Lot 672
AN ALBUM OF FIRST WORLD WAR ROYAL FLYING CORPS PHOTOGRAPHS.
A collection of photographs, pages and loose photographs from an album with images largely from 1917/18 including pilots, men, aircraft,numerous crashed planes, and aerial photography many of which are annotated. A group photograph of 31 Training squadron, Wyton, Huntington, shows fifteen pilots and others casually grouped in mixed uniforms with two uniforms with Royal Flying Corps wings visible. The men in the photograph being Hollingworth, Langley, Willis, Kerk, Coleman, Woods, Hill, Cole, Morrisey, Mathewson, Herman, Wallerson, Glover, Whiston and Lynch, presumably one of these the original owner of the album. Others named in the album are Fred Cawley, Capt Hall M.C. M De Gersigny, Frances, W.A.Young, R.S.Jones, Bullivant, Tyler, J.H.Hill, J.E.Kemp, W.R.Baskerville, E.A.Bowyer. Aircraft illustrated include the 3083, Avro 4392, Beze, D5115, C4964 Bristol Monoplane, E84, Sopwith Panther, Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter, DH9 'ACK', SE5, BE2C, DH4, FE, Sopwith Bentley and Sopwith Panther.
One poignant photograph is titled to the reverse 'Fred-Cawley in formation about 10 minutes before he was killed .... September 1918'. Fred Cawley had joined the Honourable Artillery Company on the 28th November 1916 as a Private number 9509. He was a temporary 2nd Lieutenant in the RFC from 19th December 1917 becoming a full 2nd Lieutenant at the formation of the RAF on the 1st April 1918. He was killed in an accident at Duxford at 12.00 noon on the 13th of October (which disagrees with the month on the photograph) diving 200 feet into the ground when a landing went badly wrong. There are also two images 'Fred Cawley's Last Crash' showing a badly damaged E3083 which may be the accident that is recorded as taking place on the 4th of March 1918.
The photographs of the Bristol Monoplane has the number 4964, this seems to be a Bristol M1 Scout made by the Bristol Aeroplane Company and the only monoplane made by the British for use during the First World War. Designed by Frank Branwell , 125 of the M.1Cs were ordered on the 3rd August 1917.
