Although Greg was not flying again today, it was business as usual for B Flight, 42 Squadron RAF at Ascq. Reconnaissance and counter-battery patrols and shoots were in today’s daily orders. An apparent dual role for Lt Sewell is resolved.
B Flight Orders
B FLIGHT ORDERS FOR 7.11.1918
2517 6.0 830 Lt Wallington Lt Bett Recon & CBP
4889 1200 1430 Lt Bon Capt Gordon – do –
6740 Lt Sewell Lt Sewell Shoot
2707 Lt Judd Lt Whittles do
E27 Capt Ledlie Lt Paton do
Lt Mulholland
Pilots and observers who have not passed all tests will please arrange to do so tomorrow.
The early machine will send down a weather report at 6.45 so that, if fit, the people on shoots can get into the air without any loss of time.
W. Ledlie, Capt.
There are obviously a couple of mistakes here. I have corrected Capt. Ledlie’s implication that he himself was still a lieutenant. But then there is Lt. Sewell’s designation as both pilot and observer in 6740! Judging from other entries in the B Flight Orders, he was in fact a pilot. And he often flew with Lt Whittles as observer. So probably Lt Sewell’s name should just be deleted from the observer’s column, and those named beneath him shunted up.
Lt Denis Charles Sewell
Lt Denis Charles Sewell was born on 31 October 1898. Prior to being commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in 42 Sqn, he was in the Honourable Artillery Company.
‘Tests’
The nature of the ‘tests’ that both pilots and observers must pass is not explained.
In a quieter day than yesterday, Greg was down to do a counter-battery patrol. But the weather was dud, as confirmed on a brief test flight with Capt. Gordon (and his dog, Waso). This evening saw the opening under allied auspices of the Nouveau Théâtre Lille with a performance by Leslie Henson’s Gaieties entertainment troupe.
Log Book
Date: 3.11.18
Time Out: 15.20
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 187 hrs 15 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Cpt. Gordon
War Flying: 0 hrs 10 mins
Height: 500
Course/Remarks: Weather test. C.B.P. Dud.
Weather Test
Aircraft serial no. 2517 was back in service for the test at 3:20pm, thereby demonstrating that it took no more than a day to repair or replace an RE8’s petrol tank.
The weather test flight was mentioned in Capt. Gordon’s letter home to his mother today. In the letter he says kind words about Greg, who he reports wasn’t well*. Is it possible that these emollient words belied some sort of anxiety, following yesterday‘s brave/reckless (delete according to taste) adventure, in which they both could easilyhave died? Perhaps that is to read in too much.
3 November, letter to darlingest Mother from 42 Squadron, RAF, BEF, France
All goes well, but the weather alas has taken a turn for the worse. I am getting on quite well & am less lonely than I was before Waso’s return. I am beginning to get to know some of the people here. Waso went up today for a 10 mins joy ride. She didn’t enjoy it much!
I have moved downstairs in my billet & have got a very nice room. The people are very nice. The old lady thought the stairs were too much for me! & so they moved out themselves, which was extraordinarily good of them.
Leslie Henson (K. will know who he is, he was in Theodore & Co) is giving a show somewhere near here tomorrow evening. I hope to go & see him.
The Day’s Activities
I expect I ought to tell you what I have done today! Not very interesting but still, here goes. This morning I woke about 7.10am & read in bed. ‘A Knight on Wheels’, ‘till about 8am when I lightly leapt up & dressed etc. Breakfast, bacon & fried bread, then down to the aerodrome, pausing en route for the odd word with one or two fellows, on arrival at the aerodrome I found the weather was dud., so I went & looked at the workshops & got the SM (that stands for Sergeant Major) to explain engines & bits of engines. I then went & played about with a Lewis gun. I can’t remember what I did then until lunch time.
After lunch I hung about as I was meant to be flying, but the machine wasn’t ready & the weather was dud. I & Waso & the pilot went up for a test of a few mins. Waso didn’t care much about it. My pilot was a fellow called Gregory, a very nice fellow, about 19 years old. He isn’t very well having a touch of flu. After that I went & tidied up my room & had tea & read a paper, & here I am now writing to the dearest old mater in the world. I fear all this is dull to you.
And to End..
