?? R T T Waring ??

[tangowhiskey]

Hello everyone, I am the grandson of Rupert T T Waring and he was an RFC scout pilot in 1917/1918. I am based in Bahrain and NRO say my search is too big..... I believe he might have been with 51 or 52 Squadron (my Aunt who's 83 now thinks this, but I've no facts to prove it)... I cannot find out much about his war record except:

Acccording to the April 25th 1918 ‘Flight & The Aircraft Engineer’ No 487 ( No 17 Volume 10) under section ‘The British Air Services” p 460 "Announcements" section:

The following appointments are made: -

Flying Officers. – Temp 2nd Lieuts (on prob), Gen List and to be confirmed in their rank: …… R.T.T. Waring , March 11th.

Does anyone have any way of letting me know for sure what squadron he was in, what he flew and any other information?

Many many thanks,

Tom

[Graeme]

Tom

He flew with No 54 Sqn and while with that unit crashed on landing in Camel B7407 on 22 April 1918. He was unhurt and after repair the Camel went to the 17th US Aero Squadron.

There's some biographical information at RootsWeb: DORSET-L [DOR] Sherborne School (King's School)

Graeme

[RobW]

Tom,
Being a Waring myself, I'd be interested in whatever you find.

Rob Waring

[tangowhiskey]

Thanks to a kind individual for sending me the following info:

On 22 April 1918, No 54 Sqn RAF was based at Clairmarais North aerodrome; it had moved there from Conteville on 7 April, and stayed until 29 April, when it moved to Caffiers.

B7407 was a remarkable aeroplane, in that it was used by three separate air services. First by No 4 Sqn Australian Flying Corps, then No 54 Sqn RAF, then the 17th Aero Sqn USAS.

No 54 Sqn's marking from late January 1918 was a thin white vertical bar on the fuselage side ahead of the roundel, located where the wooden decking on the fuselage top ends - the rear of the bar continued the line of the decking, and the front of the bar was just behind the trailing edge of the lower wing. The squadron was ordered to change to a sloping 'N" after the roundel during the re-allocation of unit markings on 22 March 1918, but for some reason this didn't occur, and the vertical bar was used until June. The individual number of the aircraft ('A' Flight used 1-6; 'B' Flight used 7-12; and 'C' Flight used 13-18) was painted in white to the rear of the roundel.

[tangowhiskey]

Thanks Graeme, that's hugely helpful. Do you by any chance have any details about the crash? Where (Clairmarais North??) and what damage was done?

Also, a silly question: do you know if 54 Squadron's mascot in France 1918 was a monkey?

Thanks for your help and kind regards,

Tom

[tangowhiskey]

Dear Friends,

I have scanned my grandfather's logbook and it's all beginning to come together now!

He went through the usual training/courses before ending up being sent out from 40 Reserve Squadron posted to 54 Squadron and he arrived with his Camel to 54 Squadron on 17th April 1918 having got lost in mist on his way and having overnighted with 98 Squadron! They broke him in it seems by getting him to fly 'Defensive Patrol for Huns, 2 sent off' Hazenbroch to Pojor on 23rd April as well as participating in a scrap with Lockwood and another with Cuffe. (I am guessing, but were the older aces making a habit of assessing the new joiners/putting them through their paces?). On 1/5 he was learning the new aerodrome (not sure which) and then the next 12 entries between 1/5 and 11/5 get very interesting as there's no comments, record of heights or other details except 'Camel' and entry for flight duration. I am guessing that there must have been a reason for no details - that he was in action rather than the previous training and build up flying entries that had preceeded these flights. The last flight was on 11/5 and years later there has been a note added 'Crashed - shot down'.

I cannot find any Squadron Record Book for this period as it’s missing from Kew. I'd obviously like to find out more about what happened on 11/5/18 for 54 Squadron (and my grandfather RTT Waring). Anyone got any ideas/help me in the right direction. I have all the Air Combat reports for 54 Squadron in 1918 but the only one missing from Kew in May 1918! Just my luck!

Prior to being active with 54 in France from 18th April 1918 his logbook shows he had had 16 hours dual instruction, 36 hours solo and just 7 hours prior in a Camel....

After he was ‘shot down’ on May 11th he had a gap from flying for 4 weeks and next entries are for Old Sarum with 11 TDS. He then did flying on a number of types at Old Sarum (mostly Avro’s and DH 6’s) until late August when he was at Turnberry and Stonehenge on DH9’s and BE2E’s Looks like he was instructing at Stonehenge and doing bombing/gunnery practice (?instruction?). Then, at beginning od October !918 he was bck to France, this time as a ferry pilot at Marquise where he did a lot of flying DH9’s and some DH4’s etc. He has one entry in his logbook on 12 11 1918 when he “flew over Paris to see crowds on the Boulevards”

His last flight before being end of his service was a DHP test flight at Maequise where he recorded: “Test OK. Fine bus. Last Trip”

When he stopped he had about 175 hours solo and had flown a number of different types including: Maurice Farman’s (3h 15), Avro (33h 15), Sopwith Pup (11h 25), Sopwith Camel (28h 55), DH4 (6h 15), DH4 Rolls Royce (8h 45), DH6 (4h15 ), DH 9 (29h 50), DH9A (23h 30), Handley Page (6h 10)