In one of Greg’s albums is a photograph that has the caption “42 Squadron R.A.F. (Abscon) Nov 1918”. The date is quite clear. It is also quite wrong. 42 Squadron wasn’t at Abscon in November 1918.
42 Squadron RAF at Château Lantier in Abscon, January 1919 (not November 1918 as captioned). Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection.
42 Squadron RAF at Château Lantier, Abscon
How do we know that the location is right and the date wrong, and not vice versa?
Well, first, we know that the location – Abscon – is correct. This is because the background is recognisably Château Lantier, a former landmark of Abscon.
Château Lantier in Abscon, from a contemporary postcard. Click for larger image. Credit: www.akpool.co.uk
Seen in this postcard photograph, the grand Château Lantier stood sideways on to what is now la Place du Général de Gaulle in the centre of Abscon. In Greg’s photo, the officers and men of 42 Squadron are at the back of the château – the opposite side from that shown in the postcard.
The château was a little over ½ mile (1 km) from the airfield. But it would have been familiar to the squadron. It was after all in the middle of the aerodrome’s ‘home town’. And according to Anciens Aérodromes, some of the squadron’s officers were accommodated there. Today, the building is no more. Its site is now occupied by the town hall and various other buildings.
January 1919, not November 1918
Secondly, we know that the date in the caption of the photograph can’t be right. The squadron wasn’t at Abscon in November 1918. They were at Ascq at the start of November, and they moved to Marquain on Armistice Day. Later, on 25 November 1918, they moved again to Aulnoy, near Valenciennes:
Greg is in the photograph, near the middle in the fourth row up:
Detail from 42 Squadron RAF at Château Lantier in Abscon, January 1919, with Greg indicated. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection.
We know that Greg came to Abscon from Saultain on New Year’s Day 1919, in what was his last flight. He would be gone before the end of the month. So the photograph – Greg’s last group photo – must have been taken in January 1919.
Possibly the mistake in the date arose because of the similarities with a ‘B’ Flight group photograph at Ascq that was definitely taken in November:
No flying for Greg today, for unrecorded reasons. But others in the squadron had been busy taking reconnaissance photographs either side of the River Scheldt (Escaut), along which the front line ran. Here are the three, taken today, that Greg brought home after the war. The first is west of the Scheldt, showing Ferme Cazeau/Prade (today, Ferme Hurette), Pont-à-Chin, Tournai. The second and third are east of the river, at Kain, north of Tournai, where German trenches are in evidence.
The first photograph is behind the British front line, to the west of the River Scheldt. The open land in the top right of the photo is part of the former German aerodrome at Ramegnies-Chin (thanks to Dominique Van den Broucke for noting this). Shell holes pock-mark the airfield.
This vertical aerial view was taken from 4,000 ft at 11:00 am half a mile (800 m) or so southwest of Pont-à-Chin, and about 3 miles (5 km) northwest of Tournai.
The pentagonal building towards the bottom of the centre of the image are the farm buildings of what today is la Ferme Hurette but was then marked on contemporary British Army trench maps as la FermeCazeau. However, this does not seem to be what it was called locally:
During WW1, the Hurette farm on rue Hurette belonged to the parents of Mr. Joseph Prade. It was the Prade farm.I interviewed Mr. Joseph Prade in the early 80s for my article (Nord Eclair newspaper) about the Ramegnies-Chin aerodrome.At the time, all the bunkers and refuge cellars still existed.Next to the Prade farm was the rue d’Allain.This rue d’Allain was an umade road that the Germans modified to make a paved road.The aerodrome was very large in area and ran along the woods and the railway line.There was a flight school and a building for aerial photography.The airmen were lodged in two castles and a large villa.Nowadays you can still see a bunker at the edge of the wood.
Dominique Van den Broucke
These days la Ferme Hurette offers group accommodation and reception rooms as part of the non-profit organisation Le Haras de Cazeau.
