Americans with No.218(B) Squadron

Hello All,

Wondering why a number of Americans operated with No.218(B) Squadron mid 1918. What was the reason for this, and why. Information sent to me records a number of 'firsts' with the squadron. These being...

1. 2 Lt C.C.Barr first USMA killed in action.
2. 1 Lt F.P.Mulcahy first US Marine to shot down an enemy aircraft.
3.Capt R.S Lytle, First Marine operation with own aircraft.
4. Medal Of Honour, Lt R.G.Robinson.

Can any help with details, is there any published books , photographs, reports.

Very new to this type of research, I'm the association historian for 218, WW.1 is a totally new realm, so please forgive my rather basic questions.

[ONEALM]

Smudger -

This is a bit long, so will be in several consecutive posts.

Most of the US assignments to RAF units were for the same "reason" - no US squadrons to place them in at the time, either due to lack of equipment or simply not enough pilot slots in front line squadrons to handle the number of men arriving in France. *

Even in 218, the lack of aircraft forced some pilots to act as "Second pilots" - gunners - until more aircraft arrived. *

2/Lt. Chapin C. Barr was a Montclair, New Jersey native. *Below is all I have gathered about his thus far including the only photo I have yet uncovered.

I am putting together a CD ROM with all 735 NJ pilot biographies which will be similar to this one when I have this depth of information. Some of more robust, some quite a bit less. *While it's here in the forum, any comments, corrections or additions to Barr's information would be appreciated!

As for books, I know of nothing specific to 218, but there are several more generic references.Since Barr started as a USN pilot, but transferred to the USMC, his bio can be fund in "Contact", by Reginald Wright *Arthur. It's the short bio of the first 2000 US Naval Aviators, a chronology, etc. *A nice reference for the US contribution, but probably overkill for what you are doing since it is US specific. * *

James Sloan's Wings of Honor covers the entire USAS, including those who served with non-US squadrons.









* * *

[ONEALM]

Part II


Chapin C. Barr, 2nd son of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel E. Barr, was born 10 December 1896 in Toledo, Ohio. He spent his early childhood in the state of his birth, but his family moved to New York City around 1906 and shortly thereafter his father established a lumber supply company in New York City, located on Church Street in lower Manhattan and specializing in hardwoods for furniture and flooring. Chapin attended Trintiy School in New York, but spent 1908 attending school in La Jolla, California. In 1910, the family finally settled in Montclair, New Jersey where Chapin attended Montclair High School. He graduated in 1914 and immediately enrolled in Rutgers University. with the class of 1918.
In 1916, he was a member of the University swim team and the Zeta Psi fraternity. After his sophomore year, he left the University to work for the West India Oil Company and studied Spanish hoping to move into the company operations then growing in South America. But, when the war in Europe finally spilled over and engulfed the United States in the spring of 1917, both Chapin and his father's namesake, Sam E. Barr, Jr. enlisted in the US Navy.


Enlistment

Chapin enlisted at Newport, Rhode Island on 14 April 1917, just 8 days after the US declaration of war, mustering in as a Seaman 2nd class for aviation training. He did not enter the ground school at the Massachussetts Insitute of Technology until October 2nd which was likely due to the lack of US preparations for the entry into the war. His class graduated 30 March 1918 and now ready for primary flight training, Chapin was ordered to the Naval Air Station at Pensacola, Florida before the end of March.

He learned quickly, his natural athleticism and horse riding skills proving useful to the purpose. He completed his primary training at Pensacola and received his wings on 2 June 1918. Around this time, the US Marines called for volunteers for their aviation forces then gaining strength under the command of Capt. Alfred Cunningham. Capt. Cunningham was tasked with orfanizing four squadrons of Marine aviators and to that purpose spent some time recruiting pilots at the various Naval training stations. Already qualified as pilots, these volunteers would form the nucleus of the First Marine Aviation Force. Chapin volunteered and was accepted in the group, receiving his commission as a 2/Lt.in the US Marines Reserve Flying Corps on 12 June. He was ordered to Miami on the 3rd of June, but apparently his stay lasted only 2 days. He duty station until sailing for France are unknown, but it is possible he was on leave in June or July for a brief time. While Squadrons "A", "B" and "C" sailed for France on 18 July, Chapin's unit Squadron "D", remained in Miami. They probably sailed for France on 1 August 1918, bound for the port of Brest. The three squadrons which preceeded them found numerous supply issues, lack of equipment and a generally poor preparation of their arrival.

