The war experiences of 2nd Lt. C. E. Gregory RFC/RAF in 1918
In a 10 minute flight with Lt Scarterfield for a weather test, the verdict brought back was: dud.
Date: 24.10.18 Time Out: 7.10 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 176 hrs 30 mins RE8: 2517 Observer: Scarterfield War Flying: 0 hrs 10 mins Height: 700 Course/Remarks: Weather test – Dud.
No more flying for Greg for the day.
In a vivid indication – if further indication were needed – of how fast the war was moving (and moving eastwards), 42 Squadron RAF was itself on the move again. After a mere nine days in Chocques, the squadron today travelled the 25 miles (40.5 km) ENE to Ascq, just east of Lille.
Date: 22.10.18 Time Out: 7.00 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 176 hrs 20 mins RE8: 2517 Observer: Scarterfield War Flying: 0 hrs 25 mins Height: 1500 Course/Remarks: Travelling flight to Ascq.
Type and Number: R.E.8.27 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield Duty: Travelling Flight. Hour of Start: 0705 Hour of Return: 0735 Remarks: Travelling to new Aerodrome
This all looks fairly straightforward, until you consider which aeroplane Greg and Lt Scarterfield actually flew in. Was it 2517, as in Greg’s log book, or E27, as in the Squadron Record Book? Well, who knows. But if the reconnaissance flight on Friday 18 October 1918 (link below) wasn’t Greg’s last flight in E27, then today’s travelling flight certainly was.
Since 42 Squadron was deployed (as 42 Squadron RFC) to the Lys sector in March 1918, it has always operated out of aerodromes in the Pas-de-Calais département. These were (with dates of arrival, which are linked to the relevant posts):
Artois
Chocques, Trèzennes and Rely aerodromes were in the sizeable central portion of the Pas-de-Calais that was the ancient County of Artois (Dutch Artesië, whence the English adjective artesian, as in well), of which the capital was Arras.
Today was the day that 42 Squadron moved from Artois to Flanders – French Flanders, that is.
Flanders was also an ancient (medieval) county whose territory is today in France and Belgium. Lille (Dutch Reisel) is one of its major cities, and its principal domestic railway station is Lille Flandres. Today, French Flanders is part of the Nord département.
The old course of the River Lys, as it flowed from west to east near Merville, marked the boundary between the counties of Artois and Flanders. It does the same job now, demarking the Pas-de-Calais and Nord départements. In acknowledgement of the ancient boundary, the dykes forming the north and south banks of the canalised River Lys are today known as the Digue de Flandres and the the Digue d’Artois.
Only having been in Chocques for just over a week, 42 Squadron barely had time to get their feet under the table. It can’t have felt much like home in so short a time. But Greg may have felt leaving Chocques to be significant for another reason. It was here that he first saw and probably heard the effect of the artillery of the Western Front, as he travelled through on his way to Rely in early June 1918. Chocques had been just 2½ miles from the front line:
Ascq, where 42 Squadron was moving to, was a small settlement a couple of miles out into the countryside east of Lille, with a station on the railway line to Tournai. Today, it still has the station, but it has grown into Villeneuve-d’Ascq, which is practically a city in its own right. Villeneuve-d’Ascq is home to the Université de Lille, Campus Cité Scientifique, and to the headquarters of the well known French supermarket Auchan.
The site of the former aerodrome was south of the Rue des Fusilés (today the D941) and now accommodates a housing development. It is shown here with a red flag in the bottom right quadrant of square R.15 (i.e. R.15.d) of a First World War 1:40,000 scale map, and correspondingly on a modern map:
The following zone calls are recorded in the Squadron Record Book today, together in each case with the word ‘Unobserved’. Presumably other squadrons put out these calls, calling for artillery fire on what appeared to be urgent and high value targets. The zones in question were all to the east of Tournai. But 42 Squadron was unable to observe the response to any of them as they were busy relocating to their new home, which was about 13 miles (21 km) miles to the west.
Zone Calls. P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3 Unobserved J.C. N.F. A.A. J.25.a.85.75 " J.C. W.P. N.F. A.A. J.25.a " J.C. G.F. TRAIN J.31.d.2.6 W " J.C. G.F. TRAIN J.32.c.8.4 E " J.A. N.F. J.13.d.95.05 "
There’s something wrong with the first zone call (P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3). Map position P.24.b.1.3 isn’t in zone P.C.; rather, it is is zone P.D. Which is wrong, the zone or the map reference? Well, a railway passes through P.24.b.1.3, so perhaps P.D. G.F. TRAIN P.24.b.1.3 was intended. But the same railway also passes through P.20.b.1.3, which is 4,000 yards to the west, in zone P.C. So maybe P.C. G.F. TRAIN P.20.b.1.3 was intended.