I wonder if Karf could very kindly buy & borrow the things on the attached list & send them out to me soonish. I lost a good bit while I was on leave! I am sending a quid along for expenses. I hope you all are flourishing. I wish often that I was back with you again. I did have a deuc’d fine leave.
The old war will soon be over really. It’s good all these other countries having come out of it. Very best love darlingest. God bless you. This would have been Donald’s birthday. Your v v loving Cedric
[Letter reproduced by kind permission of Keith Gordon, Capt. Gordon’s nephew.]
* Note added on 11 November 2018 at10:30pm: I was rather taken with Rob’s initial suggestion that Greg’s ‘touch of flu’ was actually a hangover resulting from too many snifters (a very Greg word) the previous evening after his harrowing afternoon!
However, Rob subsequently revised his theory on learning that Greg didn’t fly for the next five days: maybe it actually was flu. The post for 21 June 1918 recounted the time when Greg had flu at Rely (‘Merville fever’, he called it then). And from the brief discourse on the epidemiology of Spanish Flu in that post, it can be seen that it had a second wave in early November 1918. So Spanish Flu is a good candidate to explain Capt. Gordon’s reference to Greg being unwell, and why he didn’t fly for the next few days.
Capt. Gordon says that “Leslie Henson…is giving a show somewhere near here tomorrow evening”. In fact, that was to be the second of two performances opening the Nouveau Théâtre Lille, which is now the Opéra de Lille, under Allied auspices. The first was this evening. We don’t know on which night Greg travelled the 5 miles (8 km) from Ascq into Lille to see the show, but he seems to have gone to one of them as the programme is among his papers:
Programme
Programme cover page for the reopening of the Nouveau Théâtre Lille. Click for larger image.Programme middle pages for the reopening of the Nouveau Théâtre Lille. Click for larger image.
This must have been a hot-ticket occasion. In a fascinating article entitled ‘Lille under German Rule‘ on the Remembrance Trails – Northern France website, Claudine Wallart, the Head Curator of Heritage at the Archives Départementales du Nord, tells the story of the theatre during the First World War:
Destroyed in the fire of 1903, Lille theatre (now the Opera) was in the process of being rebuilt when war broke out. The occupiers completed the job and named it the “German Theatre”, opening with much pomp and ceremony at Christmas 1915 in the presence of Crown Prince Rupert of Bavaria and Lille’s governor General Heinrich. Artists from Berlin performed Iphigenia in Tauris by Goethe, a symphonic prelude and Liszt’s Festklange. On subsequent occasions the Ring of the Nibelungen and various light operas were also performed there but, although invited, the civilian population of Lille kept away. The German artists remained at the Opera until the end of September 1918 when they destroyed the sets and stage machinery and left.
In the intervening weeks since the Germans left, repairs had evidently made the theatre ready enough for tonight’s performance. No doubt General Heinrich and the German high command would have been aghast at the cultural plummet from Goethe, Liszt and Wagner to a singalong with Louis J. Seymour and crowd. And equally, no doubt tonight’s audience wouldn’t have given a toss. But how they would have relished William Ewart Noble’s ‘Advice to Another William’!
Leslie Henson’s ‘Gaieties’
The Nouveau Théâtre Lille was not the first venue at which Greg had seen Leslie Henson’s ‘Gaieties’ Army Entertainers. Exactly three months earlier, a few days before the beginning of what would be the Allies’ final offensive, The Gaieties had put on a show for 42 Squadron in the hangar at Rely:
The names mentioned in August are still there. Bert Errol, the ‘noted female impersonator’ had pieces in both halves of the Lille show. (You have to wonder what the ‘camouflage’ was in ‘Camouflage & Cacophony’!) Teddie Holton was there, as of course was Leslie Henson. A little over a month later, The Gaieties were still performing at Lille, as this Imperial War Museum photograph shows:
Today was, in retrospect at least, a significant day: the counter-battery patrol that Greg flew was to be his last of the war. It was also Greg’s last wartime flight for which we have an entry in the Squadron Record Books for 42 Squadron.
Log Book
Date: 31.10.18
Time Out: 8.00
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 182 hrs 55 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Mulholland
War Flying: 2 hrs 35 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. 6 Huns. Fokkers.
