August 2018 FLYPAST 39reconnaissance and bombing] or,
most of them. There had been a
few minor mishaps but no serious
accidents amongst 5 Squadron’s
machines. On the 18th, we left
Amiens but before that, Major
Higgins read out to us a message
from King George V to all the
troops of the Expeditionary Force.
We arrived at the frontier
fortress town of Maubeuge at
about 7pm where again we were
on a permanent aerodrome withsheds but they were insufficient
to take all our machines, so we
erected canvas hangars.
Although posted to ‘B’ Flight I
was employed in workshops, as
there was not a lot of overhaul
work that could be done because
the aeroplanes had to be available
at short notice whenever they
were wanted.
When we arrived we heard that
2nd Lt Smith-Barry had crashed
in a [Royal Aircraft Factory] BE.8
and Corporal ‘Ginger’ Geard
had been killed on the way from
Amiens. This was 5 Squadron’s
first war casualty.
We stayed five full days at
Maubeuge. The weather was veryhot and dry, which made plenty
of flying possible. We were issued
with a French military blanket,
which was bigger and warmer
than the British one. We also had
an issue of French bread...but
it was so tough and hard. Those
loaves were to be the last we had
for several weeks.First contact
Whilst at Maubeuge I helped to
make a mounting to fit a Lewis
gun to the Henri Farman of 2nd
Lt Louis Strange. The Henri
Farman was a ‘pusher’ type
machine. Right in the front was
the passenger, behind him was
the pilot.
The Lewis gun mounting was
fitted into the nose of the nacelle
so that the passenger, with his
wonderfully good field of vision,could operate it. The ammunition
was carried in drums capable
of taking 47 rounds, thus an
appreciable weight was added.
On Saturday, August 22, we got
our first glimpse of the enemy.
A German aeroplane which,
so far as I remember, was a
Taube, flew over the aerodrome.
Several pilots went off in pursuit,
including Lt Strange with his
Lewis gun and mounting. None of
them could catch it, least of all
Lt Strange whose Henri Farman
could not make the height. The
gun and mounting had to be
taken off.
That afternoon I saw the first
British [combat] casualty. Sgt
Major Jillings of 2 Squadron, who
was a passenger in an Avro, was
helped out of his machine after
being hit by rifle fire from the
ground. [The ‘Avro’ was actually
BE.2a 368 flown by 2nd Lt“Extra motor transport vehicles
were allotted to the squadron. There
was a large delivery van from the
Maple Furniture Company, a red van
advertising HP Sauce and a number of
touring cars”
Left
An RFC recruiting poster of the type that
attracted the author. PETER GREEN COLLECTIONLeft
Air Mechanic R Hollingsworth, author of this
remarkable account. R HOLLINGSWORTHAbove
German Uhlan cavalry. VIA AUTHORLeft
Commander of 5 Squadron during the early
years, Major J F A Higgins. G S LESLIEAugust 2018 FLYPAST 39Maubeuge. The weather was very BE.2a 368 flown by 2nd Lt