No doubt this ambiguous error caused some cursing on the part of the battery artillery commanders, as well as a few wasted shells.
Armed with the above zone calls, the key, and knowledge of the above error, all that is needed to locate the targets on a map is, well, a map. So here it is, and I’ve marked the relevant zones on it. But the location of the targets is left as an exercise for the reader. (I’ve always wanted to write a sentence like that.) Help is at hand – see the link below the map.
Further information on map references and zone calls generally is available here:
The next entry in Greg’s log book is for Thursday 24 October 1918.
Yesterday’s reconnaissance patrol was remarkable for being east of Lille. Today’s patrol was remarkable for how much further east it was: into Belgium, as far as the River Escaut. And for encountering 10 Fokkers. This was Greg’s last patrol in the RE8 serial No E27, which may have been named ‘Gwen’, at least by him. Meanwhile, more British troops enter Lille.
Date: 18.10.18 Time Out: 12.00 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: 100 Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 175 hrs 55 mins RE8: E27 Observer: Scarterfield War Flying: 2 hrs 20 mins Height: 3000 Course/Remarks: Reconn. 10 Huns. Fokker biplanes.
Type and Number: R.E.8.E27 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield Duty: Reconnaissance Hour of Start: 1200 Hour of Return: 1420 Remarks: Reconnaissance running along the railway running East from LILLE through M.13 - 18. N.13 - 15 – 12. Flooded fields at G.32. 1245. Shelling at TEMPLEUVE (H.33). Large white bursts. 1245. Light engine with steam up stationary at N.15.c.0.7. 1250. Large fires in woods along railway at I.31.c. Bridges along River ESCAUT all apparently intact and not damaged. No enemy trenches were observed on the West side of l’ESCAUT River. Enemy machine gun posts still in houses in village in L.24. & M.2.a. 1315. Heavy shelling of railway junction & FORT CROIX DE VALLERS (Shrapnel). British cavalry seen in M.8. Large bodies of British troops moving East, N.E. of LILLE towards BREUCQ. (L.15). R.E.8. Numbered ‘3’ slightly crashed at L.13.b.9.9. ROUBAIX station in G.3.a. on fire. A.A. Fire not very accurate over M. & N. squares. Two bursts fired whilst flying at 1000’ over G.25. Enemy tracers fired at machine whilst flying low over G.22. 23. 30. H.31. N.2. N.9. E.A. 1300. Large formation of ten Fokker Biplanes flying west at about 5000’ over N.A. zone. Bursts from Lewis fired at one which dived. Formation continued in a North Westerly direction climbing above clouds. Vis. Fair. Height 400/3000’. Obs by P.&.O.
Another lengthy Squadron Record Book (SRB) report, which is perhaps not surprising given the pace of events on the ground. The distance covered on the ground was remarkable – going east from Lille to the Escaut river, which flows north from Tournai some 4½ miles (7.5km) to the east of the Belgian border. To put this in context, Tournai is almost as far to the east of Lille (15 miles, 24 km) as Merville is to the west (18 miles, 29 km). And it had taken quite some months to cover the ground from Merville to Lille.
It’s difficult to fit all these events on a map that’s large enough to see the detail (even when clicked). So here’s a selection, on a map that shows the land between Lille, in France, and Tournai, in Belgium.
At 1250 Greg reported large fires in woods along a railway line, at I.31.c. The woods are between the villages of Fourcroix and Pont-à-Chin, northwest of Tournai. This larger scale map extract shows them in better detail:
The railway in question, incidentally, is the line running northwest from Tournai towards Kortrijk, just after the branch off west towards Lille.
The view of the woods today, looking from where the blue car is shown on the map, is this:
The map reference of the car’s location, in First World War terms, is 35.O.1.a.7.3. You can see the location today on Google Maps at https://goo.gl/maps/wkfzpNFVGeC2.
According to the SRB, the Lewis gun fired bursts at one of the Fokker biplanes that were seen over zone N.A. But if we believe Greg’s log book, the Vickers gun fired 100 rounds, and the Lewis gun fired nothing. It looks as though one of these entries is a mix up, but who can now tell which was right?
From Pont-à-Chin on the River Escaut, north of Tournai, back to Chocques was 34 miles (55 km). This is almost three times the distance from Merville to Rely, which was a frequent journey home for Greg not so many weeks ago. An indication that 42 Squadron will soon need to move again.
