Great War>The War in the Air

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No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps    No. 1 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps was formed on 13th of May 1912, when No. 1 Company of the Air Battalion was redesignated. It proceeded to France on the 7th of March 1915 in a mainly reconnaissance, becoming a dedicated fighter squadron on 1st of January 1917. It was redesignated No. 7 Squadron, Royal Air Force in April 1918 and returned to the UK in March 1919. 7th March 1915 On the Move  From the outbreak of war No 1 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps had provided aircrew training at Brooklands, but on 7th of March 1915 it crossed over to RFC HQ at St Omer in France. It was equipped with a mixture of Avro 504s and Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.8s, and operated mainly in the reconnaissance role. 12th March 1915 RFC Supports Attacks   13th Sep 1915  Observation   14th Sep 1915 Anti Aircraft Gun   15th Sep 1915 New Propellant   23rd Sep 1915 Targets Shelled 24th Sep 1915 Registration 27th Sep 1915 Bridge Destroyed 29th Dec 1915 Aircraft damaged 30th Dec 1915 Aircraft damaged 5th Jan 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Jan 1916 Aircraft Missing 12nd Jan 1916 Recce 17th Jan 1916 Aircraft Lost 9th Mar 1916 Aircraft Lost 13th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 14th Mar 1916 Aircraft Lost 19th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Apr 1916 Aircraft Lost 25th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 27th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 29th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 4th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 4th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 5th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 18th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 18th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 18th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st May 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd May 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd May 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd May 1916 Aircraft damaged 31st May 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 17th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 17th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st July 1916 Observation 3rd Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 6th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 28th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 5th Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 6th Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 11st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 17th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 5th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 28th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 6th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 11st Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 13th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 27th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st January 1917 New Equipment 9th Apr 1917 In Action January 1918 New Aircraft 26th March 1918 German Spring offensive 11th November 1918 Armistice If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps? There are:75 items tagged No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have served with No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps during the Great War 1914-1918. Birkbeck DFC.. Robert Alexander. Capt. Brand DFC.. Christopher Joseph Quintin. Flt Commander Campbell MC, DSO.. William Charles. Mjr. Clayson MC, DFC.. Percy Jack. Capt Cole Edwin Stuart Travis. Capt. Fullard DSO, MC, AFC.. Philip Fletcher. Capt. Jenkin MC.. Louis Fleeming. Lt. (d.11th Sep 1917) Reade Herbert Cecil. Smart Wallace Alexander. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of No. 1 Squadron Royal Flying Corps from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2023 marks 24 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Looking for help with Family History Research?    Please see Family History FAQ's Please note: We are unable to provide individual research. Can you help? 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Kings Shropshire Light Infantry Herbert Cecil Reade joined the Kings Shropshire Light Infantry 6th Battalion (Pals) in Shrewsbury in 1914. In 1916 he transferred to the Royal Flying Corps as an observer in No.1 Squadron. He was invalided back to the UK in 1917. Richard Reade Add to this record. 225939 Capt. Edwin Stuart Travis Cole No.1 Sqn Edwin Stuart Travis Cole, the son of Reuben and Jessie Cole, was from Bristol and trained as a mechanical engineer. After taking flying lessons privately at Hendon and obtaining his pilot’s licence he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 as 2nd Lieutenant and was posted to 60 Squadron. He scored his first victory flying a Nieuport scout, but was then transferred to 1 Squadron. On the morning of the 17th May he was part of a patrol of 4 Nieuport scouts of 1 Squadron when, at 12,000 feet somewhere east of Ypres they attacked a formation of 4 German Albatross scouts. Cole wrote in a letter to his parents: “The day before yesterday ... I did a long patrol before breakfast & nothing special happened, at 9.45 we had a long reconnaissance & at the end of this as we were crossing the lines I spotted a brilliantly red coloured machine with three other machines with him on our side of the trenches, all of us dived on them & a general scrap followed. The Capt. Brought one down but he managed to get back to hunland before crashing, in turn Capt was shot down by one of the hun, shots going right through his petrol tank. He came down in a spin but managed to right her before hitting the ground. Two more of our patrol were shot down & it left another pilot and myself to do our best, the other fellow was splendid & put up a splendid show. However after scrapping for some time two of the huns managed to get away & it left me with one fellow. He had a wonderful machine & the finest flyer I have been up against. We each tried to better the other from 12,000 to 800 ft & when we got near the ground I managed to get in some good shots & down he came, burst into flames just before hitting the ground & the machine went vertically into a pond. I landed in a field next to him & rushed over, thousands of tommies & people were watching & a cheer went up from all of them. However we got the poor fellow out the doctor found him with 5 shots through the heart so there was no chance for him It was all frightfully exciting. Fortunately I did not have a shot in my machine. The hun machine has been brought to the aerodrome & it belongs to their crack squadron & is the very latest type and most beautifully fitted up.” (Source: 'Airfields and Airmen: Ypres' By Michael O'Connor, Casemate Publishers, 23 Dec 2008] Cole’s victim was Alexander Kutscher of Jasper 28. Cole scored six more victories with 1 Squadron in only 6 weeks during the period known as Bloody April when the Germans had air superiority with more advanced aircraft. On 1 May 1917, he and fellow pilot Frank Sharpe captured a German Albatros D.III fighter at Roulers-Elverdinghe, and he received promotion to lieutenant the same day. Following this, Cole was withdrawn from action and returned to England as an instructor. In July 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. At the close of hostilities he resigned from the RAF, but served again in World War 2. Add to this record. 