Great War>The War in the Air

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No. 53 Squadron Royal Flying Corps    No. 53 Squadron formed on the 15th of May 1916 at Catterick as a training squadron, but proceeded to France in a reconnaissance role in December. It was redesignated No. 53 Squadron, Royal Air Force in April 1918. 15th May 1916   No. 53 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps was formed at Catterick on 15 May 1916 equipped with the Avro 504 trainer and FK8 reconnaissance aircraft. Originally it served as a training squadron, preparing pilots for other operational Squadrons. 11th December 1916  January 1917  February 1917 Artillery Support April 1917  25th Jun 1917 Aircraft Lost 23rd July 1917 Tactical exercise 2nd Oct 1917 Forced Landing 15th Feb 1918 On the Move 21st Feb 1918 On the Move 22nd Feb 1918 On the Move 23rd Feb 1918 On the Move 11th Mar 1918 Aircraft Downed 16th Mar 1918 Spies at Large 21st Mar 1918 Enemy Attack 24th Mar 1918 Retreat 25th Mar 1918 Retreat 25th Mar 1918 Retreat 26th Mar 1918 A Cushy Place 4th Apr 1918 On the Move 8th Apr 1918 On the Move 9th Apr 1918 Crashes and Fog 9th of April 1918 A Busy Day   10th of April 1918 Under Attack   11th of April 1918 Quiet...and then...   12th of April 1918 Enemy Advances   15th of April 1918 A Quiet Day   June 1918 Practice Shoots 12 Jul 1918 Experiments Oct 1918 On the Move 2nd Oct 1918 Aircraft Lost 8th Nov 1918 On the Move 23rd Dec 1918 On the Move If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about No. 53 Squadron Royal Flying Corps? There are:33 items tagged No. 53 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. 53 Squadron Royal Flying Corps during the Great War 1914-1918. Brooker Arthur Basil. Chap. Kelly Oscar Ralph. 2nd Lt. (d.12th May 1917) Rodocanachi Paul John. 2nd Lt. (d.29th Jul 1917) Turnbull W.. 2nd.Lt. (d.12th Jun 1917) Watt Norman. 2nd Lt. (d.29th Jul 1917) 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. 53 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? The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. Announcements 22nd April 2024     Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 263973 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. We are now on Facebook. Like this page to receive our updates, add a comment or ask a question. If you have a general question please post it on our Facebook page. World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. 1205533 2nd Lt. Oscar Ralph Kelly 53rd Sqd. (d.12th May 1917) Oscar Kelly was commissioned into the Northumberland Fusiliers in 1916 and transferred to the RFC in May 1917. He was killed whilst on a photographic mission flying in an RE8 from Bailleul over the front lines near Messines, when his aircraft was shot down. He is buried at Oosttaverne Cemetery. Add to this record. 230787 2nd.Lt. W. Turnbull 53 Squadron (d.12th Jun 1917) Looking for help to solve a mystery. We have here in the museum FAS at Wevelgem, Kortrijk Airport, east of Ypres, a engine Daimler from RE8. This engine was found in the soil of a farmer to Wijtschate back in 1972. The farmer is an uncle of my father. While editing the land with his machine bunched on this engine. The bomb service of the army came along and said that is was no bomb but an engine. The uncle of my father knew he was a private pilot, so my father went to collect that engine. While digging up the engine, it was damaged at the 12 cylinder. Now the engine is at the museum. Facts : The engine was found in 1972 at Wijtschate, south of Ypres. The airplane was a RE8. It came down in 1917, told by the grandparents of the farmer, too bad we can ask nothing more, the are all dead. The only references that we have are those on the engine self, such as : Engine no: 12180 RAF Engine type No.4A MainFD by Daimler My question : Can you tell me the following : The serial number of the aircraft ? Who was the pilot and co pilot or gunner ? At which this unit flew ? The Australian War Memorial informed us: "It is possible that your engine is from A4207, an RE8 of No 53 squadron RFC with crew of Second Lieutenant W Turnbull (pilot) and Lt WB Protheroe,(observer) both of whom were killed. A4207 aircraft was shot down by Vfw K Wittekind of Jasta 28, at 11.00am on 12 June 1917. This information comes from Norman Franks, Frank Bailey and Rick Duivens book The Jasta war Chronology - A complete listing of claims and losses August 1916-November 1918. This book is the most comprehensive source I know of for determining aircraft losses on both sides. As far as I could see, only one aircraft was listed as having crashed at Wijtschate during that year. However, a casualty report in AIR 1/968 lists the site of the crash as reported by the British as being at Warneton, some 5km south east (still pretty close). I am afraid I do not know of a listing that matches engine numbers with the aircraft in which they were fitted." Lorenzo Deschodt Add to this record. 224401 Chap. Arthur Basil Brooker att. 53 Squadron RFC Army Chaplains Dept. Arthur Basil Brooker served as a Chaplain with 53 Squadron until December 7th 1917. Gavin Scott-Brooker Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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