According to his log book, this was Greg’s final flight in E27, which had more or less been his usual machine. (According to the Squadron Record Book, Greg flew E27 on a short travelling flight on 22 October 1918, which his log book records as having been in 2517. But whichever is correct, both sources agree that this was his last war flying patrol in E27.)
E27 had been built by Siddeley-Deasy in Coventry in March 1918, as a gift from the Chiefs of the Northern Shan States, Burma. It was despatched to the British Expeditionary Force (c/o No 1 Aeroplane Supply Depot (ASD), then at St Omer) the following month. E27 was allocated to 42 Squadron on 11 April 1918 – three days after Greg had got his wings at Yatesbury:
Greg had first flown E27 on 11 June 1918. This was the occasion when he got hopelessly lost, and he landed at Bergues, near Dunkirk. It was also when he wrote the name Gwen next to E27 in his diary. Greg took up E27 most flying days since that day, until he went on leave on 18 September 1918. But when he came back he only flew this aeroplane occasionally. Today marked his 63rd flight in the aircraft. It was his final patrol, and possibly his last flight, in it. The records show that E27 was marked ‘time expired’ on 1 November 1918. The squadron handed it back to No. 1 ASD (which by then had moved to Marquise, between Boulogne and Calais, and located more precisely here) on 8 November 1918.
Observers came and went, but E27 – whether named Gwen or not – was the nearest Greg had to a constant companion. And in the end, the aircraft just wore out.
Thanks to airhistory.org.uk for the history of E27.
More British troops entered Lille from the west. They got a warm reception, as these Imperial War Museum photographs show.
Greg’s next log book entry is for Tuesday 22 October 1918.
Today was the day of the liberation of Lille. It was a momentous day for the populace, when the British Fifth Army under General Birdwood entered the city. It was also significant day for Greg: he records for the first time that he was reconnoitring east of Lille, near and around the Fort du Vinage. He noted the destructive trail left by the withdrawing German army, and he reported the newly established German line south of Roubaix.
Date: 17.10.18 Time Out: 14.10 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 173 hrs 35 mins RE8: E27 Observer: Scarterfield War Flying: 2 hrs 15 mins Height: 2000 Course/Remarks: Reconn. 5000x E of Lille
There is a bit of a puzzle in the log book entry: what does the x denote?
The first issue is what letter it actually is. I have transcribed it as a superscripted ‘x’, as that seems to me to be the most likely option. But it could, just conceivably, be a ‘t’. But in that case, what might a ‘t’ stand for? From the Squadron Record Book (SRB), extracted below, we can establish definitively that it doesn’t mean British troops. The entry clearly states: “No British troops seen East of Lille”. And although German troops east of Lille would be unremarkable, the SRB merely refers to a “few odd German infantry with civilians on road…” The same reasoning would also rule out tanks (if the quantity of 5,000 hadn’t ruled them out anyway).
But in any event, the superscript looks more like an ‘x’ than a ‘t’. And it is hard to think of a plausible word beginning with an ‘x’ that it might stand for.
Might it indicate height? 5,000 ft is certainly a reasonable height for an RE8 to fly at. But on this occasion both the log book and the SRB tell us that Greg flew no higher than 2,000 ft. So that’s not it.
My working hypothesis is that ‘x’ indicates distance, specifically yards, on the ground. The maps that Greg was working with all had numbered 1,000 yard sub-squares, within 6,000 yard lettered squares. (See the article on Counter-Battery Patrols for an explanation of how the map reference system worked.) So pilots would be well used to gauging distances in 1,000 yard units. Given the locations that Greg reported on in that patrol (from the SRB again), it is likely that he was flying some five map sub-squares east of Lille, which is to say 5,000 yards east of the city. But even if this is the correct explanation, I don’t know why he wrote ‘5000x‘ and not ‘5000 yds’. Any suggestions or alternative explanations welcome.