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Mulholland
Duty: Artillery Patrol
Hour of Start: 0800
Hour of Return: 1035.
Remarks: 0820. Large fire and numerous explosions at D.B. zone. The fires were continuous for about 2 hours, and covered a large area.
0915. Large explosion at V.C. zone. Probably ammunition.
0930. Slight enemy shelling at PONT A CHIN, unable to pick up flashes.
E.K.B. 0815. 1 at 3000’ over J.18. Pulled down at 0840 and let up again at 0920.
E.A. Six Fokkers at 4000’ over I.&.O. squares. Sent 6.F.E.A.I.4. [Six Fokker enemy aircraft over I.4.]
BOMBS. 4-25 lb dropped at I.38.a. [Looks like 38, but can’t be, as the numbering only goes up to 36] Four bursts observed.
Vis. fair to bad. Height 3000’. Obs.by P.&.O.
The activity seen on this patrol was all to the north and northeast of Tournai:
Map showing events of 31 October 1918, north to northeast of Tournai. Adapted from 1:40,000 scale maps. Each lettered square is 6,000 yards,and each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital. Image of Kite Balloon adapted from IWM photo Q11901.
V.C. Zone
There is a bit of ambiguity about which V.C. zone the Squadron Record Book (SRB) report is referring to. V.C. zone refers to the bottom left quadrant of V square. The V.C. zone that I have shown on the above map extract is from V square of 1:40,000 Map Sheet 29, which is just to the north of Sheet 37. Sheet 37 covers Tournai and surrounding areas and has its own V square, and hence its own V.C. zone, though. For each map sheet, V square is immediately below P square, and hence for Sheet 37 it is southeast of Tournai.
The SRB entries rarely said which map sheet they were referring to. (Those who wrote them and read them all knew what they meant). I have assumed that V square and V.C. zone of Sheet 29 was what was meant here, on the basis that V.C. and D.B. zones, where similar activity was reported, touch each other.
Six Fokkers
The six Fokkers were over squares I and O. The specific subsquare that formed the basis of Greg’s zone call (“6.F.E.A.I.4“) was I.4, which borders square C. The River Scheldt (Escaut in French) as it ran north of Tournai from square O to square I formed the British front line at the time.
Four Bombs Dropped at I.38.a?
Well, they can’t have been! Although the entry seems clear, there isn’t a quadrant 38.a. Each lettered square is made up of a six-by-six array of subsquares, which are numbered 1 to 36. And each numbered square is divided into four quadrants a, b, c and d, with quadrant a being the top left. So 38.a just isn’t possible.
What might have been intended? Here is a larger scale extract, from a 1:20,000 map, showing the bottom 12 subsquares of square I:
Map showing Pont-à-Chin, north of Tournai. Adapted from a 1:20,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Any of quadrants 28.a, 30.a, 33.a and 36.a might have been intended, as they were all to the east of the River Scheldt and hence the British front line.
Last Counter Battery Patrol
Today’s counter-battery patrol was Greg’s last. (One was scheduled for 3 November 1918, but the weather put paid to it.) Undertaking these patrols had been one of his two main jobs with 42 Squadron, the other being the observation of artillery fire, or ‘shoots’. The first CPB was on 13 June 1918, the week after Greg joined the squadron at Rely:
Today is the 46th entry in his log book for a counter-battery patrol. To see the whole collection, click here. And for a refresher of what they were all about, have a look at this page:
Although this was Greg’s last counter-battery patrol, there was still much to do before the fighting was over.
Last Flight with Lt. Mulholland
Today was also Greg’s last flight with Lt Arthur Mulholland, with whom he had previously flown on 12 September 1918 and 15 September 1918. The 12 September post contains a profile of Lt. Mulholland.
Last wartime SRB entry
And on the subject of ‘lasts’, today is also the last day for which a pre-armistice Squadron Record Book entry for 42 Squadron RAF is available. That isn’t to say that there never were any entries. It’s just that they’re missing from the files of The National Archives.
The Squadron Record Books for 42 Squadron RAF for late 1918 are held in two files at The National Archives. They are AIR/1/1840/204/209/10 (July to November 1918):
Cover for file AIR/1/1840/204/209/10 at The National Archives. Click for larger image.
Cover for file AIR/1/1416/204/29/9(1) at The National Archives. Click for larger image.
