Camera trouble Archives

7 October 201822 October 2018

Monday 7 October 1918 – Photography West of Lille

As British ground forces closed in on Lille from the west, there was a need for up-to-date aerial photography of the approaches to the city, east of Armentières. Greg and Lt Thomas Whittles were despatched to take some.

Log Book

Date: 7.10.18 
Time Out: 8.40 
Rounds Fired – Lewis: - 
Rounds Fired – Vickers: - 
Bombs: - 
Time on RE8s:  166 hrs 50 mins 
RE8: 4889 
Observer: Whittles 
War Flying: 2 hrs 05 mins 
Height: 9000 
Course/Remarks:  Photos.  30 plates exposed

Squadron Record Book

Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.

Type and Number: R.E.8. 4889
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Whittles
Duty: Photography
Hour of Start: 0840
Hour of Return: 1045
Remarks: 36 Plates exposed over P. & J. squares.  Cable breaking, prevented further exposures.
A.A.active
Vis. Very misty. Height 9000 feet. Obs. by P.&.O.

Photography

The photography was over P and J squares: two 6,000 yard squares to the west of Lille, which amounted to just over 23 square miles (60 sq km)

The fact that it was misty but photographs were nonetheless demanded underlines the urgent need for them. No doubt there would have been more taken if the camera cable hadn’t broken.

Lt Thomas Whittles

We know little of Lt Thomas Whittles, Greg’s observer on this day (and no other). He was born 1891 and was in the Manchester Regiment before he joined the RAF (or possibly the RFC before it).

We do what he looked like, though, from a photo of him and Lt Ives taken in June 1918 before Lt Ives was posted back to the UK:

Lts Ives and Whittles in front of an RE8 at Rely, June 1918. Click for larger image.

That photo was was first published in this post for 29 June:

Saturday 29 June 1918 – CBP Cancelled by Weather

The Front Moves East

Meanwhile, the front was continuing its eastwards push, and was now east of Armentières:

The British Front east of Armentières on the evening of 7 October 1918. Adapted from a map accompanying General Haig’s despatches on the final British offensive. Click for larger image. Map credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital

16 July 20185 December 2018

Tuesday 16 July 1918 – On Photos

Today Greg was ‘on photos’ – on photographic duty. But camera trouble means that only a small proportion of the plates exposed were useful.

Log Book

Date: 16.7.18 
Hour: 12.10-1.15 
Machine type: RE8 
RE8: E27 
Observer: Lt. Hodgson 
Time: 1 hr 5 m 
Height: 6500 
Course/Remarks: Photos.  52 plates exposed, only 19 any good.

Diary

Tuesday July 16^th.  E27.  On photos, took up 54 plates but shutter of camera stuck open after 19^th.  16 of the 19 were serviceable.

Squadron Record Book

Type and Number: R.E.8.27

Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Hodgson

Duty: Photos.

Hour of Start: 12.10

Hour of Return: 13.15

Remarks: 52 plates exposed over Q.A. Q.B. and R.A.

Height 6500’.

12.40. 3 E.K.B. [enemy kite balloon] behind ESTAIRES.  12.45. 5 E.A. [enemy aircraft] over M. square.  A.A. battery firing from approx K.29.c.3.3. [see below]  A.A. active.  Vis. good.  Obs. By P. & O.

Zones QA, QB and RA are all just south or Merville. QA, the westernmost of the three zones, contains the German front line and about 500 yards to the west of it the British front line.

The same view today on Google maps. Much of zone QB is now occupied by Merville-Calonne Airport.

Merville today. Click to go to a zoomable image on Google maps.

The anti-aircraft battery at K.29.c.3.3 is probably feature 51 in zone KD, just underneath the two circles. The site today is in the garden of the rather elegant house at 52 rue de Maréchal Joffre in Merville:

16 May 201811 May 2018

Thursday 16 May 1918 – First Day of Flying in Hampshire

With ground transport being arranged from Hursley Park to the aerodrome at Worthy Down, Greg took to the air again in an RE8 to practice aerial firing and photography with the Artillery & Infantry Co-operation School.

