JULY 5,
1917.
AIRCRAFT IN THE MESOPOTAMIA REPORT.
THERE are several important references to aircraft in work was done, they were of course inadequate for what was
the Mesopotamia Commission Report. In their note on the required. The personnel of the Royal Flying Corps Was
condition of the Indian Army on the outbreak of war, it is organised as a flight, and there Were six flying officers and 44
pointed out that " an aircraft establishment had been started rank and file. During December, 1915, and January, 1916,
a few months before July, 1914, but its scope was very owing to two .machines being shut up in Kut, to accidents,
and to the ill-health of pilots, sometimes only one aeroplane
limited."
Among the instructions given to General Nixon on his Was available. Another flight of aeroplanes was sent out in
appointment to the command in Mesopotamia was one to February, 1916, and from then onward, the Royal Flying
report on aircraft. In the section of the Commission's Report Corps maintained a supply of new machines. After that date
there does not appear to have been a shortage in numbers of
dealing with armaments and equipment, it is stated :—
" Among the defects of equipment one of the most machines, and from the same time apparatus both for photoimportant was the want of aeroplanes. But for this the graphy and wireless telegraphy came into use. But early in
Indian military authorities Were not responsible. When the February, 1916, the Turkish troops, who till then had been
war broke out they Were just beginning to organise an aviation without aeroplanes, Were furnished with three fast aeroplanes
service, and had established a flying school. But at the of the Fokker type, which were much more formidable fightrequest of the War Office they closed the school, and sent the ing machines than anything possessed by the British Army,
officers who were pilots back to England. These Were only The presence of these fast machines with the Turkish Army
three in number, as matters were in a very embryonic stage. placed the British airmen at a great disadvantage ; and the
But early in the Mesopotamia Expedition the need for aero- want of at least one efficient fast fighting machine was
planes was apparent. In January, 1915, General Barrett keenly felt.
represented the importance of this matter more than once,
" I t is clear that the lack of a sufficient supply of aeroand Lord Hardinge strongly urged the need for aeroplanes planes of any kind in the operations which led to the Battle
upon the War Office. But it was found impossible to supply of Ctesiphon seriously hindered our troops in the task they
any until May, 1915. Then two Maurice Farmans were sent, had to perform, and that the want of fast fighting aeroplanes
in July two Caudrons, and in August six Martinsyde Scouts. later prevented the Royal Flying Corps being of as much service
Somewhat later, three hydroplanes of the Short type were to the Expedition as they might have been. How far these
sent, and two naval aeroplanes, one a Voisin and one a Henry defects were remediable by the War Office opens up the wide
Farman, fitted With a Canton Unne engine. In October, question of the general supply of aeroplanes for the purposes
four B.E.2 C's arrived. But there Were many misfortunes. of the War, which has been the subject of an independent
The hydroplanes Were not a success, and among the aero- enquiry. We are not in a position to express any opinion
planes there were losses through engine failure, through other- «upon that question, and we certainly should not deny that
accidents and through normal wear and tear. These mis- the first claim upon the resources of the Royal Flying Corps
fortunes seem to have worked with aggravated effect by Was in Europe and not in Mesopotamia. It is not, hov. ever,
reason of the difficulties of repair, which in part depended on clear why a larger number of aeroplanes of a type not suffithe difficulty of transport. The upshot was that at the date ciently fast for service in France should not have been
of the Battle of Ctesiphon there were only reckoned to be five available for the advance on Bagdad, nor why those which
aeroplanes belonging to the Royal Flying Corps in Meso- Were sent were not equipped for photography and wireless
potamia, and of these only three seem to have been actually telegraphy., The difficulty of sparing fast machines in the
available at the battle—a Maurice Farman, a B.E. 2 C. and spring of 1916 to fight the three Turkish Fokkers is more
a Martinsyde. This reckoning does not appear to include intelligible. But we note the deficiency of aeroplanes as one
the naval aeroplanes, of which, however, only one Was of any of the defects of equipment which contributed to the illuse. None of these machines were fitted either for photo- success of the British Army in Mesopotamia during the winter
graphy or with wireless apparatus ; and though valuable and spring of 1915-16."
£•; ,-.
.
•».•_,
THE FATE OF ONE OF THE HUN AIR-RAIDERS.—A German plane in the North Sea, which has been
brought down, being gradually consumed by fire.
668