Type and Number: R.E.8.27 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield Duty: Reconnaissance Hour of Start: 1410 Hour of Return: 1625 Remarks: FIRES at the following places:- Farm F.25.d.4.5 Houses K.6.a.4.6 Factory Q.1.b.0.4 " K.20.d.5.0 " K.15.central.) " K.2.c.0.5 ) Commenced during patrol. Enemy trench system in wood at L.22.a.&.b. apparently unoccupied; full of water. Few odd German Infantry with civilians on road L.15.d.& L.16.a. BRIDGE destroyed at:- Railway over road at L.13.d.4.5. " " " K.24.d.6.4. " " " K.23.d.9.3. " " " K.22.b.6.9. All bridges and locks on Eastern water defences [see below] of LILLE destroyed. EXPLOSIONS at:- 1534. K.5.c.6.8. (Apparently dump) 1535. F.26.a.Central. Large fires burning in LANNOY and on Eastern outskirts of ROUBAIX. Bridges along river from L.9 to L.29 all destroyed. Forts BABYLON, du VINAGE, & de MONS [en BAROEUL] occupied lightly by patrols. Fired at with rifles from FORT DU VINAGE. [see below] 1530. Two civilians at Fort roads [sic: cross-roads?] at K.18.central, proceeding from direction of ROUBAIX to LILLE. No British troops seen East of LILLE. Enemy outposts appear to be holding a line roughly running though L.16, R.10 & X.5. Few odd patrols & civilians seen W. of this line. A.A. Vigorous burst of accurate A.A. fire over L.24. & L.29 at 1525. Vis poor. Height 400/2000’. Obs by P.&.O.
This lengthy Squadron Record Book entry confirms that the action was shifting to the east of the city by mid-afternoon. Much infrastructure had visibly been destroyed by the withdrawing German army. It was a remarkable day, given that it had started with the British front line being some 4½ miles (7 km) northwest of Lille, towards Armentières:
And here, on a larger scale map, are some of the locations mentioned in the SRB entry for the mid-afternoon reconnaissance patrol undertaken by Greg and Lt Scarterfield:
Greg says that he was fired at with rifles from the Fort du Vinage (also known as the Fort du Haut Vinage). He can’t have been flying too far from it to see this happening. Fort du Vinage is about five sub-squares (5,000 yards) east of the centre of Lille.
Also, he reports a “vigorous burst of accurate A.A. [anti-aircraft] fire over L.24. & L.29 at 1525”. Those sub-squares are about five sub-squares east of Mons-en-Baroeul, on the easternmost outskirts of the city.
These points support the idea that the ‘5000x‘ in the log book is a reference to 5,000 yds east of Lille.
The old city of Lille was surrounded by water. Over the last hundred years, Lille has expanded greatly. The southern and eastern water defences of the old city have been filled in and are the course of Autoroutes that form part of the city’s boulevard périphérique. The northern part of the old eastern water defences now also accommodates the high speed rail line from Calais and London and is the site of Lille Europe station (“Lilleurope” as they announce it on the Eurostar trains). Both the tracks at this point and the station are underground.
Greg records that “Enemy outposts appear to be holding a line roughly running though L.16, R.10 & X.5”. This line runs more or less due south from Roubaix, some 4 miles (6.5km) east of the centre of Lille. It passes through Anappes and Sainghin. Annappes is now part of Villeneuve-d’Ascq, which is itself part of the Lille-Roubaix-Tourcoing conurbation. Sainghin (today Sainghin-en-Mélantois) is just near the important high speed rail junction southeast of Lille, where the lines from Paris, Brussels and London all meet.
Greg had a couple of aerial photographs of Lille in his collection. They are unmarked and undated, so it is hard to know when they were taken. But it is likely to have been today or later, given the occupation of the city beforehand. Possibly they were taken after the armistice. But in any event here they are, with corresponding contemporary views from Google maps:
It is evident from the two 1918 photographs that, although knocked about, Lille did not suffer physical destruction to anything like the same extent as Ypres, some 17 miles (27 km) away to the northwest. The contrast with the aerial photographs in the following post for 28 September 1918 is quite telling:
Liberation was in the air, and not only in Lille. In this newly published article, Michael Seymour explains what it meant for the people of Lille and elsewhere:
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.
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.
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.
All this activity was around Englos and Sequedin, just to the west of Lille:
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.
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:
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.
Greg’s next log book entry is for 17 October 1918.
Today Greg has a one-way flight, with sandbags for company, as 42 Squadron RAF makes the move to Chocques.
Date: 13.10.18 Time Out: 11.45 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 169 hrs 30 mins RE8: 6740 Observer: Sandbags War Flying: 0 hrs 15 mins Height: 3000 Course/Remarks: Travelling flight to Chocques.
Type and Number: R.E.8. 6740 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. Duty: Travelling Flight Hour of Start: 1220 Hour of Return: 1235 Remarks: Travelling from RELY aerodrome.
The air above Lillers would have been abuzz with the noise of a squadron of RE8s moving the 10½ miles (17 km) ESE from Rely to Chocques:
As well as moving east, they also went downhill. Rely Aerodrome, in the Artesian hills southwest of Aire-sur-la-Lys, was just on the 100m contour mark. Chocques Aerodrome was just on the southern edge of the Lys Valley – elevation 20m, about 3m higher than Merville. Interestingly, the contours on the trench maps (1:10,000, 1:20,000 and 1:40,000) were all in metres, even though the grid squares were resolutely in yards.
