure weekend leave in London and subsequent punishment; pride in unit; method of practising and assessing bomb dropping skills; Lewis Gun practise and stoppage clearing.
REEL 3 Continues: bomb dropping tests and question of visibility; use of Maurice Farmans; method of using bomb sight in Handley Page 0/100; grass runways; unit morale. Recollections of period as observer with 7 Sqdn, No 5 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service and 207 Sqdn, No 54 Wing, RAF at Coudekerque, France, 8/1917-11/1918: re-organisation as 207 Sqdn, RAF, 1/4/1918; posting as observer to Flight Commander Lieutenant Herbert Brackley; opinion of Lieutenant Herbert Brackley; journey to Calais, 8/1917; initial period of ground work; opinion of Handley Page, 0/100; forced landing in No Mans Land in Nieuport area following raid on Bruges, Belgium, 16/6/1918; subsequent reprimand over failure to salvage Lewis Guns.
REEL 4 Continues: crew of Handley Pages 0/100 and 0/400 aircraft and role of observer in dropping bombs; familiarisation flight; aircraft and gun maintenance; visibility at night; navigation and use of coast line; question of infringing Dutch air space and their anti-aircraft fire; lighting in aircraft; pre-mission briefing; story of interrogation as 'Germans' on being rescued by Belgian troops following forced landing in Nieuport area, Belgium; squadron tender coming under shellfire and reaction of driver; instructions to avoid civilian targets; question of ruses used to get German aerodromes to display their landing lights.
REEL 5 Continues: German air raid on Coudekerque and move to temporary airfield at Mardec Sands, Belgium; use of landmarks to locate targets; differing bomb sizes and question of effect on bomb sight; incident of being concussed by dropping 1,660lb bomb from 2,000 feet; method of carrying and releasing bombs; verification of effects of bombing by agents and aerial photographs; clash with German fighter; evasive action and side-slipping to avoid searchlights; roving commissions and attacks on trains; question of ditching at sea; entrance and exit to Handley Page 0/100 and 0/400.
REEL 6 Continues: efforts to keep warm and case of frostbite; medical inspections, question of personal morale and necessity of leave; leave in GB; bombing raid on railway bridge at Namur, Belgium, 29/9/1917-30/9/1917; failure of attempt to reach Cologne, Germany, 20/10/1917; crash landing on beach, 7/6/1918; story of forced landing in No Mans Land in Nieuport area following raid on Bruges, Belgium, 16/6/1918; diversionary role to attract searchlights during naval raid on Zeebrugge, Belgium, 23/4/1918; failed attempts to bomb dock gates at Zeebrugge, Belgium; participation in last raid of war, 10/11/1918; demobilisation in GB, 1/1919.