Vertical aerial view of Ferme Cazeau/Ferme Prade (now Ferme Hurette, Pont-à-Chin, Tournai, taken 4 November 1918. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
And in the corresponding view today from Google maps, not much has changed – apart from the welcome absence of shell holes.
The corresponding view today. Click to go to a larger view in Google maps.
On the ground, the view from just off the upper left of the aerial view, looking towards and along the railway line, is this:
The view looking north to the woods by the railway line in June 2018. If you tap or click to see a larger image, you should be able to make out the masts of the railway’s present day catenary system in front of the trees.
This ground photograph was first published in the post for 18 October 1918. This was because, coincidentally, the woods along the railway in the top left of the aerial photos are where Greg reported large fires during a reconnaissance patrol on that day:
Meanwhile, moving 1¼ miles (2 km) due east across the River Scheldt, we come to territory that was probably still in German hands. If it wasn’t, it would have been no-man’s land. And if that, it evidently hadn’t suffered nearly as much as land further west that had the dubious distinction of being between the opposing front lines for much longer. Just a few shell holes are seen in the top half of the image, particularly in the centre, and something of a trench system in the bottom right. This photograph was again taken at 4,000 ft at 11:00 am. It shows the Rue d’Ormont, in Kain, about 5 miles (8 km) NNW of the centre of Tournai.
Vertical aerial view of Kain, near Tournai, taken 4 November 1918. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
Today, the area has become more built up, and the railway line has disappeared.
The corresponding view today. Note that the railway line has gone. Click to go to a larger view in Google maps.
Some of the original buildings remain:
Detail of vertical aerial view of Kain, near Tournai, taken 4 November 1918. Click for larger image.
The farm building in the red square is today a house, and looks like this:
Former farm building on the Rue d’Ormont, Kain, Tournai, June 2018. Click for larger image.
And the part of the building in the red circle at the road junction that remains today looks like this:
House at the road junction on the Rue d’Ormont, Kain, Tournai, June 2018. Click for larger image.
3. Trenches North of Kain, Tournai
Finally, we move northeast from the Rue d’Ormont, to the western slopes of the Mont St. Aubin. Here, about 3 miles (5 km) north of the centre of Tournai, there was an extensive system of trenches. Greg had captioned this vertical aerial photo “Trenches”, as a particular example of an elaborate defensive system. Shadows cast by the low November sun equally defines the trenches and shell holes quite sharply.
Trenches North of Kain, Tournai. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection.
As it turned out, this was one of the trickiest photos to locate on Google maps today. The reason was not because the land had been built over; there still isn’t a building on it today. Rather, it was that the pattern of woodland and open farmland has changed so much in the intervening years. Here’s how it now looks:
The corresponding view today. Click to go to a larger view in Google maps.
What these two aerial views – ancient and modern – don’t give is a sense of the gentle upward slope. The track up the middle of each aerial photograph ascends a shallow valley, overlooked by low slopes on both sides. The following view was taken in June 2018 and looks north from a point below the bottom of the aerial photographs.
View looking north of Kain, up the valley towards where the trenches were. The house on the right is just below the field of the aerial photographs. June 2018. Click for larger image.
Even a non-expert can imagine how eminently defensible the upper slopes of the valley would be. But they weren’t held for long.
Two attempts at photography today. The first, in cloudy conditions in the morning, was unsuccessful. The second was a success, with at least 20 plates exposed of the River Scheldt, north of Tournai. But success was accompanied by a narrow escape, as shrapnel from anti-aircraft fire split the propeller of RE8 2517. Fortunately, Greg and his observer Lt John Macmillan were able to return safely to the aerodrome at Ascq.
Log Book
Date: 26.10.18
Time Out: 9.45
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 178 hrs 05 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: McMillan [sic, should be Macmillan]
War Flying: 0 hrs 50 mins
Height: 3000
Course/Remarks: Photos – too cloudy.
