A British Aerodrome at Flixecourt?

Among the several undated and unmarked photographs in Greg’s collection is an aerial image with the title “A British Aerodrome”.  For a while, the location of the subject of the photograph proved a puzzle.  But thanks to Great War Forum user Roger Austin, who consulted Jacques Calcine of Anciens Aerodromes, it  has now been identified as Flixecourt, which is some 13 miles (20 km) northwest of Amiens, in the Somme valley.  But that identification has led to another puzzle:  there is no record of an aerodrome at Flixecourt, British or otherwise.  And Greg didn’t fly around there.  So what’s going on?

“A British Aerodrome”

Here the photograph in question, titled in an album in what looks like Greg’s writing.

Oblique aerial photograph of a British aerodrome
Photo entitled “A British Aerodrome”.  Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection.

And here is the equivalent view on Google maps today:

Equivalent view today of "A British Aerodrome
Equivalent view today of “A British Aerodrome”, courtesy Google maps. Click for larger image. Or click here to go to Google maps.

The original photograph is technically a high-angle, oblique aerial view.  “Oblique” because it is not looking straight down at the ground.  And “high angle” because the angle of the camera is high enough for the horizon to be visible.  The equivalent Google maps image looks rather flattened, again because of the high angle, and because Google’s imagery is not 3D in that part of France.

Flixecourt

Map of location of Flixecourt
Location of Flixecourt, between Amiens and Abbeville, on a modern map, courtesy Google.  Click to go to Google maps.

Flixecourt lies about 13 miles (20 km) northwest of Amiens along the Somme valley, halfway towards Abbeville.  It is on a small stream – La Nièvre – about 1½ miles (2.5 km) before it flows into the Somme.  Flixecourt’s principal industry was jute weaving,  which was the business of the Saint Frères factory in the centre of the photograph , whose proprietors lived in the ornate Château de Flixecourt on the right.  The factory is now part of RKW Group and makes films for consumer and industrial packaging.

What was the Date of the Original Photograph?

It was evidently taken on a sunny day, and the trees look as if they are in full foliage.  The shadows, where visible, are quite short.  (See for example the shadow of the short bush in the sparse trees in the bottom central section.)  So it’s likely that the photo dates from the summer months. And the only summer Greg was in France for was that of 1918.

Is There an Aerodrome in the Photograph?

That’s a good question, particularly as there is no other record of a British Aerodrome at Flixecourt. 

All the land in the distance, above the factory, seems to be farmland.  The only real candidate for an aerodrome is on the centre left of the image.  This the area is to the left of the chimneys and above the buildings.  The present day Google maps image shows it still to be an area of open ground.  Interestingly, the dimensions of the open ground today are about 1,500 ft x 1,500 ft (450m x 450 m), which makes it just about large enough to be useful as a landing ground for First World War aircraft.

Landing Grounds

Wikipedia has this to say about Royal Flying Corps landing grounds:

Landing Grounds were often L-shaped, usually arrived at by removing a hedge boundary between two fields, and thereby allowing landing runs in two directions of 400–500 metres (1,300–1,600 ft). Typically they would be manned by only two or three airmen, whose job was to guard the fuel stores and assist any aircraft which had occasion to land. Accommodation for airmen and pilots was often in tents, especially on the Western Front. Officers would be billeted to local country houses, or commandeered châteaux when posted abroad, if suitable accommodation had not been built on the Station.

Landing Grounds were categorised according to their lighting and day or night capabilities:

  • First Class Landing Ground – Several buildings, hangars and accommodation.

  • Second Class Landing Ground – a permanent hangar, and a few huts.

  • Third Class Landing Ground – a temporary Bessonneau hangar

  • Emergency (or Relief) Landing Ground – often just a field, activated by telephone call to the farmer, requesting he move any grazing animals out.

  • Night Landing Grounds would be lit around the perimeter with gas lights and might have a flarepath laid out in nearby fields. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Corps]

So it is physically possible that there was an aerodrome or landing ground at the centre left.

Why Might There Have Been an Aerodrome at Flixecourt?