[ONEALM]

Part III

Sailing to France - First Marine Corps Aviation Group

Chapin's sailed for France 1 August, possibly in advance of squadron "D" and reached La Fresne where the other three Marine units were then based. They were supplied with British built DH-4 and DH-9A aircraft, but these we still in so short supply that Chapin was assigned to "Second pilot" duty. The "Second pilot role" was to fly as aerial gunners until enough aircraft arrived for them to fly themselves, so many pilots first experiences here were as aerial gunners. Unperturbed, Chapin made the most of the opportunity. He regularly paired with Lt. Frank Nelms (Naval Aviator No. 781) as his pilot. The Calais area proved a difficult and busy operational sector. German fighter units were tasked with preventing the allied bombers from crossing into German airspace and dropping their loads on startegic targets such as railway junctions and German airfields. To the north, German Naval fighter squadrons help support this mission while maintaining patrols over the English Channel and North Sea. Under these conditions, with nearly daily flights into enemy airspace, Chapin found all the action he could have hoped for.


Sept 20, 1918

Dear Mr. Sparks - You once expressed a desire to hear some first hand dope on aerial warfare. We are none of us tacticians so maybe you'll accept my humble offering of personal experiences. I shall necessarily leave a lot out but will tell you all that I can. My first trip left a very distinct impression upon my young mind. Early one cold morning the adjutant dug Frank Nelms and myself out of the hay and told us to get breakfast and take No. (censored) to the rail. We climbed into all the warm clothes we could scrape up, massaged the groceries, and went out on the 'drome. Now 'till my machine comes, I am a "second pilot" flying with Frank. I have a seperate flock of controls besides the very necessary armament in the rear seat.

We muffled up very securely in full fur length suits, taxiied out to our position and ultimatyely got away. We breezed over France for a long time gaining altitude and our position in the formation. My old gun popped smoothly when she was tested so we finally crossed the lines although a bit under the formation. Archies came out of their hop and it wasn't very long before the sky was full of puffs of smoke - black after bursting and gradually turning gray. When a shell bursts near it sounds like a loud crack - when it's off a long ways it goes "wuff". Naturally, I like the latter brand better. I started observing with a keen eye and cold feet - for we were certainly up a few!

A bunch of Hun scouts jumped us and our scouts got into the dog fight in fine style. One black crossed baby came to us for it's dinner - for we were more or less alone. When he got in where I could see little details like egg on the pilots chin, I gave him everything. He was very persistant however and stuck around letting loose a perfect stream of stuff which came all around us. Frank started blazing at someone ahead and so there we were back to back like the proverbial Greeks. Finally I drove mine off - he went into a vertical dive but later came out.

Another appeared but soon left. The sky was full of scrapping then, but as we had just laid our eggs when we were attacked we left the place as soon as the Heinies were driven off. As soon as the barrage was left safely behind I took the controls and jazzed back - very happy and feeling "sorta" there - with only four holes in our bus!"

[ONEALM]

Part IV


The Final Mission

Missions continued for the next few days when the weather was favorable. On the 28th of September, Chapin was again flying with Lt. Nelms on a mission to bomb the transport columns on the road between Thourout and Roulers. In company with other DH-4's of the Marine Force which included the teams of Lt. Brewer and Sgt. Wersheimer, 2/Lts. T.M. Steele and G. Gedge and Lt. B.H. Stata and 2/Lt. C.V.R. Brown, Lt. H.D. McLaren and Sgt. Barlow and Lt. HP Brummell and Sgt. RJ Joysey, the group dropped their bombs on the transport columns and then continued to strafe the trains and rail lines on the Thorhout - Courtemarck railway. While thus engaged, a large formation of German fighters including 7 Fokker Triplanes, attacked the formation.

As Chapin had previously described them, the German fighters were persistant and aggressive. The McLaren and Barlow team, shot down a Triplane in flames, but Barlow was wounded in both thighs. He continued to fire on the attackers and force another Triplane to drop out of the fight. Lt. Brewer and Sgt. Wershiner also downed one of the attackers, but the combination of sheer numbers and the relative slowness of the DH-4's began to show.

Steele and Gedge were forced to land not far from Thorhout around 12h00. Wershiner and Brewer were both wounded while engaging a Fokker biplane and Lt. Stata and Brown were killed in action.

In the running fight back to the lines, Chapin was badly wounded in the thigh. Nelms opened the throttle for the lines and their aerodrome at La Fresne. Immediately upon landing, the units surgeon attended to Chapin, but he was already weak from loss of blood. The bullet had pierced a major artery in his thigh.