Date: 26.10.18
Time Out: 12.20
Rounds Fired – Lewis: -
Rounds Fired – Vickers: -
Bombs: -
Time on RE8s: 178 hrs 45 mins
RE8: 2517
Observer: McMillan [sic, should be Macmillan]
War Flying: 0 hrs 40 mins
Height: 3500
Course/Remarks: Photos – 20 plates.
Although the log book gives little in the way of detail, there is more in the Squadron Record Book:
Squadron Record Book
Click for larger image.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2517
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt McMillan [sic, should be Macmillan]
Duty: Photography
Hour of Start: 0945, 1220
Hour of Return: 1035, 1300
Remarks: 1240. 12 24 plates exposed over I.A. & I.C. zones from 3500’.
A.A. [Anti-aircraft fire] Accurate, apparently at long range. (Propellor split by shrapnel.)
E.A. [Enemy aircraft] Nil.
Vis.Good.Clouds 3700’. Height 3500’. Obs.by P.&.O.
IA and IC Zones
Zones IA and IC together form the left hand (west) side of square I on map sheet 37. They cover the River Scheldt a few miles north of Tournai. Pont-à-Chin, the scene of yesterday’s patrol, is at the bottom of zone IC, and Pecq is at the top of zone IA:
Map showing zones photographed on 26 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.
Propeller Split
Shrapnel from anti-aircraft fire (‘archie’) hit the propeller of the aircraft and split it. The RE8’s propeller was of laminated hardwood construction, which probably limited the damage to a split. The laminations can be seen in this photograph of the RAF Museum’s replica RE8 built by The Vintage Aviator Limited of New Zealand:
Propeller and engine detail of the replica RE8 A3930 at the RAF Museum, Hendon. Click or tap to see full size image.
In the event, the damage wasn’t so severe as to prevent the aircraft being flown back to Ascq. Nonetheless, it was certainly a case of: Archibald, certainly hot – as the song almost had it!
Greg’s observer today was Lt John Gibb Brown Macmillan. Both Greg’s log book and the Squadron Record book spell his name as McMillan. But when Lt Macmillan signed his name on the front of the menu of the Farewell Dinner to mark the squadron’s departure from Rely on 10 October 1918, he unmistakably wrote ‘Macmillan’. See the post containing the menu here (Macmillan’s signature is above the girl’s cap):
John Macmillan was born on 19 October 1898, and so had celebrated his 20th birthday exactly one week ago. Greg’s diary says nothing about him. But the list of RFC/RAF people at airhistory.org.uk notes that on 29 June 1918 he suffered a forced landing with Lt Bill Ledlie at Créquy in RE8 C2478:
Ok [C2478 RE8] f/l Crequy due thick fog on artly patrol. Lt W Ledlie Ok/2Lt JGB Macmillan Ok
42 Squadron were operating out of Rely at the time, and Créquy is some 15 miles (24 km) southwest from Rely, towards the coast. The nearest point of the front line was 11 miles (18 km) in precisely the opposite direction. So presumably they had (seriously) overshot Rely in the fog on the way home.
The two flights today were to be the only ones in which Greg and Lt Macmillan flew together.
Next up…
The next entry in Greg’s log book is for Tuesday 29 October 1918.
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)
Map showing P and J squares of Sheet 36. Adapted from a 1:40,000 scale map. Each numbered square is 1,000 yards. Click for larger image. Map credit IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital.
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:
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
Another day, another shoot, another Merville bridge knocked about: this time, the Pont de Pierre road bridge after yesterday’s railway bridge. Not brought down, but still rendered impassable, in another successful partnership with 213 Siege Battery RGA. Then an abortive trip to Fauquembergues, and the day finished with a couple of practice night landings.