The two files contain duplicates of some records. Often duplicates are just carbon copies of different quality. Unfortunately, neither file contains any records covering the almost three weeks from 1 to 19 November 1918. And, to be honest, the subsequent SRB entries are pretty dull. They’re mostly such things as rigging tests and travelling flights.
If anyone finds copies of the missing entries, or knows something of their whereabouts if they’re still extant, please do get in touch via the contact page. The National Archives would probably be glad to hear from you too.
It was billed as a counter-battery patrol in the log book, and as reconnaissance in the Squadron Record Book. In fact it was both. After a misty false start, today’s patrol took Greg further east into Belgium than he had gone before. There were three German Fokkers over Mont St. Aubert, heading north from Tournai. But the mist made artillery flashes hard to pinpoint.
Log Book
Date: 29.10.18
Time Out: 6.20/7.00
Rounds Fired – Lewis: 100
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 180 hrs 20 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Scarterfield
War Flying: 1 hrs 35 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. 3 Huns. Fokkers.
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Test Flight.
Hour of Start: 0620.
Hour of Return: 0640.
Remarks: Weather test.
Visibility very poor. -ground mist.
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 0700
Hour of Return: 0815
Remarks: 0720. M.G. fire drawn from J.29.b.5.4.
0725. Enemy shelling road and railway crossing at H.30.c.8.2. Unable to see flashes owing to mist.
0740. Sent K.K. on flashes in J.35. Too misty to pinpoint.
E.A. 0750. 1.E.A. at 4000’ over D.C. zone.
0755. 3.Fokkers at 5000’ over I.D. proceeding Northwards.
BRIDGES. still intact at TOURNAI with the exception of railway bridge at O.6.d.2.8. [Probably O.16.d.2.8 intended]
Traffic bridge at O.10.a.1.1 intact
Foot bridges at I.32.a.5.5. I.26.b.9.9. I.14.b.8.7. still passable.
A.A. Normal.
E.K.B. Nil.
BOMBS.4-25lb dropped at I.29.d.5.0. Bursts observed.
Vis.V.Poor. Height 1500/2500’. Obs.by P.&.O.
This map shows the sites of most of the observations:
Map showing events of 29 October 1918, north of Tournai. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Zone DC
Zone DC, above which Greg saw one Fokker, is from 2-5,000 yds north of sub-squares 13, 14 and 15 of square J.
Mont St. Aubert
The three Fokkers seen above zone ID were flying northwards above Mont St. Aubert, a hilly outcrop 3½ miles (5.5 km) north of Tournai. The hills reach above the 140m contour line and were to form part of a short-lived defensive line held by the retreating German army.
Railway Bridge
The Squadron Record Book (SRB) refers to a no longer intact railway bridge at O.6.d.2.8, but there is no railway in or near sub-square O.6. However, the railway bridge at O.16.d.2.8 is the principal railway bridge over the Scheldt coming northwest out of Tournai, and look likely to have been a prime candidate for destruction by the withdrawing German forces.
Traffic Bridge
It is not clear what is meant by the (intact) traffic bridge at O.10.a.1.1, as no bridge is shown at that point. But it is possible that one had been built after the map (dated March 1917) was drawn. At this point, the main stream of the river is by-passing Lock No. 2 (Écluse No. 2) so it is possible that the river was at least temporarily bridged here.
“Pinpoint”
Greg says in the SRB that it was “too misty to pinpoint” the flashes in J.35. This isn’t the first time he has said “pinpoint”, either as one word or two. See the SRB entries in the post for 8 October 1918 and 25 October 1918. Although the word is in common usage today, what’s interesting is that 100 years ago it wasn’t. As the following Google Ngram View shows, its usage really took off between the 1940s and 1980s, since when it has declined a little. And up to the mid 1930s “pinpoint” and “pin point” were used more or less equally – if rarely.
Google Ngram for “pinpoint”. Click here for a full version.
Next up…
The next entry in Greg’s log book is for Thursday 31 October 1918.
Despite poor visibility, Greg and Lt Bett went on their first counter-battery patrol from Ascq. The patrol was short (45 mins) and low (700 ft). They reconnoitred the situation near Pont-à-Chin on the River Scheldt, north of Tournai.
