Guy,
saw your question on the "other" forum. I think you probably have as much on Ibison as you are going to get. When Camels were assigned to ground attack duties they were forced to fly very low, so low that rifle and machine gun fire from the ground became a serious hazard - it only took one bullet in the wrong place (like your head) and it was all over - even if the engine was disabled, a fast and low Camel offered little opportunity to put it down safely.
I can tell you a little more about 213 Squadron RAF. In the summer of 1917 the RNAS seaplane fighters based at Dunkerque (Sopwith Baby) were increasingly hard put to cope with the German Seaplanes out of Zeebrugge and Ostende. To overcome this, the RNAS introduced a flight of land aircraft (Sopwith Pups) based at St. Pol Aerodrome and known as the Seaplane Defence Flight. The Flight patrolled over the North Sea and along the coast and proved quite successful against the German Seaplanes.
The unit gained Squadron Status towards the end of the year, and became the Seaplane Defence Squadron. Camels had been introduced during the summer and made them a very potent force. In January, the Squadron's name was changed to fit in with the RNAS naming conventions and became No.13 Squadron RNAS.
Finally, on April 1st 1918, the RNAS and RFC were amalgamated into the Royal Air Force and the squadron became No.213 Squadron RAF.
A fair number of Aces flew with 213, the most famous being the Canadian,
Raymond Collishaw.
You can find a very interesting article on 213 in the old Cross & Cockade USA. These long out of print classics are available on CDROM from the Over the Front website and seem to be quite reasonably priced.
Mike
16 September 2005, 11:48 AM
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