The location of the aerodrome at Chocques was the subject of the post for Friday 11 October 1918.
For the old hands in the squadron – few as they may have been – there must have been a sense of being back in old haunts. 42 Squadron RFC, as it then was, had moved here on 22 March 1918:
Chocques had been the squadron’s first base in the Lys Sector, and its first operational base since it had moved to France from Italy the week before. After only 18 days, it was driven west to Trèzennes and then Rely in the Spring Offensives:
But now the tide was flowing the other way, and the move to Chocques was part of the Allies’ final offensive. Moving back to their old base must have been a source of some satisfaction for the officers and men of 42 Squadron RAF, including Greg. Though maybe not for his unresponsive companion Lt Sandbags (see here under ‘Crew’).
In the first of a couple of travelling flights, Greg takes up his old ‘bus’ E27, which he flew almost consistently from mid-June to mid-September, and flew to Chocques Aerodrome. Sgt Hewitt came with him. Greg’s log book rather gives the impression that he left the aircraft there. But the Squadron Record Book makes clear that they just inspected the new aerodrome from the air, so they would have come back to Rely.
Date: 11.10.18 Time Out: 10.05 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 169 hrs 15 mins RE8: E27 Observer: Sgt. Hewitt War Flying: 0 hrs 25 mins Height: 1000 Course/Remarks: Travelling flight to Chocques.
Type and Number: R.E.8. 27 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Sgt Hewitt Duty: Practice Flight. Hour of Start: 1005 Hour of Return: 1030. Remarks: Inspection of CHOCQUES aerodrome from the air.
Chocques Aerodrome wasn’t actually quite at Chocques. It was a little north of the town, on the Oblinghem side of Gonnehem . Apparently, in the early days, the aerodrome was also known as Gonnehem. Somehow the name Chocques just stuck.
The former HQ and Officers’ accommodation was at the Château de Werppe, just across the road from the airfield. Today, the ruined building stands rather forlornly in some scrub land. Apparently there was at some point a project to renovate it as a number of apartments, but evidently that had not got anywhere by summer 2018.
I’m grateful to Great War Forum user ICM – RAF Retd for the above information on the location of Chocques Aerodrome and Château de Werppe.
The next entry in Greg’s log book is for Sunday 13 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.
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.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2526 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Elliott Duty: Artillery Patrol. Hour of Start: 1330 Hour of Return: 1530 Remarks: 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:
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].
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…
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.
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
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.
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.
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:
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:
In a sign of the changing fortunes of the war, Greg and Lt Scarterfield today had the task of locating battery positions. Nothing unusual about that, you may think, as locating hostile batteries in Counter Battery Patrols was a staple activity for corps squadrons such as 42 Squadron RAF. But the difference here was that the batteries being located were not hostile but friendly. The question being asked of the aircrew was: where have our artillery advanced to?
Date: 6.10.18 Time Out: 8.50 Rounds Fired – Lewis: - Rounds Fired – Vickers: - Bombs: - Time on RE8s: 164 hrs 45 mins RE8: 4889 Observer: Scarterfield War Flying: 1 hrs 35 mins Height: 1000 Course/Remarks: Battery positions. Four found.
Although Greg’s log book doesn’t tell us where the batteries were, the Squadron Record Book does:
Type and Number: R.E.8.4889
Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Scarterfield
Duty: Reconnaissance
Hour of Start: 0850.
Hour of Return: 1025.
Remarks: Locating battery positions.
Ground strips at the following places.
S- H.17.d.4.4. )
P- H.28.d.5.6. )
F.J- H.3.c.5.5. ) Dropped at C.W.S
B.J. H.9.a.5.5. )
===
Returned owing to mist and rain.
Vis. fair. Height 1000 ft. Obs. by P.&.O.
The S, P, F.J and B.J would have been battery identification letters, marked out in ground strips, discussed in the background article on Shoots. “C.W.S.” is the Central Wireless Station, where the message containing the positions was dropped.
All the four battery locations were to the west and south of Armentières, as the following map shows:
Not many weeks before, all these positions were behind the German front line, which was here known to the British as the Estaires-Lys Line. The position in square H.28 was even behind the German second line (the Fleurbaix-Houplines Line).
Today, the battery positions in squares H.9 and H.17 are more or less on the path of the high speed rail line from Calais to Lille. The Eurostar trains smoothly race over a lot of history.