The Château de Flixecourt had some interesting associations with the British military in the First World War.  In 1916 is was home to the Fourth Army School, attended by Siegfried Sassoon among others.  More significant for our purposes was the use of the château in the summer of 1918.  From 5 April to 29 August 1918 it was the headquarters of the Fourth Army, which was under the command of General Sir Henry Rawlinson. And it was from here on 8 August 1918 that Rawlinson launched the Battle of Amiens.  This was the battle that marked the start of the allies’ final offensive:   

The ‘Black Day’ that Marked the Start of the Last Hundred Days

A Busy Time at Flixecourt

Thus began ‘The Last Hundred Days’.  Flixecourt must have been a busy place at the time.  And even though the offensive was strategically halted – or at least paused – on 11 August 1918, the following day saw another significant event:  a visit by King George V. 

King George V's visit to Flixecourt
THE HUNDRED DAYS OFFENSIVE, AUGUST-NOVEMBER 1918 (Q 9251) Group of British and French officers taken at British Fourth Army HQ at Flixecourt during King George V’s visit, 12 August 1918.
Left to right, front row – General Henry Rawlinson; unknown; General Maxime Weygand (in the second row); Marshal Ferdinand Foch; King George V; Field Marshal Douglas Haig; Marshal Philippe Pétain; unknown. Click for larger image. Copyright: © IWM. Original Source: http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205245028

So, with these momentous events taking place at the Château de Flixecourt  in August 1918, it isn’t beyond the bounds of possibility that there was temporary landing ground for aircraft close by.  As Great War Forum user Regulus 1 has pointed out, given the proximity to Fourth Army HQ it would be logical.  Maybe some visitors were ferried in by air.  Although given the risky nature of flying, perhaps not too important ones!  Or maybe planes carried messages too sensitive for the telephone and too urgent for despatch rider.  And if the landing ground was only temporary, that could explain why we don’t see references to it as an established aerodrome.  Except of course in the caption to the photograph.

And the Photographer was…

…almost certainly not Greg.  There is no record of Greg flying in the Somme sector.  42 Squadron RAF operated along the River Lys, and then the River Scheldt (or Escaut).  And if the photo was taken in early to mid-August, as speculated above,  we know that Greg was busy with artillery shoots and counter-battery patrols around Merville, on the Lys, at the time.

Nonetheless, Greg did have some aerial photos from the Somme area. Photographs of Bray-sur-Somme and Mametz from 205 Squadron RAF, and of Cantigny from Escadrille SPA.42 have already been published on the blog –  see https://gregswar.com/tag/somme/.  Maybe this photo came from the same source. 

An Alternative Theory

Alternatively, a less poetic but certainly plausible theory is that someone mislabelled the photograph.  Maybe this was because it was given to Greg and  misidentified or misunderstood to be showing an aerodrome. Perhaps Greg made a mistake, or perhaps the donor did.  

Does anyone have any further evidence, either way?  Please get in touch via the Contact page if so, or by commenting on this post.

 

Wednesday 23 October 1918 – Front Reaches River Scheldt

By the morning of Wednesday 23 October 1918, the British Front had reached the River Scheldt, north and south of Tournai.  The front was in the western outskirts of Tournai, but the city itself wasn’t yet in British hands.

Map showing that the British Front had reached the River Scheldt by the morning of 23 October 1918
The British Front had reached the River Scheldt by the morning of 23 October 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.

In the six days since 17 October 1918, the front had moved east by 15 miles (24 km).  This probably represented the most rapid advance by British troops on the Lys sector.

River Scheldt

The River Scheldt (Escaut in French, Schelde in Dutch)  rises at Gouy, near Le Cateau, in the Aisne département of France and flows north through Valenciennes (France) and Tournai (Belgium) to Ghent, where it is joined by the River Lys.  Thereafter it continues north to Antwerp, whose citizens it “connects with the rest of the world”, according to a former mayor.  After Antwerp it crosses the border into the Netherlands, and flows into the North Sea at Flushing (Vlissingen).

