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stable restored to former glory The rare DH9 was originally based at the airfield, now part of the Imperial War Museum and widely used over the Western Front. A total of 2,000 were built by Warings of Hammersmith, West London, a furniture manufacturer, but only six are known to survive worldwide and the aircraft is the only one in a British national collection. It was sent to India as part of the Imperial Gift Scheme, designed to give countries within the Empire a chance to start or develop their own air forces in the 1920s. In 2000 the estate of the late Maharajah of Bikaner agreed to dispose of it but the woodwork was substantially damaged by long-term storage. A two-year programme of restoration has been carried out and the aircraft will go on display at the museum's new £25 million exhibition hangar. |
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armistice was signed by the Turks in October 1918. The Ark Royal there until April 1918 when she moved to Syria as a depot ship for
numbers 62 and 63 Wings. An examination of the log of the Ark Royal shows that there is no entry for Jack, although pilots are named. This must mean that although initially attached to the Ark Royal that he was in fact only flying landplanes. No 2 Wing, known as the Aegean Group flew landplanes from aerodromes situated on various small islands in the Aegean Sea off the Turkish, Bulgarian and the Greek coasts. This often involved flying for long distances over the sea and rugged enemy held territory in Thrace and Macedonia, bombing strategic targets in the eastern Mediterranean. The problems of flying in this area were compounded by heat and dust which often meant overheated and clogged engines. On the 1st April 1918, on the formation of the Royal Air Force, number 222 Squadron (No. 1 Fighter Squadron – Aegean) was to be formed at Thasos from A squadron of number 2 Wing R.N.A.S. That at least was the plan. However by the time the RAF number was actually allotted, A and B squadrons have been combined into a new F Squadron. It was later officially renumbered No. 62 Wing and consisted of Nos. 478, 479 and 480 Flights. The number 222 Squadron was allocated to the unit at Mudros rather than the intended one at Thasos. The squadron did not officially take up the number 222 until the 9th September 1918. It was disbanded in February 1919. 222 Squadron was a fighter squadron used both for escort purposes and defensive purposes and to raid Turkish targets in Macedonia and Thrace. This meant that it was constantly on the move. The details are: 1st April 1918 to Thasos 6th May 1818 to Stravos 6th May 1918 to Thasos 13th May 1918 to Marian 14th May 1918 to Thasos 22nd May 1918 to Mudros 6th July 1918 to Imbros 7th July 1918 to Mudros 15th Nov 1918 to San Stephano 23rd Nov 1918 to Mudros It initially had some DH4's on strength, followed by some DH9's in June 1918 as well as Camels and Sopwith Strutters. Although not mentioned by name in squadron records, he was almost certainly involved when on the 19th of January 1918 the German ships the Goeben and the Breslaw slipped their moorings and sailed into the Aegean. The record do refer to a number of pilots by name but the references seem to be to the bomber planes and not the escorting fighter. The Breslaw sank, after hitting a mine and the British then concentrated on the Goeben which had run aground at Nagara Burnu. It was well |
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