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.
Log Book
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.
Squadron Record Book
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.
Large fires in woods along railway at I.31.c.
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.
Bursts from Lewis
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?
Back home to Chocques
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.
Farewell to E27
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’s History
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:
An RE8 named Gwen?
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.
Meanwhile, in Lille…
More British troops entered Lille from the west. They got a warm reception, as these Imperial War Museum photographs show.
Next up…
Greg’s next log book entry is for Tuesday 22 October 1918.