Saturday 28 September 1918 – Ypres

Today was the beginning of the Advance in Flanders, also known as the Battle of the Peaks of Flanders, or the Fifth Battle of Ypres. Ypres – Ieper to its inhibitants – was out of Greg’s sector, but somehow a couple of remarkable aerial photographs of that poor, shattered city came into his hands.  Precisely when they were taken, and by whom, isn’t known for certain as they are unmarked.  But quite possibly they were taken by Greg when joyriding after the Armistice.  We are publishing them today to mark ‘Fifth Ypres’.

Ypres and its Canals

The centre of Ypres is bounded by canals. The widest ones are the Majoorgracht to the west, and the Kasteelgracht to the east.  They both arc round to the south of the city centre, where they meet.  It is over the Kasteelgracht that the bridge by the Menenpoort (Menin Gate) leads notheast towards Zonnebeke and Passendale, better known to English speakers by its archaic French name of Passchendaele.  To the north, the Hoge Weiltjesgracht folds under the Ieperlee, the north-flowing canalised river that drains the land towards the North Sea.

 


Google Maps satellite view of Ypres/Ieper

Majoorgracht and Pacific Eiland

Near the northwestern end of the Majoorgracht is an island: Pacific Eiland.  It is now the home of an inviting restaurant of the same name, whose website explains:

Around 1640 this island was built by the Spanish occupiers to deter the enemy and as ammunition depot. Now it has been transformed into a haven of peace and relaxation where young and old are welcome.

 It is indeed now a haven of peace.  But in 1918 it was anything but:

Vertical aerial view of Majoorgracht and Pacific Eiland
Vertical aerial view of Majoorgracht and Pacific Eiland. Click for larger view. Image credit: Gregs War Collection

Here is equivalent view on Google Maps today: 

Present day Google maps view of Majoorgracht and Pacific Eiland
Present day Google maps view of Majoorgracht and Pacific Eiland. Click for larger view

And the view south from Pacific Eiland over the Majoorgracht:

“A haven of peace and relaxation” says the website of the Pacific Eiland restaurant. Today, looking south from the island over the Majoorgracht, it is hard to disagree with that.  Research isn’t always arduous. Click for larger view.  

Ypres Prison, Ypres Reservoir Cemetery and Minneplein

A second Ypres photograph in Greg’s collection takes in the northwestern part of the city centre.  To put it in context, here is a Google Maps satellite view of Ypres, with the field of the photograph edged in white.  The arrow shows the edge that will be at the bottom:

Google Maps satellite view of Ypres.
Google Maps satellite view of Ypres, with the field of the following photograph outlined. Arrow shows bottom of field.

With that overview in mind, here now is the view in 1918 of the white-edged portion…

Vertical aerial view of Ypres Prison, Reservoir Cemetery and Minneplein
Vertical aerial view of Ypres Prison, Reservoir Cemetery and Minneplein, 1918

…and the equivalent view today from Google Maps:

Present day Google maps view of Ypres Prison and Minneplein
Present day Google maps view of Ypres Prison, Reservoir Cemetery and Minneplein. Click for larger view

Ypres prison – Gevangenis Ieper – is towards the top of the photo, on the right of the centre.  In 1918 it was a wrecked building, but the internal panopticon structure beloved by architects of prisons and libraries is clearly visible.  The green area in the top right corner is Ypres Reservoir Cemetery, containing 1,579 First World War graves.  A school – Campus Minneplein – now occupies part of the open square of Minneplein, on the middle right and bottom right corner.  Normal life in Ieper – the city of the elms.

 

Friday 27 September 1918 – Front reaches La Bassée

On the Lys Sector, a small remaining salient just west of La Bassée had been removed. By this morning, the British front line had now reached the main bridge over the canal.

Map of the British Front reaching La Bassée on the morning of 27 September1918.
The British Front reaching La Bassée on the morning of 27 September 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.

 

Monday 23 September 1918 – Sopwith Dolphin

With Greg still enjoying his leave in Holyhead, North Wales, back on the Western Front the business of war continued.  This is a good opportunity to look at an aircraft of which Greg had a photograph: the Sopwith Dolphin.

