Great War>The War in the Air

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No. 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corps    No 4 Squadron had been created from No 2 Flight, No 2 Squadron at Farnborough on 16th Sep 1912 and moved to Netheravon in 1913. A great part of the initial work was experimental, and the specific challenge to No. 4 Squadron was to develop wireless communications for artillery co-operation. They proceeded to France in August 1914 for reconnaissance duty and served as an army reconnnaissance and artillery support squadron on the Western Front throughout the war. It was redesignated No. 4 Squadron, Royal Air Force in April 1918. During the course of the war No.4 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps participated in the following battles: Battle of the Marne (Sept 1914) Battle of Neuve Chapelle (1915) Second Battle of Ypres Battle of Loos (Sept 1915) The Battle of the Somme (July 1916) Battle Arras 1917 Battle of Messines June 1917 Battle of Passchendaele Commanding officers for RFC 4 Squadron were as follows: Major G.H. Raleigh September 1912-January 1915 Major C.A.H. Longcroft January 1915-August 1915 Major F.F. Waldron August 1915-September 1915 Major G.E. Todd September 1915-February 1916 Major V.A. Barrington-Kennett February 1916-13 March 1916 Major T.W.C. Carthew, D.S.O. 13 March 1916-September 1916 Major L. Jenkins, M.C. September 1916-November 1917 Major R.E. Saul November 1917-January 1919 Major H.P. Prior January 1919-March 1920. 30th July 1914 Air defences 4th August 1914 On the Move  No. 4 Squadron RFC moved to the HQ of the Royal Naval Air Service at Eastchurch to undertake naval and anti-Zeppelin patrols. 13th Aug 1914 On the Move 16th Aug 1914 Aircraft Lost during retreat from Amiens 19th Aug 1914 RFC make first reconnaissance flight  The first RFC reconnaissance flight over German positions is made by Lt G Mapplebeck of No 4 Squadron in a BE2a, and Captain P Joubert de la Ferté of No 3 Squadron in a Bleriot XI-2. 21st August 1914 Friendly fire 23rd August 1914 Retreat 24th August 1914 Bombing attempt 25th Aug 1914 On the March 31st August 1914 German army changes direction 31st August 1914  Narrow escape 4th September 1914 On the move 6th September 1914 Battle of the Marne 9th September 1914 German Army turned back 9th September 1914 Squadron reunited 12th September 1914 Aeroplanes destroyed in a storm 23rd September 1914 Artillery range finding 3rd October 1914 Long distance reconnaissance 12th October 1914 RFC Moves 26th October 1914 Aircraft markings altered 31st October 1914 Ground Attack 19th January 1915 Bombing 22nd January 1915 Dunkirk bombed 10th March 1915 Bombing 12th March 1915 RFC Supports Attacks   24th Apr 1915 Forced to retreat  Under heavy Germam shelling at Poperinghe, No 6 Squadron RFC were forced to move further back to join No.4 Squadron at Abeele Aerodrome. At around this time a scout flight comprising Martinsyde S1 and Bristol scout aircraft was added to the squadron to protect their reconnaissance planes. 22nd of September 1915  Bridges Guarded   23rd of September 1915 Hostile Patrol Seen   3rd October 1915 Agents 14th Dec 1915 Aircraft damaged 30th Jan 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Feb 1916 Aircraft damaged 5th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 15th Mar 1916 Aircraft Lost 18th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Mar 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 29th Apr 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th May 1916 Aircraft damaged 27th May 1916 Aircraft Lost 18th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 2nd Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 3rd Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost 6th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 7th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 7th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost 15th Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost 15th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 24th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost 1st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 5th Aug 1916 Aircraft Lost 3rd Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 3rd Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 7th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 14th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 14th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 24th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 24th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 24th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 12th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 13th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 15th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 4th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 17th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 4th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 11st Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Jun 1917 Under Shellfire 7th July 1917 Air forces redeployed 21st Jul 1917 Shelling   23rd Jul 1917 In Action   24th Jul 1917 In Action   25th Jul 1917 In Action   31st July 1917 Reconnassance 2nd Aug 1917 Message of Congratulation   25th August 1914 Repeated moves If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about No. 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corps? There are:90 items tagged No. 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corps available in our Library   These include information on officers, regimental histories, letters, diary entries, personal accounts and information about actions during the Great War. Those known to have served with No. 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corps during the Great War 1914-1918. Atkinson James Morgan. Lt. Cox George Benjamin. Dodsworth Anthony James Innes. 2nd Lt. Dowding Hugh Caswell Tremenheere. Group Capt. All names on this list have been submitted by relatives, friends, neighbours and others who wish to remember them, if you have any names to add or any recollections or photos of those listed, please Add a Name to this List Records of No. 4 Squadron Royal Flying Corps from other sources. The Wartime Memories Project is the original WW1 and WW2 commemoration website. 1st of September 2024 marks 25 years since the launch of the Wartime Memories Project. 