Log Book
Date: 25.10.18
Time Out: 15.35
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 177 hrs 15 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: Bett
War Flying: 0 hrs 45 mins
Height: 700
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. – Dud.
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 1535
Hour of Return: 1620
Remarks: 1535. Enemy shelling PONT A CHIN village & “Y” roads at I.32.a.1.1.
Flashes seen in wood at I.30.a. & I.24.b.&.d. – impossible to pin point owing to visibility. Flashes red.
Floods in I.33.& 27. subsided. Large floods still in I.21.
A.A.M.G. [anti-aircraft machine gun] & single rifle shots from O.4.
No new footbridges seen.
Bridges at I.32.a.7.2. destroyed.
No E.A. [enemy aircraft] or E.K.B. [enemy kite balloons] seen.
Vis. poor. Height 700’. Obs.by P.&.O.
The following map shows the locations referred to:
Map showing observations on reconnaissance patrol on 25 October 1918, north of Tournai. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Just one week ago, Greg reported on a reconnaissance flight from Chocques that the bridges over the River Escaut (Scheldt) north of Tournai were intact:
That was no longer the case. Today he reported: “Bridges at I.32.a.7.2. destroyed.” This seems to have been the crossing over the Scheldt from Pont-à-Chin to Paradis. Earlier in and probably before the war, there was a evidently a ferry over the river. Leading east from the ferry, next to the Au Ponton du Paradis inn, was a bridged track or causeway over the marshes on the eastern bank to the settlement of Paradis. The Germans had evidently built a bridge to replace the ferry, as shown overprinted in blue on the 1:20,000 scale map extract below, which was updated to October 1918. But unsurprisingly they had destroyed it as they withdrew east across the river.
River crossing at Pont-à-Chin. Adapted from a 1:20,000 scale map marked ‘Trenches corrected from information received up to 15 .10.18’. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/Great War Digital.
Pont-à-Chin
Pont-à-Chin was one of the first crossing points on the River Scheldt north of the bridges in Tournai. It still is today: apart from the A8-E42 autoroute crossing high above the river, the Pont Bolus at Pont-à-Chin in the first place going north of Tournai where a’surface road’ crosses the Scheldt.
This was not the first occasion on which war raged around the village. In the Flanders campaign of the French Revolutionary Wars, the Battle of Tournai was fought on 22 May 1794. Pont-à-Chin changed hands four times during the battle, which resulted in a victory for the allies of the coalition (Austrian, British and Hanoverian) forces of the ancien régime against the revolutionary French. Times and allegiances change, even if the fields of battle don’t.
On their first day at their base at Chocques, 42 Squadron’s aircraft are back at work. Greg is assigned with Lt Bett to an afternoon counter-battery patrol in the same aircraft that he ferried over from Rely yesterday. They were working around Englos and Sequedin, west of Lille. But they had to cut the patrol short. This was because the weather was poor, and the engine was missing badly.
Log Book
Date: 14.10.18
Time Out: 14.15
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: 100
Bombs: 4
Time on RE8s: 171 hrs 20 mins
RE8: 6740
Observer: Bett
War Flying: 1 hr 50 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.6740
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Bett
Duty: Artillery Patrol
Hour of Start: 1415.
Hour of Return: 1605.
Remarks: No flashes seen, possibly owing to poor visibility.
1500. Fire (buildings) burning for a few minutes at P.13.c.5.9. [Hallenes-lez-Haubourdin]
Broad belts of wire protecting trenches in P.4.b. & 5.a. [Le Marais]
Unable to observe any train activity owing to mist.
Early return due to engine missing badly.
A.A. active. A.A.M.G. [anti-aircraft machine guns] active from O.5. & O.6. [Ennetières-en-Weppe]
E.A. Nil
E.K.B. Nil.
BOMBS. 1445. 4- 25lb dropped in O.12.d. [Moulin Joyeux] Four bursts observed.
100.V.G. fired from 2000’ into FORT d’ENGLOS.
Vis. Poor. Height 2000’. Obs. by P.&.O.
Englos and Sequedin
All this activity was around Englos and Sequedin, just to the west of Lille:
Map showing observations on counter battery patrol. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Today, between Englos and Sequedin there is a major autoroute junction on the A25, which runs from Dunkirk to Lille
Yet again, Fort d’Englos was on the receiving end of the RE8’s weapons, as on 8 October 1918 and 5 October 1918. Evidently it was still being used as a garrison site and ammunition depot.
