British Military Aviation in 1918 - Part 3

Part 2

August
Allied air forces mount concerted attacks on enemy airfields, especially those occupied by the German Schlachtstaffeln (Close Air Support Squadrons).

The Royal Air Force (RAF) suffers heavy casualties (approaching 25%) amongst low flying aircraft. There was also intense air-to-air combat with the Royal Air Force losing 150 aircraft in the second week of August and claiming 177 German aircraft shot down.

August
Fighter sweeps are instituted over the Western Front. These were usually composed of Sopwith Camel squadrons at 10,000 feet, Royal Aircraft Factory SE5 squadrons at 14,000 feet and Bristol Fighter squadrons at 18,000 feet.

August
In the aftermath of the Russian Revolution, the Russian army that had previously blocked Turkish forces in the south Caucasus collapses and a British force under the command of Major-General L. Dunsterville 'Dunsterforce' is deployed to the Caspian Sea port off Baku to stiffen the remaining White Russian forces in the region.

August
Headquarters of the Aviation Services Ireland, previously under the Army's Irish Command, is renamed Royal Air Force Ireland and placed under direct Air Ministry control. Later in the same month Royal Air Force Ireland is renamed No.11 (Irish) Group.

2 August
Royal Air Force aircraft help elements of the North Russian Expeditionary Force to occupy the port of Archangel.

5-6 August
German airships raid the United Kingdom for the last time, when five Zeppelins of the German Navy are despatched to attack targets in the Midlands, but the raid is a failure. One airship, Zeppelin L70, captained by Kapitanleutnant Johann von Lossnitzer and carrying the commander of the German Naval Airship Division, Fregattenkapitan Peter Strasser, is attacked by two de Havilland DH4s from Yarmouth. It falls into the sea in flames, 8 miles from Wells-next-the-Sea, killing all of the crew. Subsequently, a de havilland DH4 flown by Major Egbert Cadbury and Captain Robert Leckie is credited with destroying L70. Royal Air Force aircraft also damage a second airship, the L65 and the surviving airships drop their bombs into the sea and return to base.

8 August
The opening day of the Battle of Amiens sees the he Royal Air Force and French Air Forces with approximately 1,900 aircraft available and opposed by only 365 German aircraft.

8 August
The Victoria Cross is awarded to Captain A.F.W. Beauchamp-Proctor, a South African of No.84 Squadron, Royal Air Force. His work was described as "almost unsurpassed in its brilliancy, and as such has made an impression on those serving in his squadron and those around him that will not be easily forgotten."

10 August
The Victoria Cross is awarded to Captain F.M.F. West of No.8 Squadron, Royal Air Force, for gallantry displayed during a low-level attack on German troops far over enemy lines north east of Roye in France, with the co-operation of the Tank Corps.

16 August
The first massed low level attack by the Royal Flying Corps on an enemy airfield is carried out, when 65 Royal Aircraft Factory SE5s, Sopwith Camels, Bristol Fighters and de Havilland DH4s attack the German aerodrome at Haubourdin. No British aircraft are lost.

August-September
No.5 (Operations) Group (Headquarters, Dover) is removed from South-Eastern Area and granted the status of an independent command. The Group is responsible for units in the Kent and Dunkirk area.

September
The world's first flush-decked aircraft carrier, HMS Argus, is commissioned into the Royal Navy.

September
The Royal Air Force contingent in North Russia assists Allied forces in the capture of Obozerskaya.

14 September
British forces in the Southern Caucasus 'Dunsterforce' are forced to abandon the port of Baku to advancing Turkish troops.

21 September
Royal Air Force aeroplanes operating in support of Generally Allenby's campaign in Palestine attack and destroy the retreating Turkish 7th Army at Wadi el Far'a. T.E. Lawrence wrote of this attack :

"It was the RAF which had converted the Turkish retreat into a rout, which had abolished their telephone and telegraph connections, had blocked their lorry columns, scattered their infantry units".

30 September
The German Army's primary defensive line, the Hindenburg Line, is breached by British troops, with the help of substantial air support.

2 October
Aircraft of No.82 and No.218 Squadrons of the Royal Air Force (Armstrong Whitworth FK8s & de Havilland DH9s) are detailed to carry food to French and Belgian troops whose reserves are exhausted. 15,000 rations are dropped in bags of earth to prevent damage.

26 October
The Inter-Allied Independent Air Force (IAF) is created under Supreme Commander Marshal Foch and the Commander in Chief, Major General Sir Hugh Trenchard.

27 October
The Victoria Cross is awarded to Major W.G. Barker, a Canadian of No.201 Squadron, Royal Air Force, for destroying four enemy aircraft during a dogfight over Foret de Mormal in France in a Sopwith Snipe (E8102).

30 October
An armistice between the Allies and the Ottoman Empire is concluded aboard HMS Agamemnon at Mudros.

6 November
Lieutenant A.A. McLeod, who had been awarded the Victoria Cross on 27 March, dies of influenza in Canada.

9 November
German Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicates and Herr Ebert becomes the new Chancellor of Germany.

11 November
An armistice is signed with Germany and hostilities end at 1100hrs.

At the time of the Armistice, the Royal Air Force was the largest air force in the world, holding 22,647 aircraft of all types, including 3,300 on first-line strength and 103 airships. These were operated by no fewer than 133 squadrons and 15 flights overseas, on the Western Front and in the Middle East, Italy and the Mediterranean, 55 squadrons at home and 75 training squadrons and depots.

Royal Air Force units operated from 401 aerodromes at home and 274 abroad and had a personnel strength of 27,333 officers and 26,3837 other ranks. Between January and November 1918, nearly 5,500 tons of bombs had been dropped, 2,953 enemy aircraft destroyed and an area of 5,000 square miles photographed. British aircraft manufacturers were producing 3,500 aeroplanes a month.

17 November
Following the conclusion of the armistice, the Caspian Sea port of Baku is reoccupied by British troops to prevent occupation by the Red Army. Subsequently, a Caspian Sea Flotilla comprising captured Russian merchant vessels is formed by the Royal Navy for operations against Communist forces in the area. British Army and Royal Navy operations are supported by No.17 Squadron and No.47 Squadron (de Havilland DH9s and Sopwith Camels) on land and No.266 Squadron (Short 184 seaplanes) deployed on the seaplane carriers HMS Alader Youssanoff and HMS Orlionoch in the Caspian.

27 November
No.29 (Operations) Group (Headquarters, Edinburgh) is formed with command status, to administer units in Scotland under the operational control of the Commander-in-Chief Grand Fleet. The Group includes Royal Air Force personnel aboard the Grand Fleet's aircraft carriers and the ships of the Battle Cruiser Force, together with shore-based supporting units. It is also responsible for No.28 (Operations) Group, which comprises all stations in the Orkneys and the Shetland Isles.

13 December
The first flight between England and India begins, when Royal Air Force Handley Page V/1500 'Old Carthusian', piloted by Major General A.S.C. McLaren, leaves Martlesham Heath. The aircraft arrives in Karachi on 30 December.

13 December
No.86 (Communications) Wing is formed at Hendon to provide rapid transport between London and Paris in connection with the Versailles Peace Conference. This new formation absorbs the existing Communications Squadron, formed in July 1918, which is renamed No.1 Communications Squadron. Additional squadrons are subsequently formed at Buc aerodrome, near Versailles, and briefly at Hounslow.

Part 2