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Announcements 19th Nov 2024     Please note we currently have a massive backlog of submitted material, our volunteers are working through this as quickly as possible and all names, stories and photos will be added to the site. If you have already submitted a story to the site and your UID reference number is higher than 264989 your submission is still in the queue, please do not resubmit. Wanted: Digital copies of Group photographs, Scrapbooks, Autograph books, photo albums, newspaper clippings, letters, postcards and ephemera relating to the Great War. If you have any unwanted photographs, documents or items from the First or Second World War, please do not destroy them. The Wartime Memories Project will give them a good home and ensure that they are used for educational purposes. Please get in touch for the postal address, do not sent them to our PO Box as packages are not accepted. World War 1 One ww1 wwII greatwar great battalion regiment artillery Did you know? We also have a section on World War Two. and a Timecapsule to preserve stories from other conflicts for future generations. 226536 Lt. James Morgan Atkinson 4 Sqdn. My grandfather James Morgan served as an observer in No 4 Squadron of the RFC and was based at Abeele Aaerodrome in West Flanders in 1917. He and his pilot Wilfred Morgan were shot down in RE8 Plane Serial No B5040 behind enemy lines near Ypres on 12 Oct 1917. Wilfred Morgan died in a POW camp of his wounds. My grandfather - Morgan as he was known - survived in a POW camp in Baden and Heidelberg until his repatriation in August 1918. His gunshot wound in the back and hip severed his sciatic nerve and he suffered paralysis in his foot. He laterally had several amputations of his leg and ended up with a wooden leg below his knee. My granddad died in 1970 when I was 8 years old. He never spoke to any of us about his experiences but I do remember there was a picture of the gravestone of his pilot Wilfred Morgan on the mantelpiece on their small holding farm in Clonmore, Co Carlow in the Republic of Ireland. My aunt has spent many years researching our family tree and has produced a little booklet about Granddad's war years. One burning ambition is to try and find out more about his RFC time. He had started in WWI in the ASC Divisional Train - he loved horses. David Add to this record. 185828 Group Capt. Hugh Caswell Tremenheere "Stuffy" Dowding My Stepfather, Hugh Dowding, was educated at his father's preparatory school at Moffat and then Winchester, after which he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in 1899. Failing to gain a commission in the Royal Engineers, he joined the Royal Garrison Artillery, being posted to Gibraltar, then to Ceylon and Hong Kong. In 1904 be was posted to No 7 Mountain Artillery Battery – NWF, in India. From January 1912 he attended Army Staff College. In 1913 he joined the Garrison Artillery on the Isle of Wight He learnt to fly at the Vickers Flying School, Brooklands, gaining his RAeC Certificate (No 711), on the day he passed out from Camberley, after 1 hour 40 minutes. At the Central Flying School his instructor was Capt. John Salmond. Having gained his 'Wings', he was added to the RFC Reserve List returning to his Garrison Artillery duties on the Isle of Wight. In 1929, following the escalation of trouble in the area, he was sent to Palestine to undertake an inquiry into the need and form of possible re-inforcements for the area. At the outbreak of war in August 1914 he was Commandant - Dover Assembly Point and later that month he was posted as a Pilot to No 7 Sqn RFC, transferring to No 6 Sqn on the 6th of October 1914. On the 18th of November he was transferred to GSO3, HQ RFC and on the 8th December 1914 he was appointed Flight Commander of No 9 Sqn RFC. On the 27th of January 1915 he became Flight Commander of No 6 Sqn RFC. On the 4th of March 1915 he was appointed Officer i/c Wireless Flight, No 4 Sqn RFC and from 17th March 1915 he became Officer Commanding No 9 Sqn/Wireless Experimental Establishment RFC. From July he was Officer Commanding No 16 Sqn and on the 1st of February the following year was posted to Farnborough to become Officer Commanding, 7th Wing RFC. On the 22nd June he became Officer Commanding, 9th (HQ) Wing RFC. On New Year's day 1917 he was promoted to Officer Commanding, Southern Group Command and on the 5th of August 1917, he became Brigadier-General Commanding, Southern Training Brigade. In 1918 he was Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ No 4 Area. and then Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ North-Eastern Area. In January 1919 he became Brigadier-General (Administration) York, HQ North-Western Area and in June, Brigadier-General (Administration), HQ Northern Area. On the 1st of August 1919 he became Group Capt (Administration), HQ Northern Area and was Re-Seconded to the RAF for further two years.On the 1st of September he became Temporary AOC, Northern Area and on the 18th of October 1919, Officer Commanding, No 16 Group. Between the wars he was Officer Commanding, No 1 Group then Chief Staff Officer, Inland Area. In August 1924 he became Chief Staff Officer, HQ Iraq Command. In May 1926 he became Director of Training ad in December 1929 AOC, Fighting Area, Air Defence of Great Britain. On 28 January 1936 he was one of three officers representing the Air Council at the funeral of HM King George V. On the 14 July 1936 he became AOC in C, Fighter Command. As Air Member for Research and Development in the 1930's he was in a position to oversee the development of the eight gun fighters, Hurricane and Spitfire, but even more importantly his previous experience in wireless experiments gave him an excellent insight into possibilities of it's use in the detection of aircraft. He was able to take these preparations to their logical conclusion when given command of the newly formed Fighter Command in July 1936. He immediately set about developing a system able to make best use of his limited resources and it was this system as much as anything that ensured success in 1940. He established the coastal chain of radar stations (then known as RDF), but the success of radar really lay in the reporting and control system he set up which allowed aircraft to be placed in the right place at the right height in time to meet the threat. During the Battle of Britain his most difficult problem was the conflict between AVM Leigh-Mallory and AVM Park over tactics in which he supported both Group Commanders and saw that both sets of tactics had their advantages but that they were not necessarily suitable in both situations. From 1938 Dowding was advised of five separate retirement dates, but each one was rescinded for various reasons, therefore, his replacement in November 1940 as AOC in C Fighter Command, when flush with success in the Battle of Britain was seen as a snub by many, although it had in fact been planned. A Whiting Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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