In the end, engine trouble caused Greg and Lt Bett to go home early. At least the journey back to Chocques was 10 miles (16 km) shorter than it would have been to Rely.
Small Gain at Wavrin on the Front Line
The British Front Line, which ran more or less north-south just to the east of Armentières, had not moved much since 7 October 1918. An exception was a small salient encompassing a railway junction near the small settlement of Wavrin:
The British Front east of Armentières showing the small salient gained at Wavrin by 14 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
A small gain, but possibly a significant one. Gaining the junction meant that British troops now controlled the railway running just behind the front from La Basée to Armentières. No doubt very useful logistically.
Next up…
Greg’s next log book entry is for 17 October 1918.
Back to the routine today: this was Greg’s first counter-battery patrol since he returned from leave. Some things had changed: patrolling further east than previously, and with a new observer (Lt John Edward Elliott). And some things hadn’t: engine trouble again.
Log Book
Date: 8.10.18 Time Out: 13.30 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: 1 Time on RE8s: 168 hrs 50 mins RE8: 2526 Observer: Elliot [sic, should be Elliott]War Flying: 2 hrs 00 mins Height: 2500 Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Engine missing.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2526Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt ElliottDuty: Artillery Patrol.Hour of Start: 1330Hour of Return: 1530Remarks:
FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS
1410 small explosion at P.13.d.9.8[West of Lille]
1435 large fire in approx K.5. [Northeast of Lille] Too far to be pinpointed.
1415 flashes from windscreen of car moving along road in approx L.26.a[East of Lille]
1440 1 E.K.B. East of LILLE
1445 sent 1 E.A. I.10 [Between Armentières and Lille]. Unable to discern whether single or two seater.
Broad belt of wire in front of trenches running through I.34.a. and I.35.a. [west of Lille] in good condition.
A.A. normal.
1405 1-25lb bomb aimed at FORT D’ENGLOS [west of Lille]. Burst 300 yards S.W.
Returned owing to engine trouble.
Vis. Good. Height 2500’. Obs by P. & O.
These locations, both to the west and to the east of Lille, are shown on the following map:
Map showing observations on counter battery patrol. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
Greg and Lt Elliott may have seen more, were it not for the dodgy engine in 2526. Probably it was the engine problem that meant that they only offloaded one bomb. It was intended for Fort d’Englos, which had received some attention three days ago:
Lt John Edward Elliott was born on 20 February 1899, and was therefore 19 days younger than Greg. This was the only time that these two teenagers flew together. Lt Elliott survived the war and was to have a lucky escape on 15 December 1918, still in France, when he survived a crash. The official casualty report read:
Ok [D6740 RE8] Crashed landing Saultain on travelling flight to new aerodrome. Lt McDermont Ok/Lt Elliott Ok [shown as 6740]
Credit to the RFC pages of http://airhistory.org.uk/ for the casualty information [from TNA AIR 1/865].
Next up…
The next entry in Greg’s log book is for Friday 11 October 1918. But there was to be quite an occasion the day before that…
A midday counter-battery patrol for an hour and a half with Lt Stuart Francis Bett. Not a great time by the sound of it, with the weather and E27’s engine both being ‘rotten’. Still, makes a change from ‘dud‘!
Log Book
Date: 14.9.18
Time Out: 12.00
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 156 hrs 30 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Bett
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 30 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Weather & engine rotten.
2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett
This was Greg’s first patrol with 2/Lt Stuart Francis Bett, with whom he would fly several times in the next couple of months.
Stuart Bett was born on 11 November 1899 to Mary Bett, and so was some nine months younger than Greg. He survived the war, and was no doubt delighted that Armistice Day was on his 19th birthday. He was injured a few weeks later, on 17 December 1918 – playing rugby! – and wasn’t present at the B Flight Officers’ Christmas Dinner. Injury may have been the cause of his absence. Maybe he went home.
