After his 2 am return from Paris-Plage, Greg was probably glad not to have an early start. In fact, he didn’t have much of a start at all as his aircraft’s engine had an oil leak, and he didn’t fly. The big event of the day was a visit by General Birdwood, commander of the Fifth Army.
Diary
Friday July 12th 1918. Found that the oil filter on my engine was leaking, so engine was taken out of E27. Weather pretty dud, heavy rain in morning, afternoon fine but very windy. General Birdwood came round in the morning (commanding 5th Army) and spoke to us all. Seemed a nice chap.
Watch the Birdy
General Sir William Birdwood visited 42 Squadron at Rely, not many miles from his headquarters at Upen d’Aval, just west of Thérouanne. Michael Seymour looks at the the man and the reasons for his visit, and finds a resonance with Greg’s characterisation of him as “a nice chap”:
Daily Orders Show Greg Confirmed in Rank
In other news, the day’s Daily Orders from Major Hunter report that Greg is no longer on probation but has been confirmed in rank as a (temporary) 2nd Lieutenant:
The Daily Orders are written in their customarily elegant way. Rob (Parsons) thinks that it would almost certainly have been the Orderly Room Clerk who was the scribe. There would have been a Sergeant in charge, responsible for all the written records, disciplinary procedures etc. And then there would have been a Squadron Adjutant, possibly as a secondary duty.
To give a flavour of administrative operation of the squadron that day, here is a complete copy of the the day’s Daily Orders. Note the incorrect date on the top right of the first page. It was definitely 12 July that the orders relate to. But the clerk’s mind seems to have wandered back to May!
