22 Squadron riddles - 2 Lt's Williams, James & Newton

[LeicesterTiger]

I've recently been researching 2 Lt F Williams, who on 2nd April 1918 was shot down with his Observer 2 Lt R Critchley in combat with Albatros and Fokker Dr 1's. According to the Osprey book 'Bristol F2 Fighter aces of World War 1', two Bristol's were shot down, the other one containing 2 Lt James and 2 Lt Newton, who were also killed. However, they do not appear on the casualty list in the 22 Squadron book 'Pi in the Sky', written by a Pilot who was serving with '22' and was involved in this combat, nor do they match any 1918 records on the Commonwealth War Graves Commission website! So did these two actually exist and survive the war (because they certainly weren't killed on 2nd April 1918) or are they completely fictitious?

Another riddle is that Captain WFJ Harvey who wrote 'Pi in the Sky' mentions the famous photographs taken of '22' on 1st April 1918, the first day of the existence of the Royal Air Force. He mentions that on 2nd April, 'two of the photographed group' referring to 2 Lt F Williams and 2 Lt R Critchley were those killed, however although 2 Lt R Critchley is photographed, on the two photographs I have captions for 2 Lt F Williams is not, unless he's on another photograph I haven't seen, or flying one of the Bristol's in the photograph of several of them taking off. If anyone has any further information on either of these 'riddles', i'd be glad to hear from them.

Best regards, Rob Langham

[Graeme]

Rob

On 2 April 1918, 2nd Lt Ernest David Jones and 2nd Lt Robert Francis Newton, No 52 Sqn, were shot down and killed in RE8 A3868, the 75th victory credited to Manfred von Richthofen. The date of the deaths of these two has also been recorded as 3 April - most likely the result of being reported late in the day. Why they shoud have been reported as an F2b crew is a bit of a mystery.

Graeme

[Germanophile-1]

According to Trevor Henshaw's The Sky Their Battlefield (1995), an excellent and thorough accounting of RFC/RNAS/RAF casualties, No. 22 Squadron lost only F.2B A.7286 (crewed by 2/Lts F. Williams & R. Critchley) on 2 April 1918.

There is no mention of 2/Lts James & Newton.

Peter Kilduff

[LeicesterTiger]

Thanks to both, much appreciated.