Sykes, Ronald (Oral history)

British officer served as pilot with 12 and 9 Sqdns Royal Naval Air Service on Western Front, 9/1917-10/1917; served with 3 Sqdn, Royal Naval Air Service and 203 Sqdn RAF on Western Front, 3/1918-8/1918; served with 201 Sqdn RAF on Western Front, 8/1918-1/1919; served as pilot with Syren Force, North Russia Relief Force in Russian State, 8/1919; prisoner of war in Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, 9/1919-3/1920

REEL 1 Aspects of enlistment and flying training with Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Stations Redcar and Cranwell in GB 4/1917-8/1917: enlistment in Royal Naval Air Service, 1/4/1917; crash landing following disorientation in cloud; aircraft flown; restrictions on stunt flying; sight of landing of crippled British airship; family links with Royal Navy. Aspects of period as pilot with 12 Sqdn, No 1 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service at Royal Naval Air Service Station Dunkirk, France, 9/1917: encouragement of stunting; looping. Recollections of operations as pilot with 9 Sqdn, Royal Naval Air Service at Leffrinckoucke, France, 9/1917: spinning and recovery of aircraft; senior officers; initial advice from Flight Commander Roy Brown. REEL 2 Continues: technique for coming out of power dive during familiarisation flight with Flight Commander Roy Brown; vertical bank manoeuvre; role of patrols; story of being shot down near Nieuport Canal, France, 10/1917; nurses at Quaker run Queen Alexandra Hospital, Dunkirk, France, 10/1917; medical evacuation by destroyer as Royal Naval Air Service personnel to GB, 10/1917. Aspects of period as flying instructor at Royal Naval Air Service Station Manston, GB, 1917: familiarisation flights with Sopwith Camel for new pilots; flights ferrying spares in Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c; test flying repaired crashed aircraft; need for experienced Sopwith Camel pilots on Western Front and consequent posting to the pilots pool at Royal Naval Air Service Station Dunkirk, France, 3/1918. REEL 3 Continues: Recollections of operations as pilot with 3 Sqdn, Royal Naval Air Service and 203 Sqdn, RAF on Western Front, 3/1918-8/1918: senior officers; question of relative maintenance levels of aircraft of Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service; situation; high-level offensive patrols including nature of dogfights, German aircraft recognition, effects of cold and personal morale; situation during retreat to Estrée-Blanche, France; low-level flying over German trenches led by Flight Commander Robert Little; crash landing by Flight Commander Robert Little; circumstances of transfer as replacements to 201 Sqdn RAF. Recollections of operations as pilot with 201 Sqdn RAF, Western Front, 8/1918-11/1918: first flight. REEL 4 Continues: question of competition in maintenance of Royal Flying Corps and Royal Naval Air Service aircraft; comparison of Sopwith Camels powered by Bentley, Clerget and Le Rhone Engines; rudder bar straps on Sopwith Camel; ground strafing patrols in Somme area, France including dust from traffic, targets, bomb dropping mechanism, casualties from British artillery shells and ground fire; engine strain on low-level flying Sopwith Camels; crash landing due to engine failure in proximity to Australian troops near Villers-Bretonneux, France; shooting down of Major Charles Booker, 13/8/1918; tactical flying training flights with Captain Samuel Kinkead; story of Captain Samuel Kinkead using him as decoy in shooting down German aircraft. REEL 5 Continues: story of escorting bombers and covering Captain Samuel Kinkead's tail whilst he shot down German aircraft; ground attack patrols in support of infantry attack on Hindenburg Line; story of Lieutenant Alfred 'Nick' Carter being shot down over Hindenburg Line; rapid German retreat; promotion to command A Flight and flight markings; role of commanding officer Major Cyril Leman; dogfight with high performance German aircraft and shooting down of Lieutenant J Mill, 20/9/1918. REEL 6 Continues: Aspects of period as pilot with 201 Sqdn, RAF in Cambrai area, France, 11/1918 -1/1919: postal flights; patrols to check observance of Armistice. Aspects of period as officer with RAF at RAF Westgate, GB, 5/1919-7/1919: spotting mines for mine-sweepers in English Channel; flying characteristics of Short seaplanes; navigation to rendezvous with mine-sweepers; forced landing in sea including use of messenger pigeons, rescue and tow initially by fishing boats then HMS Chatham. Recollections of operations as pilot with Syren Force, North Russia Relief Force in the Russian State, 8/1919: journey out; situation on arrival at Medvyezhya Gora by Lake Onega,. REEL 7 Continues: flying Sopwith Camel from forward airstrip at Lumbushi; leaflet dropping; forced landing in forest, 31/8/1919. Recollections of period as prisoner of war in the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic, 9/1919-3/1920: capture by party of White Russians defecting to Bolsheviks; journey via transit camps to Vologda; food; question of parole and escape; move with other British prisoners of war to Moscow; conditions; efforts to secure release of prisoners of war by Chaplain Reverend Frank North of St Andrew's Anglican Church, Moscow; Colonel Kenneth van de Spuy's negotiations with Russian criminal elements to arrange escape to Poland; acceptance by Soviet authorities of prisoner of war status; transport across Moscow to prison in Andronievsky Monastery; plans to escape; exchange of prisoners of war and Chaplain Reverend Frank North at Finnish border, 3/1920; return to GB, 3/1920.