Lighter Than Air
Page 30
At the beginning of 1914 there were over 100 trained naval pilots. Further technical innovations were made. Only a few days later, on 28 July, Lieutenant Arthur Longmore made the first successful torpedo drop from the air flying a Short seaplane at Calshot. Moreover, firing trials were carried out by Lieutenant Clark Hall with a 1½ pounder gun mounted in the nose of a Short Gun-Carrier.
At the outbreak of war in August 1914, the RNAS consisted of 130 officers, and some 700 petty officers and ratings. Its aircraft strength was a total of seventy-eight, of which forty were landplanes, thirty-one seaplanes and seven were airships – not all of which were fit for any type of operational duties. The foundations had been laid and it would perform heroically over the next four years in a great variety of roles including; air defence, aerial dog-fighting, long-range and strategic bombing, torpedo attack on shipping from the air, antisubmarine and anti-Zeppelin patrols, convoy protection and reconnaissance; with landplanes, seaplanes, flying-boats and airships; in and around the British Isles, on the Western Front, in Salonika, Gallipoli, Mesopotamia and East Africa; with great names including Samson, Marix, Warneford, Culley, Collishaw, Little and Dallas. When the RNAS was merged with the RFC to create the RAF on 1 April 1918, it had a strength of 2900 aircraft, as well as 55,000 officers and men.
Samson lifting the Short off Hibernia in Weymouth Bay on 2 May 1912, in the first take-off of an aeroplane from a moving vessel. (Bombardier, Belfast)
Notes
Chapter 1
1. Before the Aircraft Carrier, p 13.
2. Aviation The Pioneer Years, p 64–65.
3. For a brief history of ballooning from 1783 to the mid-19th century see Appendix 1.
4. Irish Times, 29 June 1859.
5. In July 2012, Lowe’s great-great-great nephew, Terry Lowe, took to the air in a near-exact replica of the Intrepid over Buffalo, New York.
6. The Illustrated History of the Army Air Corps, p 13.
7. Before the Aircraft Carrier, p 115.
8. Irish Times, 16 June 1862.
9. Before the Aircraft Carrier, p 115.
10. Ibid, p 14.
11. The Air Weapon, p 56.
12. Ibid, p 41.
13. The History of Aeronautics in Great Britain, p 272.
14. Dr Eckener’s Dream Machine, p 27.
15. Ibid, p 29.
16. The Father of British Airships, p 47.
17. Grover attained the rank of colonel and died in 1893.
18. On the Uses of Balloons in Military Operations, p 71.
19. Ibid, p 84.
20. Beaumont also attained the rank of colonel and died in 1899.
21. On Balloon Reconnaissances, p 101.
22. Later Sir Frederick Abel, Bart, KCB, 1827–1902.
23. The Air Weapon, p 54.
24. The Times, 24 August 1878.
25. The Eye in the Air, p 18.
26. Elsdale was one of the pioneers of balloon photography. In 1883, when in Halifax, Nova Scotia, he carried out successful experiments with small balloons, and he used an automatic camera. The Use of Balloons in War 1784–1902, p 74.
27. The Complete book of Aviation, p 550.
28. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 26.
29. Early Aviation at Farnborough, Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 44.
30. The Times, 13 December 1881.
31. The Times, 1 February 1952.
32. Usborne papers.
33. Allen Crosbie in e-mail to author.
34. Isambard Kingdom Brunel, p 218–20, 223.
35. Ships of the Victorian Navy, p 38.
36. Aviation: The Pioneer Years, p 95.
37. Irish Times, 30 September 1884.
38. Aviation: The Pioneer Years, p 96.
39. Ibid, p 97.
40. Irish Times, 6 September 1884.
41. Expectation and Reality the Great War in the Air, p 1.
42. The History of Early British Military Aeronautics, p 2.
43. The Eye in the Air, p 19.
44. The Air Weapon, p 67.
45. Ibid, p 67.
46. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 48.
47. Suakin 1885, p 135.
48. Irish Times, 26 March 1885.
49. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 48.
50. The History of Early British Military Aeronautics, p 8.
51. Ibid, p 8.
52. The Army in the Air, p 9.
53. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 51.
54. Ibid, p 52.
55. The Eye in the Air, p 19.
Chapter 2
1. Britannia at Dartmouth, p 120.
2. A Sailor’s Odyssey, p 16.
3. Ibid, p 16
4. Britannia at Dartmouth, p 112.
5. A Sailor’s Odyssey, p 16.
6. The Story of the ‘Britannia’, p 161.
7. Admirals, p 338.
8. A Sailor’s Odyssey, p 15–16.
9. Britannia at Dartmouth, p 109.
10. Ibid, p 117.
11. Ibid, p 120.
12. Leadership: Followership, p 31.
13. Sailor in the Air, p 2.
14. The Story of the ‘Britannia’, p 160.
15. My Naval Life 1886 – 1941, p 7.
16. The Story of the ‘Britannia’, p 113–14.
17. Ibid, p 120.
18. Ibid, p 127.
19. The Northern Whig, 24 July 1899.
20. Ibid.
21. Ibid.
22. Neville Usborne’s logbook.
23. My Naval Life 1886 – 1941, p 20–21.
24. According to a contemporary of Usborne’s the subjects covered under this heading included mathematics, statics, hydrostatics, physics, magnetism, electricity, marine surveying, the steam engine and French. A Sailor’s Odyssey, p 35.
