38 FLYPAST August 2018OVER THE TRENCHES MONS
from Mons
I
joined 5 Squadron, Royal Flying
Corps, as an air mechanic at
Farnborough in Hampshire late
in September 1913, being one of the
first who had enlisted direct. The
unit was under the command of
Major J F A Higgins, Royal Artillery.
Discipline was strict but, due to the
tolerant attitude of the CO, by no
means oppressive and the
sergeant major, Parker, a former
Grenadier Guardsman, barked a lot
but bit little.
We were billeted in Malplaquet
Barracks, occupied by the Royal
Munster Fusiliers, and Oudenarde
Barracks (both in Aldershot)
with the Black Watch. Besides 5
Squadron at Farnborough there
was the Royal Flying Corps (RFC)
Headquarters – Brigadier General
[David] Henderson in command- and the Flying Depot, which
was the aircraft pool and repair
workshop. Farnborough was a
good station.
In March 1914 the squadron did a
practice mobilisation, the only one - so far as I am aware – carried out
by any unit before the war broke
out that summer. Towards the end
of May it moved to Netheravon on
Salisbury Plain and then to Gosport
adjoining Portsmouth.
I was one of the party left behind
at Netheravon to clear the camp.
It was while there I learnt that I
had been promoted to 1st Class
Air Mechanic with pay of four
shillings a day, which, after certain
deductions had been made, meant I
drew a pound and six shillings
a week. [This equates to about
£330 today.]
Mobilised
Big events were rapidly overtaking
us. At 11pm on August 4, 1914,
I learned that we were at war.
Much had to be done to get all the
aeroplanes ready to fly to France,
to sort and load all the tools and
spares required, and to ensure all
the men were properly kitted up.
Extra motor transport vehicles
were allotted to the squadron,
and what a variety they were.
Most of them were (I suppose)
requisitioned from private firms
and several of them still bore, in
large and conspicuous letters, the
names of their former owners.
There was a large delivery
van from the Maple Furniture
Company, a red van advertising
HP Sauce and a number of
touring cars.The transport and main body
of troops left at about 5.30pm
on the 13th and proceeded to
Southampton Docks where we
loaded on board an old tramp
steamer [merchant vessel without
a fixed schedule], SS Chevington.
We sailed at 6am on the 14th and
dropped anchor outside Boulogne
harbour during the late evening
where we started to unload at
about 3am the next morning.
We had no idea where we were
making for but we stopped for
the night at a village named Vron.
There I slept in a real bed for the
last time for many months.
On August 16, we arrived at
Amiens where we found our
aeroplanes [likely to have been
Royal Aircraft Factory BE.8s
or Henri Farmans used forRetreat
Andrew Thomas presents the journal of air
mechanic R Hollingsworth from the early days of
the Royal Flying Corps
A Henri Farman ‘pusher’ of 5 Squadron.
G S LESLIE