Date: 19.7.18
Hour: 5.30-6.5
Machine type: RE8
RE8: E27
Observer: Maitland
Time: 35 mins
Height: 2000
Course/Remarks: To Fauquembergues Aerodrome with Maitland
Date: 19.7.17
Time: 10.30pm
Rounds: -
Bombs: -
RE8: E27
Observer: Lt. Hodgson
Time: 15 m
Height: 800
Course/Remarks: Two night landings
Diary
Friday July 19th. Shoot and photos. 213 SB on another bridge near Merville. Bridge badly damaged at Eastern end. Took some photos of it.
In evening took Maitland to Fauquembergues Aerodrome, did not land because there was no wind indicator.
Dropped 4 Coopers.
Bullet through fuselage from ground.
Squadron Record Book
Squadron Record Book. Click for larger image
Type and Number: R.E.8.27
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Hodgson
Duty: Destr. Shoot 213 S.B. (8” How) on Bridge at K.29.c.7.2. [see below]
Hour of Start: 10.55
Hour of Return: 13.55
Remarks: SUCCESSFUL. Called up 10.55. K. 10.57. L. 11.0. G. 11.4. V. 12.17. Time G. to V. 1 Hr 13 mins. [This was the time between the first signal to fire, and the Battery Commander being satisfied that the guns are ranged.]
OBSERVED:- 2 M.B.9. 9 Y. 4 Z. 13 A. 4 B. 8 W. 38 ranging rounds. 4 M.O.K. sent during B.F. [The mean points of impact of four salvos during battery fire were direct hits.] Bridge hit on Eastern end. Not down. Road at Western end rendered impassable. Sent C.I. Eng. [going home, engine trouble] 13.45. Shoot by P. Height 2/3000’.
MISC INF. 11.3. 4-25lb bombs dropped at K.29.c.5.5. [see below] All bursts observed. 11.10. fire at K.29.a.5.9. [see below] burning continuously. 12.10. C.W.S. sent X. 12.25. 1 E.K.B. [enemy kite balloon] N. of ESTAIRES
Pont de Pierre – The Bridge at K.29.c.7.2
Merville from a 1:10,000 scale map dated August 1918. Each dotted line sub-square is 500 yds. Credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
The Pont de Pierre is a road and pedestrian bridge over La Bourre, a tributary stream to the River Lys. It was navigable, with the remains of lock gates just as it joins the Lys still present, and heads upstream to the northwest to connect with the Canal du Pré-à-Vin and the Canal de la Nieppe at La Motte-au-Bois in the Nieppe Forest. Ultimately the Canal de la Nieppe rejoins the canalised Lys, near Aire-sur-la-Lys.
The road carried by the Pont de Pierre is the road west from Merville to Haverskerque and Aire (and at the time to the German front line at Le Sart). To the east of the bridge the road is the Rue du Pont de Pierre, and to the west it is today the Rue de Maréchal Joffre.
The bridge was disabled by the shoot – probably by one or more of the four salvos whose men point of impact was a direct hit. Greg was directing fire from a lower altitude than yesterday (3,000 ft as opposed to 7,000 ft). Although no doubt this gave him a better view, his more privileged vantage point came at a cost, as bullet through the fuselage from the ground bore witness.
The Evidence
Here is one of the photos that Greg took of it, at 2:45pm, after the shoot:
West Merville and the Pont de Pierre (bottom of photo) after the shoot on 19 July 1918. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
To show the damage more clearly, here are magnified details of (a) a photo taken yesterday and (b) the above photo:
BEFORE THE SHOOT. Pont de Pierre at 6pm on 18 July 1918. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War CollectionAFTER THE SHOOT. Pont de Pierre at 2:45pm on 19 July 1918. Click for larger image. Credit: Greg’s War Collection
Pont de Pierre today
Unsurprisingly, the bridge has since been rebuilt, probably more than once. Today, it is decked with flowers and calmly carries cars and cyclists going about their business in Merville, without any visible memory of the destruction that rained down on the old bridge on the site 100 years ago:
Pont de Pierre in June 2018, taken from the southwest corner. Credit: Andrew Sheard
Greg had an abortive trip taking Lt. Maitland for Fauquemberges, and coming back because there was no wind indicator, which was needed for a safe landing. But it was only 11 miles (18 km) in each direction.