After the war, he graduated with a B.Sc. degree and on 1 October 1923 joined the Indian Service of Engineers an an assistant executive engineer in the United Provinces (of Agra and Oudh) – roughly present day Uttar Pradesh and Uttarakhand. Promotion to executive engineer followed in October 1932. Later, he transferred to the central public works department in August 1933 as a divisional officer. Stuart Bett died aged only 37, on 6 June 1937, in Dehra Dun. His widow was Ethel Margaret Fisher Bett.
Thanks to Margaret Sheard for sourcing information on Stuart Francis Bett.
After an absence from the field of operations of eight days, Greg is back in the air today, with (for the first time) 2/Lt Arthur Mulholland as observer. But the poor weather hasn’t improved. Greg rated today’s counter-battery patrol – yet again – as a dud as a result of it being very windy.
Log Book
Date: 12.9.18
Time Out: 16.05
Rounds Lewis: -
Rounds Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 155 hrs 0 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Mulholland
War Flying Time: 1 hrs 05 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Dud. V windy.
Very Windy
Not a round fired, and not a bomb dropped. Pilot and Observer were probably glad to get back home after a little over an hour of being bounced around in the very windy conditions.
Lt Arthur Mulholland
This was Greg’s first outing with 2nd Lt Arthur Mulholland as his observer. In fact it was one of only two, the other being at the end of October.
Arthur Mulholland was born on 4 November 1894 in Sheffield. He had been with the army in France since 1914. But he had only been commissioned within the last few weeks, on 24 August 1918.
Although he was to have a narrow escape a few days after this patrol with Greg, he survived to the end of the war, and after demobilisation became “an Auxiliary” – a member of The Auxiliary Division of the Royal Irish Constabulary (ADRIC). He survived that experience, too, despite being on a tram in Dublin held up by the IRA in May 1921.
After the disbandment of the ADRIC, Mulholland became a policemen in Palestine, as did many of his colleagues. But he then emigrated to Canada in 1926. He spent the rest of his life there and died in Vancouver in 1976, aged 82.
Grateful acknowledgement to David Grant of theauxiliaries.com website, which is the source of this information about Arthur Mulholland and much more about the ADRIC. Arthur Mulholland’s page is here.
Next Up…
Greg’s next log book entry is on 14 September 1918.
On his last sortie for over a week, a counter-battery patrol takes Greg well to the east of Estaires. He sees fires and explosions around Laventie and along the River Lys in Sailly-sur-Lys, Erquinghem Lys and Pont de Nieppe, near Armentières.
Log Book
Date: 3.9.18
Time Out: 9.45
Rounds Lewis: 300
Rounds Vickers: 200
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 153 hrs 55 mins
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt Scarterfield
War Flying Time: 2 hrs 35 mins
Height: 5000
Course/Remarks: C.B.P. Few fires. Two explosions.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book – click for larger image
Type and Number: RE8 27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Art Patrol [The "2.9.18" in this column looks like a typo for 3.9.18, which is the date given at the top of the sheet – and which agrees with Greg’s log book]Hour of Start: 9.45
Hour of Return: 12.20
Remarks: 10.20 Explosion followed by fire and column of smoke at M 3c 5.2.
10.25 Similar observation at G 18d 1.2
Fires in HOUSES at G 27d 5.7, and 2.5, G33d 3.5 and small BUILDING on Railway at M 3b 0.5 and in G 17 a
Fires in SAILLY, PONT DE NIEPPE and ERQUINGHEM [ERQUINGHEM LYS].
10.30 UL FR UD [Weather unfit for counter-battery work and photography, but fit for artillery registration]
AA active east of LAVENTIE, none W. of LAVENTIE
Vis good. Height 4000'. 4-25lb bombs on LAVENTIE. Bursts obs.
200 V.G. 300 L.G. into LAVENTIE and M4 from 2000'.
All this observed action is to the east of Estaires, around Laventie and along the River Lys towards Armentières, as this annotated map shows:
Map of Estaires, Laventie and Armentières, also showing Sailly-sur-Lys, Erquinghem Lys and Pont de Nieppe. Adapted from a composite of 1:40,000 scale maps. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
It is just to the west of Erquinghem Lys that, today, the high speed rail line from Calais crosses the Lys on its way to Lille, Paris and Brussels.
Next Up…
Greg’s next log book entry is on 12 September 1918. But watch out for news of a contact patrol and troop movements later today.