Sopwith Dolphin

Sopwith Dolphin
Sopwith Dolphin. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection

Although this photograph is in Greg’s collection, there’s no indication of either when or where it was taken.  Judging by the tents in the background, it was clearly somewhere in the field.  And the photo has the look of having been taken by a Vest Pocket Kodak camera. So it’s likely that Greg took it himself while on active service on the Lys sector.

19 Squadron RFC/RAF was the first to be equipped with Dolphins, beginning in late 1917. At the time, the squadron was based near Lille.   If they were still in the same area in the closing months of the war they would have been almost neighbours of 42 Squadron.  Just possibly, then, this is a Dolphin of 19 Squadron that Greg photographed on a visit (either by him or by the aircraft).  Unfortunately the serial number, which would help to pin down its provenance, isn’t visible in the photo.

The Sopwith Dolphin was “the world’s first single seat multi-gun fighter”, according to the RAF Museum, which houses a reconstructed example.  It was designed for high altitude combat.  An unusual feature was the split upper wing mounted at the level of the top of the fuselage.  This afforded good aerial visibility, but at the price of a clear view of the ground.  The Dolphin’s engine was a  powerful but somewhat unreliable 200 HP, geared, in-line Hispano-Suiza, marking Sopwith’s move away from the rotary engine that had powered the Camel.  

Further Reading

An informative account of the Sopwith Dolphin is on the Warbird Tails website here:

 

Wednesday 21 August 1918 – The Times Reports on Lys Front

In an article headed ‘The Advance of the French Tenth Army’, which primarily dealt with General Mangin’s forces between the Oise and the Aisne, British forces on the Lys sector got a mention too.  The report says that British troops had entered Merville (on Monday 19 August 1918) “without opposition”.

The Times, 21 August 1918

Meanwhile the British Armies in the north have found themselves the cheerful witnesses of a considerable German withdrawal. The enemy are going back in the region of the River Lys, and it is clear that they are retiring in consequence of British pressure. On Sunday we made a successful attack, quietly defined by Sir Douglas Haig as another “local operation”, on a front of four miles between Vieux Berquin and Bailleul. The average depth of the advance was nearly a mile, and the village of Oultersteene was recaptured, as well as several fortified farms. The enemy vainly counter-attacked during the night.

By Monday it was found that, to the south-west of this action, the German Sixth Army, under General von Quast, was retreating in all the country between Locon and the forest of Nieppe. They have made no progress in this flat and muddy district for a very long time, and the successful assault on Oultersteene seems to have finally convinced them of the necessity of shortening their front.

On Monday our troops entered Merville without opposition, and by the evening they were well beyond the town. They were also able to cross the Lawe Canal farther south. Our Special Correspondent states that by yesterday afternoon we had recovered “something over twenty square miles of territory without resistance and without loss”.

Links

For the original article, click here: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/archive/article/1918-08-21/7/10.html

For a cleaned up version as re-published by The Times on 21 August 2018, click here (subscription required): https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/register/advance-of-the-french-tenth-army-bmd8tn9ds

More on Merville here:

Monday 19 August 1918 – No Shoot To Do, Merville Liberated

This morning’s post with map showing British front here:

Wednesday 21 August 1918 – CBP but Nothing Doing

Tuesday 16 July 1918 – Mametz Again

Meanwhile, elsewhere in France…

Here is another photograph from the Somme sector, again of the area around Mametz, and again the product of 205 Sqn.

South of Mametz (Somme)
Vertical aerial view South of Mametz (Somme). Click for larger image.  Credit: Greg’s War Collection
South of Mametz (Somme) - Google maps
Aerial view of the same location today (courtesy Google). Click for larger image, or here to go to the Google map view: https://goo.gl/maps/47z47Y7t6FG2

This is similar to but not quite the same as the field of the previous photograph taken on 30 June 1918: 

Sunday 30 June 1918 – South of Mametz

Not a great deal has changed between the 30 June 1918 and 16 July 1918 photos.  But in the 16 July photo, in the woods towards the bottom of the field of view as well as in the scoop out of the woods, there seem to be dark crosses, each on a light circular background.  Red crosses indicating hospitals or field dressing stations, possibly?

