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No. 38 Squadron Royal Flying Corps
No. 38 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps was formed at Thetford on the 1st of April 1916 but shortly became No.25 (Reserve) training squadron. A new No.38 Squadron was formed at Castle Bromwich on the 14th July 1916. It operated as a Home Defence Squadron protecting the West Midlands. It was redesignated No. 38 Squadron, Royal Air Force in April 1918. At the end of May 1918 it was sent to Dunkirk as a night bomber force.
1st April 1916
14th July 1916 A new 38 Squadron was reformed at Castle Bromwich on the 14th July 1916.
16th July 1916
1st October 1916
13th April 1918 Air Raid
May 1918
4th June 1918 Channel force reinforced
13th June 1918
5th August 1918 By the beginning of 1917 the German High Command was losing faith in the extremely costly air ships campaign, which overall had wreaked only limited structural damage on Great Britain. From May 1917 most bombing raids were carried out by the Gotha bombers although, with a more limited range, these operations were largely limited to London and the South East. There were only seven airship-raids in 1917 and four in 1918. The final airship raid on Great Britain took place on the 5th August 1918. The command airship was shot down over the North Sea by the gunner of a British DH4 twin-seater aircraft flying from South Denes aerodrome, Great Yarmouth. The German Leader of Airships, Peter Strasser, and his 23 crew were all killed. The remaining four airships hurriedly and mistakenly dropped their bombs into the English Channel and turned for home.
The total number of airship attacks on Britain between 1915 and 1918 probably numbered only a total of 12 raids on London and 40 more over the rest of the country, but the Zeppelin was very effective in drawing RFC and RNAS resources away from the battle front. By December 1916 at the height of the Zeppelin threat 17,340 officers and men were in the AA service together with 12 RFC squadrons comprised of 200 officers, 2,000 other ranks and 110 aircraft for home defence duties. By 1918, facing the raids by Gotha bombers, there were 55 Home Defence Squadrons. The threat of bombing certainly reduced the numbers of effective squadrons and trained pilots at the front and thus reduced the pressure on the German front line.
The First Air Raid on Lancashire: The Zeppelin Menace By Scott Carter-Clavell
14th August 1918 Home defence squadron formed
28th September 1918 Naval air units lent to Belgium
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Want to know more about No. 38 Squadron Royal Flying Corps? There are:11 items tagged No. 38 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.
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231164 Lt. C. H. Noble-Campbell 38 Squadron Lt CH Noble-Campbell, a New Zealander, had served in Gallipoli where he was wounded in action prior to joining the RFC. He was one of two 38 Squadron pilots who took part in the pursuit of the German airship L 62 during a raid on the night of 12th/13th of April, 1918. He and his colleague, Lt W.A.Brown, followed a similar path into the night sky over Coventry whilst tracking the German airship L62. They failed to intercept the Zeppelin and both crash-landed within a few hundred yards of each other in Coventry.
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231163 Lt. William Alfred Brown 38 Squadron William Brown was born on the 4th of December 1899 in Newcastle upon Tyne
and was educated at Ushaw College. He joined the Northumberland Fusiliers and was wounded in action on the Somme on the 1st July 1916 whilst serving in the Tyneside Irish. He subsequently joined the RFC and was posted to 38 (Home Defence) Squadron. Lt.Brown and his 38 Squadron colleague, Lt CH Noble-Campbell, followed a similar path into the night sky over Coventry on the night of 12th/13th April 1918 whilst tracking the German airship L62. They failed to intercept the Zeppelin and both crash-landed within a few hundred yards of each other in Coventry.
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