And before retiring for the night, Greg practised a couple of night time landings.
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 16th. E27. On photos, took up 54 plates but shutter of camera stuck open after 19th. 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.
Merville from 1 1:20,000 Map of Harassing Fire dated 27 June 1918. German positions an red, British in blue. Click for larger image. Credit: IWM/TNA/GreatWarDigital
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:
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 8th 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.
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. 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. From “Co-operation of Aircraft with Artillery” Revised Edition, Issued by the General Staff, December 1917
St George’s Day 1918 🏴 dawned with clear skies, turning overcast through the course of the morning – but no rain or mist. So the weather was not to blame for the second unsuccessful attempt at photographs, which followed a routine practice flight. Both flights were in RE8s:
Log book entry
Date: 23.4.18
Hour: 7.40
Instructor: –
Machine type and No.: RE 4968
Passenger: –
Time: 40 mins
Height: 2000
Course: Aerodrome
Remarks: Practice. 1 landing.
Date: 23.4.18
Hour: 10.50
Instructor: –
Machine type and No.: RE 5148
Passenger: –
Time: 1 hr 5 m
Height: 2000
Course: Photos
Remarks: Unsuccessful
The misty and gloomy weather today put paid to an attempt at photography in an RE8. But it was an opportunity to rise above the murk in a height test, in which Greg took a BE2e to over 8,000 ft.
Log book entry
Date: 13.4.18
Hour: 9.10
Instructor: –
Machine type and No.: RE6632
Passenger: –
Time: 20 min
Height: 1500
Course: Photos, unsuccessful owing to heavy mist.
Date: 13.4.18
Hour: 10.15
Instructor: –
Machine type and No.: BE8646
Passenger: –
Time: 45 min
Height: 8,200
Course: [Aerodrome]
Remarks: Height test.
Heavy Mist
The Met Office’s weather report for Salisbury Plain for the morning of 13 April was the laconic c . omg.Since we are in 1918 and not 2018, the meaning was not “cloudy . omigod” but “cloudy, turning to overcast, mist and gloom”. This was certainly consistent with heavy mist rendering the attempt at aerial photography unsuccessful.
Up where it’s cooler…
But 45 minutes after landing, Greg was up in the air again to do a height test, and he reached 8,200 ft.
So how cold was it up there? Well, the recorded minimum and maximum temperatures for Salisbury Plain that day were 37°F and 52°F, respectively. So let’s assume that at mid-morning in Yatesbury it was 45°F (7°C) at ground level.
Using the temperature gradient for low altitudes[1] of
-3.3°F/1,000 ft in cloud and
-5.4°F/1,000 ft in clear air,
and assuming for the sake of argument that there was
2,000 ft of cloud and
6,200 ft of clear air
that gives a temperature at 8,200 ft of around 5°F or -15°C.
But what about wind chill? Greg was in an open cockpit, with an indicated air speed in the BE2e probably between 50 and 70 mph, so it would have felt colder.
How much? Assuming a speed of 55 mph and using the wind chill calculator at CSGnetwork.com[2], we obtain:
-48°F or -44°C using the old formula and
-25°F or -32°C using the new formula.
Not having a good basis to choose between them and therefore splitting the difference, we end up with a temperature that feels something like -37°F or -38°C
Whichever temperature scale you use, this is cold. So the leather flying helmet, the goggles, the silk scarf, the fur gloves that make bear paws look small, the sheepskin boots, and the thick leather flying coat over the tunic all now make a lot more sense.
That’s it for a Few Days
The next entry in Greg’s pilot’s log book is for 20 April 1918. Maybe he had some leave, in which case he probably went back home to Holyhead, or maybe he was still in Yatesbury at ground school.
À bientôt…
[1] Taken from the mountain meteorology site https://www.onthesnow.com/news/a/15157/does-elevation-affect-temperature