As before, it isn’t clear how this photograph came to be in Greg’s collection.  

Monday 1 July 1918 – Direct Bomb Hit on Ammo Train

Following on from yesterday’s post about an aerial photo taken south of Mametz-en-Picardie, today we have another vertical aerial view from  the Somme sector.  This one is complete with fireworks resulting from a direct bomb hit on an ammunition train.

Aerial Views Then and Now

Direct Bomb Hit on Ammunition Train
Direct Bomb Hit on Ammunition Train, southwest of Bray-sur Somme. See dagger for direction of north.  Greg’s War Collection. Click for larger image.

And the view today from Google maps:

The view today of where the ammunition train was hit
The view today of where the ammunition train was hit. North is in the same direction. Click for larger image, or here to go to a zoomable view in Google maps.

Bray-sur-Somme

Bray is 19 miles (31 km) east of Amiens and 10 miles (16 km) northeast of Villers Bretonneux. The location of this photograph is nearly co-incident with that of an earlier one of a kite balloon, taken on 15 May 1918:

Wednesday 15 May 1918 – Kite Balloon at Bray-sur-Somme

Ammunition Train

The ammunition train appears to be in sidings near what looks like a dump or supply depot, which has its own railway spur.  The following map extract has been stitched together from adjoining 1:20,000 trench maps.

The approximate position of the ammunition train, southwest of Bray.
The approximate position of the ammunition train, southwest of Bray. Extract formed from two 1:20,000 maps, dated June and July 1918. North is vertically upwards. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.

There is no sign of the railway tracks on a 1915 1:40,000 map (Sheet 62D). Neither, unsurprisingly, is there any sign on a modern 1:25,000 map of the area, given that the Google aerial view shows no obvious traces.

205 Squadron RAF

The negative number in the titling strip is 205.v.1541. I’m grateful to Timothy Slater (who blogs here and tweets here) for the following information in reply to a tweet of yesterday’s post:

@GregsWar both this photograph and your previous kite balloon photo were taken by 205 Sqn RAF (previously 5 Sqn RNAS). At the time they were flying DH4s on bombing missions for V Bde RAF. I can’t identify any obvious links between 205 & 42 Sqns though.

So today we have evidence of 205 Squadron’s precision bombing.  A good day’s work.

Sunday 30 June 1918 – South of Mametz

Among Greg’s collection of photos from 1918 is a vertical aerial view dated 30 June 1918 and entitled “S. Mametz”, presumably an abbreviation for South [of] Mametz.  My first thought was that this referred to the village of that name a couple of miles west of Aire-sur-la-Lys and not much further north from Rely.  But, despite the village being on the doorstep of 42 Squadron’s airfield, I couldn’t reconcile the photo with a present day aerial view on Google maps.

It was only when I purchased a set of digitised trench maps of the Western Front and learnt to read First World War map references that I realised the answer. The line in the photo’s titling strip that reads 62d.F.11.12.17.18 is a reference to four 1,000yd squares on map sheet 62d – which lie just south of another village of the same name, near the Somme and a couple of miles east of Albert.  So the photo relates to Mametz-en-Picardie, which is 44 miles (71 km) southeast of Rely, not Mametz-en-Artois.

Aerial ViewsThen and Now

Here are Greg’s photo and the equivalent view today on Google maps:

South of Mametz, 1918
Aerial view of South of Mametz-en-Picardie on 30 June 1918. Click for larger image.
South of Mametz today
Aerial view of the same location today (courtesy Google).  Click for larger image, or here to go to the Google map view: https://goo.gl/maps/svHie4f59N32

The settlement visible in both photographs is Carnoy.  Mametz itself is just off-camera, to the top left.

