Diary And Letters Of A World War I Fighter Pilot, The

The Diary and Letters of a World War I Fighter Pilot

 

Revised Proofs
Lamorna Publishing Services
July 2008

First published in Great Britain in 2008 by
Pen & Sword Aviation
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd
47 Church Street
Barnsley
South Yorkshire
S70 2AS

 

Copyright © Christopher Burgess 2008

9781781594186

 

The right of Christopher Burgess to be identified as Author of this Work has
been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents
Act 1988.

 

A CIP catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

 

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in
any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical including photocopying,
recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permis-
sion from the Publisher in writing.

 

Typeset in Sabon and Garamond by
Lamorna Publishing Services

 

Printed and bound in England by Biddles Ltd

 

 

Pen & Sword Books Ltd. incorporates the imprints of Pen & Sword Aviation,
Pen & Sword Maritime, Pen & Sword Military, Wharncliffe Local History,
Pen & Sword Select, Pen & Sword Military Classics and Leo Cooper.

 

For a complete list of Pen & Sword titles please contact
PEN & SWORD BOOKS LIMITED
47 Church Street, Barnsley, South Yorkshire, S70 2AS, England
E-mail: [email protected]
Website:
www.pen-and-sword.co.uk

To my family and all who knew my
grandfather

I have only played a small part in compiling these memoirs; nothing would have been possible without the many others acknowledged here who have contributed to the task on and off over the past two decades or so! Sadly, several of those involved have now passed away, but this book is a tribute to their hard work and dedication to keeping the memory alive.

Thanks, firstly to Rosemarie Barnes of the Museum of Army Flying Ltd, Middle Wallop, Stockbridge, Hampshire, who typed the first drafts from the diaries to word processor as requested by Lieutenant Colonel Robert King-Clark, GMK's (Guy Knocker) nephew. Robert ‘Rex' King-Clark started correcting these drafts before ill health and bad eyesight forced him to hand on the task in 1994. After I had sat on the diaries for some years we decided it was about time to complete the job. This would have been impossible without the hours spent by my late mother, June Mainwaring Burgess (GMK's eldest daughter), who was one of the few who could read my grandfather's handwriting, and also my father, Raymond.

About the same time, my brother, John Burgess, started to type up the volumes of letters, which was completed by the late Dr John Thackray (GMK's great nephew) who also added some additional memoirs from his great uncle's sister, May, and some biographical notes.

Thanks also to Roderick Suddaby, the documents curator of the Imperial War Museum, London, who is holding the original documents, and whose staff provided images of sketches from the letters and diaries.

Finally, my thanks go to John and Wendy Dowse, keen aircraft enthusiasts, historians and members of the Western Front Association, who encouraged me to get these accounts published, and who kindly helped integrate them into a suitable format.

This is a firsthand account of my grandfather's experiences as a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps in World War I. While diaries and letters from service personnel survive in quite large numbers in World War I archives, they are less common from RFC/RAF officers, and so this series of letters and diaries represents an unusually regular and detailed personal record from that time.

The letters cover a period from April 1917, when GMK started his training as an RFC pilot in England, through his time in France with 65 Squadron, until April 1918, when he was injured and sent back to England. During this time he wrote virtually every day to his family, and often illustrated the letters with little sketches of aircraft and manoeuvres. My grandfather was a gifted artist, particularly with pencil and pen and ink, and also became an excellent photographer. The letters were transcribed by his mother into three exercise books at that time, and most of the sketches were pasted or copied into these volumes by my grandfather when he came home. The original letters, as individual documents, have not survived. Also included is a letter to GMK, from his father, on the day he flew out to France, and other letters and memoirs from GMK's sister, May, who was serving as a nursing sister in France.

Interpolated between the letters are diary entries while he was on active service in France from October 1917 – April 1918, but these also continue to the end of 1918 while he was in England convalescing, and then training other pilots. The diaries include other details of daily life, which help give a fuller picture of his personal experiences and emotions. Some additional material, provided by the Imperial War Museum, is included in the entries during the period while in France to help put some of the operational details in context.

GMK was a remarkable man. Unfortunately, I never got to know him as an adult, as he died in September 1971 when I was only thirteen, and he didn't talk to me about his war experiences. These letters and diaries put across a vivid account what it was like at that time through the experiences and language of a young seventeen – eighteen year old officer. They describe well the contrasts of dangerous offensive patrols, evening dinners, dances and theatre, and days of inactivity due to the weather (‘too “dud” for flying'). GMK had a lovely sense of humour and never took himself too seriously. He didn't have much time for ostentatious bureaucrats, and named one of his Sopwith Camels ‘Pooh Bah' – probably after
The Mikado
character of that name (Lord-High-Everything-Else).

The annotated photograph of 65 Squadron in the front cover of the 1918 diary is a poignant reminder of the many who gave their lives in that war. An almost identical photograph of the squadron, taken at the same time, is reproduced in a detailed history and account of 65 Squadron RFC/RAF in
The Society of World War I Aero Historians' Journal
by Norman Franks and Frank Bailey (1979), Cross & Cockade 10 (2) 49-58. This also gives a full listing of squadron casualties, aircraft serial numbers, victories and awards.

Other documents relating to GMK's World War I experiences include an article he wrote for the
Ex-Army Quarterly, July 1964 – An Airman Remembers. Vignettes from the Sketch-book of an undistinguished Sopwith Camel pilot in the winter of 1917-18
. This is reproduced in the appendices, together with a list of the many aircraft he flew in his RFC and RAF career between 1917 and retirement in 1946.

Text enclosed in brackets thus, […], are transcribers' comments. Rank and initials of personnel are included where known. The letters and complete diaries have been transcribed verbatim where possible including the spelling, slang, or contemporary expressions and grammatical errors to preserve the originality of the documents. Some gaps remain, however, where the original handwriting was illegible or names crossed out. Some of the place names in Europe differ from the current ones or were spelt phonetically for ease of saying at the time and an explanatory sketch map and table of place names, compiled by John Dowse, is also included in the appendices.

The originals of the letters, diaries and some other documents are being held together in the Knocker collection at the Imperial War Museum, London. Other documents are in the RAF Museum, Hendon.

Some abbreviations and meanings of terms referred to in the diaries. See also the sketch map and full list of place names mentioned in Appendix 3.