225239 Flt Commander Christopher Joseph Quintin "Flossie" Brand DFC. 1 Squadron Quintin Brand was born in Kimberley, South Africa on 25th May 1893. He joined the South African Defence Force in 1913, but in 1915 he travelled to England where he joined the Royal Flying Corps. He obtained his pilot's licence and was posted to No. 1 Squadron RFC in France as a Flight Commander. He claimed 7 victories over German aircraft before being posted back to England in February 1918. Brand was appointed commander of 112 Squadron based at Throwley in Kent. This was a home defence night fighter squadron equipped with specially modified Sopwith Camels. In June 1918 he was appointed commander of No. 151 Squadron RAF at Fontaine-sur-Maye in France, a night fighter squadron formed to combat German night raids over the Western Front. The squadron downed 26 German aircraft with Brand himself shooting down four. At the end of hostilities he was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross, having been the highest scoring RAF night fighter pilot of the war. Brand worked in aviation through the interwar years and served in the RAF in the second world war, attaining the rank of Air Vice Marshall. He retired in November 1943 and lived in Surrey until 1950, when he moved to Southern Rhodesia. He died on 7 March 1968 Add to this record. 225237 Capt. Robert Alexander Birkbeck DFC. 1 Squadron Captain Robert Alexander Birkbeck DFC was born on 8th October 1898. He was appointed a flying officer in the Royal Flying Corps on 7th May 1917 and joined No. 1 Squadron RFC in France on the 10th June. On 3rd November 1917 he was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain. Birkbeck left the front for England in February 1918 and received the Distinguished Flying Cross on 3 June 1918. After the war he remained in the RAF until 1925 at the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He died in Oxted on 9th of January 1938 Add to this record. 225234 Lt. Louis Fleeming Jenkin MC. 1 Squadron (d.11th Sep 1917) Louis Jenkin was born in London on 22 August 1895 to Austin Fleeming Jenkin and his wife Betty. On 24 September 1914 he was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the 9th Battalion, Loyal North Lancashire Fusiliers. Jenkin transferred to the Royal Flying Corps on 19 April 1917 and was posted to No. 1 Squadron on 15 May 1917. Over a period of just 9 weeks Jenkin brought down 20 German aircraft. He was given command of a flight on 31 July, and promoted to captain. He was awarded the Military Cross on 16 August 1917, the citation read: Lt. Louis Fleeming Jenkin, Gen. List and R.F.C.: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. Whilst on offensive patrol he has continually shown the greatest dash and determination in attacking enemy aircraft in superior numbers, destroying some and bringing others down out of control.” He was shot down and killed in action on the 11th September 1917 and was posthumously awarded a bar on his MC. Add to this record. 225233 Mjr. William Charles Campbell MC, DSO. 1 Sqdn. William Campbell was born in Bordeaux, France, where his father, originally from Aberdeen, was Lloyds' representative, while his mother was French. He joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916. He was trained at Croydon and was posted to 1 Squadron in France in March 1917. Between 14 May and 28 July 1917, Campbell gained 23 aerial victories, and on 16 July shot down three German planes in the space of half an hour. On 31 July, Campbell was wounded in the thigh and his bullet-riddled aircraft was forced down. He returned to England, and on 18 September 1917 was appointed Chief Instructor at the School of Military Aeronautics, with the rank of acting-major. He left the air force at the end of hostilities. Campbell was awarded the Military Cross, in August 1917 and in September he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order. Add to this record. 225229 Capt Percy Jack Clayson MC, DFC. 1 Squadron Percy Clayson was born in Deptford, London on the 7th June 1896. He attended the Royal Masonic School for Boys at Bushey. He joined the Royal Naval Air Service at the outbreak of war and served in France from December 1914. He then transferred to the Royal Flying Corps, being appointed Second Lieutenant. After attending the Military School at Beverley, he joined No. 1 Squadron on 31st of October 1917. He was awarded the Military Cross on 9 April, and on 8 May was appointed a flight commander with the rank of acting captain. On 12 June 1918, he was cited for the Distinguished Flying Cross and was invested with his DFC on 24 July 1919. He served in the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve through the second world war. His citation for the Military Cross reads: “For conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty. When on low-flying offensive patrol, he engaged an enemy scout and shot it down, with the result it crashed to earth. He has brought down several hostile machines, one of which was forced to land in our lines, and has engaged massed enemy troops and transport from a very low altitudes with machine-gun fire, inflicting heavy casualties. He has displayed the most marked determination, courage and skill.” — London Gazette, 22 June 1918 Add to this record. 225228 Capt. Philip Fletcher Fullard DSO, MC, AFC. 1 Sqdn. Philip Fullard was born in Wimbledon, Surrey on 27th May 1897, the son of Thomas Fletcher Fullard. He was educated at Norwich Grammar School. He joined the Inns of Court Officer Training Corps in 1915, and after receiving high marks in his examination was offered a commission as second lieutenant in the Royal Flying Corps. He was commissioned on 5 August 1916. After a short period as an instructor the Central Flying School at Upavon, he was sent to serve in No. 1 Squadron RFC in France in May 1917. On 19 June, still only a second lieutenant, Fullard was appointed a flight commander with the temporary rank of captain. During the Battle of Arras he was awarded the Military Cross twice in September 1917, and also awarded the Distinguished Service Order in November. He was one of the most successful fighter pilots of the Royal Flying Corps; the top scoring UK ace flying Nieuports, and overall the 6th highest scoring British pilot. At the cessation of hostilities Fullard was awarded the Air Force Cross, and granted a permanent commission in the RAF with the rank of captain. He went on to serve in the RAF throughout the second world war, attaining the rank of Air Commodore. He died on 24th April 1984. Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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