No problems Tom and thanks,

I would add that if the Great War Forum draws a blank, you could try “The Aerodrome” site. Sadly it is full of semi abusive 12 year olds these days who go on endlessly about “Kills” instead of “Victories”; “planes” instead of “aeroplanes” ; “AAA” instead of “Archie” and “Fighters” instead of “Scouts” and have a complete library consisting of 6 letters (g.o.o.g.l.e). But there are still some of the old crowd kicking around, some of them even less affected by dementia than I 🙂 🙂 🙂

Best regards

Darryl

I have been back through the 9 weeks previous to the date mentioned, with no luck. More tomorrow night..the old eyes are no longer built for it!

I wonder if he knew of 2Lt W F J Prince of 1SAG, who was accidentally shot whilst bathing in the danger area of the firing range!! 30.5.18… just caught my eye …

I will have lists of accidents that involved at least one fatality. IF the pilot was killed, the incident will be in there. It MAY show him as the observer (injured) or may not. The date, if it is 23rd July 1918, will give a starting point as well,

More tomorrow….

D

Ok..into the corner and just have a think about what you’ve done 🙂 🙂 🙂

It could be the wheel off an Electra…….just sayin’ ……..

Thanks Allan,

I’ll have to go back to Brad’s book and read it properly. It is funny how “private money” keeps cropping up in British Military history in the 20 century…the development of the Merlin engine, Sidney cotton’s early antics etc etc….

Darryl

G’day James,

I’m afraid I’ve led you astray with “The Aeroplane”, what I have in fact is the first 10 issues of “Fly”.Having said thta, i’ve been through the volumes and can’t find “airmanship” in as much of a search as a night after a particularly hard day at the office would allow. I’ll have another go tomorrow or Wednesday.

Re Bluey:
Definitely NOT a planned excercise. The Cat was on its way back from a long range patrol, Bluey and his wingman (whose name escapes me just now), were returning from a training mission. However no pilot in his right mind, during wartime, would launch a fake attack on a tired crew (ANY crew??) without a good deal of “communication” first, be it radio or clear visual identification. They made several passes so it was not just a matter of “There is a Cat down there on the deck, let’s give ’em a fright…oh dear, water……” Very very interested to hear the story from your expert, I’m always interested in Truscott, primarily because of the PNG connection and the secret airbase built (and named in his honour) in the north of WA.

Admiralty/Engineers.
My field is WW1, so prewar is not my strong suit however the Engineers did start on aviation before the Navy. But it was the “senior service” that had the real money to throw at it and the airships of the Navy were the “big dog” in the house. The RNAS was formed before the RFC (but not long) and engaged agressively with the Government for funding priority and also made many back room overtures to gain control of the RFC…particularly before 1/4/18 when they tried to wrest control of the whole thing and make the merger a hostile takeover by the RNAS. However the Engineer’s Air Battalion was in existance 30 odd years before both, I believe.

cheers and best

Darryl