Date: 16.5.18 
Hour: 11.0 
Machine type and No.: RE 6616 
Passenger: – 
Time: 30 m 
Height: 1500 
Course: Aerodrome 
Remarks: Aerial firing (150 rounds)

Date: 16.5.18 
Hour: 1.45 
Machine type and No.: RE 2472 
Passenger: – 
Time: 1 hr 5 m 
Height: 2500 
Course: Photography 
Remarks: Camera jambed after 8^th plate

Date: 16.5.18 
Hour: 3.40 
Machine type and No.: RE 2472 
Passenger: – 
Time: 1 hr 0 m 
Height: 3500 
Course: Photography 
Remarks: Eighteen plates exposed. Successful.

Second time lucky with the camera.

And at the end of the day it was back in the transport to Hursley Park:

From Hursley Park to Worthy Down and back at the end of the day. Click or tap for a larger, zoomable image. Reproduced with the permission of the National Library of Scotland.

Greg’s next recorded flight would be on Tuesday 21 May 1918.

4 May 20183 May 2018

Saturday 4 May 1918 – Shoot, but No Photos

Following on from Greg’s work on zone calls on 29 and 30 April, today saw another exercise in doing a shoot – directing artillery fire onto a target. That was evidently more successful than the two attempts at photography that followed: one was thwarted by engine trouble, and the other by the camera jamming.

Log book entry

Date: 4.5.18 
Hour: 4.0 
Machine type and No.: RE 6647 
Passenger: – 
Time: 1 hr 20 m 
Height: 1500 
Course: Shoot 
Remarks: Successful

Date: 4.5.18 
Hour: 6.35 
Machine type and No.: RE 6632 
Passenger: – 
Time: 10 m 
Height: 1500 
Course: Photos 
Remarks: Engine dud

Date: 4.5.18 
Hour: 7.5 
Machine type and No.: RE 5146 
Passenger: – 
Time: 50 m 
Height: 2000 
Course: Photos 
Remarks: Camera jambed

A Little More on Shoots

If zone calls are essentially about target acquisition for the artillery, then shoots are about target degradation and ideally destruction. In a shoot, the aircraft was again the artillery’s ‘eye in the sky’, to direct fire onto a target.

The corps squadrons of the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Flying Corps before them, worked with siege batteries of the Royal Garrison Artillery. Each battery might comprise four artillery pieces, for example 6″ or 8″ howitzers. The battery’s fire was directed from the air using ‘clockface’ radio signals in which the centre of an imaginary clockface was superimposed on the target and a number from 1 to 12 was used to indicate direction of a shell’s impact point from the target, with 12, 3, 6 and 9 representing north, east south and west respectively. The number was preceded by a letter code to indicate how far away the shell landed. The following diagram illustrates the numbers and letters:

Aeroplane to Artillery - Clock Code — Aeroplane to Artillery – Clock Code. From “Co-operation of Aircraft with Artillery” Revised Edition, Issued by the General Staff, December 1917

A small complication was that the letter O was used instead of the number 12, in order to shorten messages.

The distance codes were:

OK – Direct hit
Y – 10 yards
Z – 25 yards
A – 50 yards
B – 100 yards
C – 200 yards
D – 300 yards
E – 400 yards
F – 500 yards

So a near ideal sequence of signals for successive shells might be (in Morse code):

C3 – shell landed 200 yards to the eastof the target
A9 – shell landed 50 yards to the west
OK – direct hit.

Ground-to-air signals from the battery to the aircraft were by means of ground strips.

Artillery to Aeroplane - Ground Signals. — Artillery to Aeroplane – Ground Signals. From “Co-operation of Aircraft with Artillery” Revised Edition, Issued by the General Staff, December 1917

For more, see:

Friday 5 April 1918 – Landings and Ground Strips

For more on zone calls see:

Monday 29 April 1918 – Zone Calls