25. Ibid, p 36.
26. ADM/196/47
27. The History of Early British Aeronautics, p 10.
28. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 53.
29. Ibid, p 54.
30. Strand Magazine, July 1895.
31. The Times, 13 October 1897.
32. From Balloon to Boxkite, p 38.
33. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 34.
34. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 35–36.
35. From Balloon to Boxkite, p 50.
36. The Last Place on Earth, p 151.
37. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 58.
38. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 172.
39. Military Ballooning in the British Army, p 59.
40. The History of Early British Aeronautics, p 21.
41. From Balloon to Boxkite, p 54.
42. Dr Eckener’s Dream Machine, p 39.
43. Ibid, p 39.
44. Expectation and Reality: The Great War in the Air, p 1.
45. Lighter-than-air-Craft, p 43.
46. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 54.
47. The British Rigid Airship 1908 – 1931, p 84.
48. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 76.
49. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 69.
50. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 29.
51. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 183.
52. From Many Angles, p 47.
53. Ibid, p 47.
54. Ibid, p 48.
55. Ibid, p 48.
56. Ibid, p 49.
57. Ibid, p 49.
58. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 28.
59. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 79.
60. From Balloon to Boxkite, p 57–59.
61. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 22.
62. The History of Early British Aeronautics, p 27–28.
63. Quoted in From Balloon to Boxkite, p 104.
64. The History of Early British Aeronautics, p 27–28.<
br />
65. The Good Soldier, p 143.
66. Usborne papers.
67. ADM/196/47.
68. Early Aviation at Farnborough: Balloons, Kites and Airships, p 144.
69. The History of the Fleet Air Arm from Kites to Carriers, p 7–8.
70. ADM/196/47
71. ADM/196/47
72. Usborne papers.
73. ADM/196/47
74. Usborne papers.
75. ADM/196/47
76. Usborne papers.
77. ADM/196/47
78. ADM/196/47
79. Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume II, p 157.
80. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 73.
81. Air 1/669/17/122/792
82. Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume II, p 158.
Chapter 3
1. ADM/196/47
2. Reginald Bacon (1863–1947) retired from the Royal Navy in 1909 to join the Coventry Ordnance Works as Managing Director. He returned to naval service during the war, and when he retired again it was as a full Admiral and Knight of the Realm.
3. John Arbuthnot Fisher (1841–1920) was one of the greatest and most controversial naval officers of his time.
4. The Air Weapon, p 104.
5. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 98.
6. Zeppelins over England, p 29.
7. Reginald Balliol Brett (1852–1930) succeeded as 2nd Viscount Esher in 1899.
8. Dr Eckener’s Dream Machine, p 51.
9. Ibid, p 52.
10. Irish Times, 2 April 1909.
11. Ibid, 5 April 1909.
12. The Air Weapon, p 197.
13. For details of Samuel Cody’s heavier-than-air flight in 1908 see Appendix 6.
14. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 75.
15. The Air Weapon, p 194.
16. Irish Times, 11 September 1907.
17. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 77–78.
18. Irish Times, 4 October 1907.
19. Clive Maitland Waterlow, p 219.
20. Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume 2, p 177.
21. Irish Times, 9 October 1907.
22. Ibid, 7 October 1907.
23. Belfast Telegraph, 3 December 1907.
24. Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume 2, p 217.
25. Early Aviation at Farnborough Volume 2, p 85.
26. Battlebags, p 4 and also The Father of British Airships, p 22.
27. Quoted in the Irish Times, 4 August 1908.
28. Ibid, 28 July 1908.
29. Airship Navigator, p 20.
30. Quoted in Tumult in the Clouds, p 1.
31. Expectation and Reality: the Great War in the Air, p 1.
32. For a longer contemporary assessment of the changes it was thought that airships could impose on conventional methods of warfare, see Appendix 3.
33. The Army in the Air, p 13–14 and Cab.38/15/3.
34. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 17.
35. Ibid, p 10.
36. Ibid, p 3.
37. Irish Times, 21 April 1909.
38. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 6–7.
39. Ibid, p 126.
40. The Times, 22 February 1909.
41. Ibid, 22 March 1909.
42. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 49.
43. Ibid, p 89, quoting C.H. Gibbs-Smith’s Aviation 1970.
44. Morning Post, 26 August 1909.
45. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 99–101.