It isn’t clear how the photo from the Somme theatre came to be in Greg’s collection.  It isn’t particularly clear even why it was taken, other than for general reconnaissance purposes. Possibly it was taken for the forthcoming Final Allied Offensive.  Mametz had seen major action two years previously in the Battle of the Somme, and in fact the village was taken from the Germans in fierce fighting on 1 July 1916.  For an account of its capture, see this article from The Long, Long Trail website:

The capture of Mametz, 1 – 5 July 1916

Since late March 1918, Mametz had been back in German hands. This was as a result of Operation Michael – their major push westwards towards Amiens in the Spring Offensives. It was not to be under British control again until it was liberated in August 1918.  The Final Allied Offensive began on the 8th of that month.  

Mametz is about 4 miles (6½ km) north of Bray-sur-Somme, where a German kite balloon was photographed on 15 May 1918:

Wednesday 15 May 1918 – Kite Balloon at Bray-sur-Somme


Update at 15:30 30 June 2018

205 Squadron RAF

The negative number in the titling strip is 205.v.1521. I’m grateful to Timothy Slater (who blogs here and tweets here) for the following information in reply to a tweet of this post:

@GregsWar both this photograph and your previous kite balloon photo were taken by 205 Sqn RAF (previously 5 Sqn RNAS). At the time they were flying DH4s on bombing missions for V Bde RAF. I can’t identify any obvious links between 205 & 42 Sqns though.

 

Tuesday 28 May 1918 – Three Air Combats for 42 Sqn

Meanwhile in France (again)…

…almost 70 miles (110 km) to the north of the battle at Cantigny, 42 Squadron was having a busy day dealing with enemy aircraft, with three ‘Combats in the Air’ reports being filed about activity over Calonne and Le Sart, either side of the River Lys to the west of Merville, itself 17 miles (30 km) west of Lille:

Calonne and Le Sart
Calonne and Le Sart, near Merville, from 1:40,000 scale map. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/GreatWarDigital

1. Capt. Davis and Lt Chatterton

This crew had a tough time against 12 aircraft only three days ago on 25 May 1918

Air combat report
Air combat report – click for larger image
Time: 5.15 a.m.  
Locality: CALONNE
Pilot: Capt. A. E. Davis  
Observer: Lieut. J. Chatterton, M.C. 

Three small two-seater Fighters, and one with slight extensions on top plane.  

While doing a shoot 4 E.A. appeared over CALONNE.  I turned West but one machine dived on our tail and fired continuously.

Observer fired about 100 rounds into this E.A. which then turned away.  The second then dived and also fired continuously.  Observer fired another drum at about 200 yards into this E.A. which also turned East.

A third machine then dived on us but after firing about 100 rounds on us the whole formation withdrew East.

Vickers gun fired about 50 rounds at E.A. after they had turned East.

2. Lt. Welsh & 2/Lt. Watkins

Air combat report
Air combat report – click for larger image
Time: 10.30 a.m.  
Locality: LE SART
Pilot: Lieut A. W. Welsh 
Observer: 2/Lieut H. Watkins 

Two seater, possibly Aviatik  

R.E.A. [Reconnaissance Enemy Aircraft] obviously trying to bomb our trenches dropped 3 at LE SART, during which time he was fired at back by back and then front gun.  He immediately flew back over MERVILLE to ESTAIRES.

3. Lts. Puckle and Nicolson

This was another crew that had seen air combat recently: on 19 May 1918 and  22 May 1918.

Air combat report
Air combat report – click for larger image
Time: 4.35 p.m.  
Locality: CALONNE 
Pilot: Lieut H. Puckle 
Observer: Lieut J. F. W. Nicolson 

Four two seaters, one with extensions, type unknown.  Machine which fired on our tail had two guns.  Machines had a blue bottom plane (underneath) and large blue patch under the fuselage.  Very small black crosses.   

While flying over CALONNE 4 E.A. two seaters were sighted.  Pilot fired 25 rounds into 1 E.A., then gun jambed.  E.A. then turned on R.E.8. and got one on the tail.  Observer fired 250 rounds into this E.A. which turned East and flew with the others towards MERVILLE. 

One machine had a kidney-shaped tail (not the one with extensions) thus: [see image]  The extensions on the only E.A. which had them were short and square.

 

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