He lingered through the night and late into the next morning, but finally died shortly after 10 AM.

At his funeral, the Reverand George W. Atkinson, Jr. presided. Reverand Atkinson had come to France as Chaplain and Secretary for the YMCA. He had previously been the rector of the Grace Episcopal Church in Washington, DC, having come to France in the Spring of 1918 to minister to soldiers in the field.

[ONEALM]

Part V

Reverand Atkinson read the 23rd Psalm and the text of the hymn "Now the Labourers task is O'er" while the assmebled officers stood at attention. Each wore a black armband to signify the loss, not just of Chapin Barr, but the other pilots and gunners missing from the morning mission on the 28th. The service was brief and poignant. Afterwards, the coffin was placed on a caisson and slowly marched through the town to the gravesite. Atkinson trailed the coffin, while the pallbearers flanked it.

At the gravside, Reverand Atkinson placed a small bunch of flowers on the coffin facing and removed a silver crucifix which had remained there during the service and march to the grave yard. Taps sounded and the Barr's second son was lowered to his rest.

On 4th October Reverend Atkinson sat down to write to Lt. Barr's parents in Montclair.

By now you have been advised of the tragic and brilliant death of your son "Dick", as everyone here who knew him called him by that name. I know you are to have letters from his intimate freinds among the officers who flew with him, but I felt as long as I knew him (we all ate together and enjoyed our mess hours so much) and I was the one to commit his body to the earth, I feel you would like to know just a little about it.

He is buried in a row with other officers, American and English, in a beautiful French cemetery, his grave was sodded at once after the service, and a wooden cross about three and a half feet high placed there. In the center of the cross will be a large shield of white metal engraved, his name, birth, death, rank, etc., on it, a very dignified marker indeed. The wooden coffin was made of a heavy chestnut and a wooden cross about two and one half feet long with a silver plated figure of our crucified Lord on it, most touching and churchy indeed.

I could not help but think how closely connected out Lord and Lieutenant Barr were; both gave their life for their fellow man. Great ! Glorious ! Superb! such Sacrifice ! You must be proud to be the mother of a young man who was a hero, be like these wonderful but simple French women, their heads held high, although the heart is broken, they gave their sons for France. You Mrs. Barr gave your boy for America and Peace.

Accompanying the letter was the crucifix removed from Chapin's coffin before it was lowered into the earth.

Chapin Barr was among the first Marine Aviators to enter combat during the first war when organized Marine units flew and fought together. As is the case with many New Jersey natives, they have earned their place in history by sometimes glorious and sometimes dubious "firsts". 2/Lt. Chapin Barr, 2nd son of Sam Barr, graduate of Montlciar High School and pilot with the First Marine Aviation Corps, hold the distinction of being the first Marine airman ever killed in action.

==> Also looks like I still cannot attach photos - I'll send it in via email if you need a copy of it.

Regards,

[ONEALM]

Smudger -

If you've gotten this far - congratulations! - that's a lot to plow through. However, if you could confirm that Carlos Manuel Arias was with 218 I would appreciate it.

Arias was from River Edge, New Jersey, trained in Canada, sailed to England 25 January 1918 and according to a fairly reliable source arrived at 218 on 2 October 1918.

I have a contradictory source which has proven to be somewhat less than 100% - but mostly accurate which has him with 103 Squadron during the same period of time.

If you could clarify this it would be helpful !

Thanks in advance,

[MikeW]

Bravo Mike!!,

can't wait for your CD to be finalised!!


I can add for Smudger that they were flying DH9 serial C1206 (a 200hp BHP machine) on that fateful day, and that Nealms was also injured in the incident.

Smudger, got your stuff this morning, thank you very much. My arm is no better, but I'm getting the pain under control now so I'll be back at work in a day or so, and will be able to send off the details of all the 218 aircraft to you before the weekend.


mike

[MikeW]

Mike,

nearly missed it - I have Arias in 218.

Flying DH9 C1328 on 18th October 1918 over Bruges, the engine cut out, he managed to make a forced landing 200 yards within the allied lines, the plane was reported as crashed and was obviously shelled by the opposition. Arias was unhurt, but his gunlayer, 2Lt MJ Clark was injured.

On the 9th November in DH9 D7241 Arias crashed at Bisseghem when returning from a raid, both Arias and gunlayer Sgt RG Pearce were unhurt.

mike

[ONEALM]

Mike -

Thanks for the Arias confirmation. You would think I would check the sources I cited for Smudger....I just cracked open the DH-4/DH9 file and there he is plain as day !

Thanks again.
Mike