Thursday, May 29, 2014

Britain At War 06/2014

TO MARK a period of service spanning more than a century, one of the oldest fixed-wing squadrons in the world recently marked its anniversary with the release of rare archive film footage from 1914. Formed on 13 May 1912, 2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps was trained to carry out reconnaissance, a role its modem day counterparts have continued to fulfil to this day. On the outbreak of war in 1914, the squadron was one of the first to be ordered to France as part of, noted the Official Historian of the RFC, the "first organized national [air] force to fly to a war overseas". By the evening of 12 August 1914, the aircraft of Nos. 2, 3, and 4 squadrons had been concentrated together on the South Coast near Dover. Just before midnight, the final order was received: "All machines to be ready to fly over at 6.0 a.m. the following morning, the 13th of August." The first aircraft of 2 Squadron to take off departed from Dover at 06.25 hours that morning; the first to arrive landed at Amiens at 08.20 hours. This machine, a Royal Aircraft Factory B.E.2c, was flown by Lieutenant Hubert Dunsterville Harvey-Kelly, Royal Irish Regiment, attached RFC (who would subsequently be killed in action). Harvey-Kelly was, in fact, the first British aviator to land in France.

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