46. The History of Early British Military Aeronautics, p 36.
47. The History of Royal Air Force Cranwell, p 2.
48. Documents Relating to the Naval Air Service Volume I, p 57.
49. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 11.
50. Ibid, p 45.
51. The War in the Air, p 158–160.
52. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 97.
53. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 107.
54. Flight, 15 January 1910.
55. Irish Times, 3 August 1903.
56. Irish Times, 13 March 1909.
57. CID 106B, Cab. 38/15/3
58. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 146.
59. Airmen or Noahs, p 49.
60. Quoted by Jack Bruce Short 184, p 3.
61. Band of Brigands, p 37.
62. Flight Magazine, 30 July 1910.
63. Air 3/1
64. Usborne papers.
65. Flight Magazine, 25 March 1911.
66. The Airship No 3, p 47.
67. Ibid, p 47.
68. Flight Magazine, 26 June 1909.
69. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 102.
70. Irish Times, 4 May 1910.
71. The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931, p 16.
72. ADM/196/47
73. The Air Weapon, p 180.
74. Flight Magazine, 24 September 1910.
75. The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931, p 18.
76. British Aviation: the Pioneer Years, p 125.
77. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 105.
78. Ibid, p 153.
79. Ibid, p 153.
80. The Irish Times, 5 May 1911.
81. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 66.
82. Flight Magazine, 12 November 1910.
83. The Father of British Airships, p 66.
84. The Air Weapon, p 120.
85. Irish Times, 14 February 1910.
86. Irish Times, 16 March 1910.
87. Ibid, 11 June 1910.
88. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 82.
89. My Fifty Years in Flying, p 83.
90. Irish Times, 16 March 1910.
91. Flight Magazine, 25 June 1910.
92. Ibid, 16 July 1910.
93. Irish Times, 13 July 1910.
94. Ibid, 14 July 1910.
95. See Appendix 6.
96. From Many Angles, p 90.
97. Irish Times, 26 September 1910, Flight Magazine, 1 October 1910.
98. Battlebags, p 9.
99. The AERO, 28 September 1910, p257.
100. From Many Angles, p 91.
101. The Observer, 12 February 1911.
102. A Brief History of the Royal Flying Corps in World War One, p 12.
103. The History of Early British Military Aeronautics, p 39–40.
104. Irish Times, 5 October 1910.
105. Flight Magazine, 21 January 1911.
106. From Balloon to Boxkite, p 63.
107. Flight Magazine, 4 February 1911.
108. The Air Weapon, p 145.
109. Air 3/1.
110. Airmen or Noahs, p 113.
111. Air 3/1.
112. Ibid.
113. Flight Magazine, 27 May 1911.
114. Air 3/1.
115. Ibid.
116. Airmen or Noahs, p 114–115.
117. From Dreadnought to Scapa Flow, p 332–3.
118. Airmen or Noahs, p 114.
119. Ibid, p 149.
120. Air Power and the Royal Navy, p 112.
121. Air 3/1.
122. Airmen or Noahs, p 116.
123. Air 1/2626.
124. Flight Magazine, 16 September 1911.
125. Ibid, 30 September 1911.
126. The Air Weapon, p 155.
127. ADM/196/47.
128. Ibid
129. Airmen or Noahs, p 115–17.
130. The British Rigid Airship 1908–1931, p 57.
131. Flight Magazine, 18 March 1911.
132. The War in the Air, p 160–61.
133. From Many Angles, p 91.
134. The Air Weapon, p 126.
135. Ibid, p 127.
136. The Impact of Air Power on the Brit
ish People and Their Government 1909–14, p 164.
137. Flight Magazine, 27 May 1911.
138. Ibid, 1 July 1911.
139. Ibid.
140. Ibid.
141. Ibid.
142. Ibid, 5 August 1911.
143. Ibid, 12 August 1911.
144. Ibid, 16 September 1911.
145. Ibid, 23 September 1911.
146. Ibid.
147. Ibid, 30 September 1911.
148. Irish Times, 18 October 1911.
149. Flight Magazine, 7 November 1911.
150. The Birth of Military Aviation, p 176.
151. The Air Weapon, p 157.
152. For details of Samson’s remarkable and daring aviation firsts see Appendix 7.
153. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 198, quoting a letter in the Henderson papers from the official historian H.A. Jones to Lady Henderson.
154. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 215.
155. Ibid, p 216.
156. CID 172B Cab. 38/23/11.
157. Air Power and the Royal Navy, p 111.
158. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 216.
159. The Impact of Air Power on the British People and Their Government 1909–14, p 189.
160. Cab. 38/22/32.
161. Flight Magazine, 9 March 1912.
162. The War in the Air Volume II, p 393.
163. Cab 38/22/32.
164. Ibid.
165. Flight Magazine, 24 August 1912.
166. The Times, 12 August 1912.
167. ADM/196/47.
168. Flight Magazine, 1 June 1912.