Great War>The War in the Air

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No. 60 Squadron Royal Flying Corps    No. 60 Squadron formed on the 30th of April 1916 at Gosport and proceeded to France in late May. It was redesignated No. 60 Squadron, Royal Air Force in April 1918. 30th April 1916 New Squadron formed  No 60 Squadron formed at Gosport on the 30th of April 1916 (curiously out of sequence as 50-59 Squadrons had not yet been formed at that time). They were staffed by experienced airmen, many of whom had already seen action, and proceeded to France after only one month of preparation equipped with Morane Bullet fighter aircraft. 3rd Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 8th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 24th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Jun 1916 Aircraft damaged July 1916 Battle of the Somme 3rd Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 12th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 19th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost 26th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Jul 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Jul 1916 Aircraft Lost August 1916  1st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 1st Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 2nd Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 2nd Aug 1916 Aircraft Lost 2nd Aug 1916 Aircraft Lost 2nd Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 3rd Aug 1916 Aircraft Lost 8th Aug 1916 Aircraft damaged 25th Aug 1916 Pilot wounded 28th Aug 1916 Aircraft Lost 3rd Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 12th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 15th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 15th Sep 1916 Aircraft Lost 19th Sep 1916 Aircraft Lost 22nd Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 30th Sep 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 10th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 17th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 19th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 21st Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 26th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost 26th Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Oct 1916 Aircraft Lost   31st Oct 1916 Aircraft damaged 2nd Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 2nd Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 3rd Nov 1916 Aircraft Lost 9th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 9th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 16th Nov 1916 Aircraft Lost 16th Nov 1916 Aircraft Lost 16th Nov 1916 Aircraft damaged 27th Nov 1916 Aircraft Lost 11st Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 11st Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 13th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 20th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 23rd Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 26th Dec 1916 Aircraft damaged 7th April 1917  16th April 1917  Photo reconnaissance 23rd April 1917 Mass formation 23rd of April 1917 Dogfight 2nd June 1917  July 1917  7th July 1917 Air forces redeployed November 1918  If you can provide any additional information, please add it here. Want to know more about No. 60 Squadron Royal Flying Corps? There are:75 items tagged No. 60 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. 60 Squadron Royal Flying Corps during the Great War 1914-1918. Cole Edwin Stuart Travis. Capt. Martin Harry Edward. 2nd Lt. (d.16th Nov 1916) Mason Stanley James. 2nd Lt. McCudden VC, DSO and Bar, MC and Bar, MM.. James Thomas Byford. Mjr. (d.9th Jul 1918) Ridley MM DSO.. Claude Alward. Sqd.Ldr. 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. 60 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. Thanks to everyone who has supported us over this time. Want to find out more about your relative's service? Want to know what life was like during the Great War? Our Library contains many many diary entries, personal letters and other documents, most transcribed into plain text. Looking for help with Family History Research?    Please see Family History FAQ's Please note: We are unable to provide individual research. Can you help? The free to access section of The Wartime Memories Project website is run by volunteers and funded by donations from our visitors. If the information here has been helpful or you have enjoyed reaching the stories please conside making a donation, no matter how small, would be much appreciated, annually we need to raise enough funds to pay for our web hosting or this site will vanish from the web. If you enjoy this site please consider making a donation. 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. 1205890 2nd Lt. Harry Edward Martin 60 Squadron (d.16th Nov 1916) Harry Martin was killed in action on the 16th of November 1916, aged 22, he is buried in Aubigny Communal Cemetery Extension in France. He was the son of Alfred Amos Martin and Elizabeth Ann Martin, of Avro Cottage, Marlborough, Wilts. Native of Croydon, Surrey. s flynn Add to this record. 225939 Capt. Edwin Stuart Travis Cole No.1 Sqn Edwin Stuart Travis Cole, the son of Reuben and Jessie Cole, was from Bristol and trained as a mechanical engineer. After taking flying lessons privately at Hendon and obtaining his pilot’s licence he joined the Royal Flying Corps in 1916 as 2nd Lieutenant and was posted to 60 Squadron. He scored his first victory flying a Nieuport scout, but was then transferred to 1 Squadron. On the morning of the 17th May he was part of a patrol of 4 Nieuport scouts of 1 Squadron when, at 12,000 feet somewhere east of Ypres they attacked a formation of 4 German Albatross scouts. Cole wrote in a letter to his parents: “The day before yesterday ... I did a long patrol before breakfast & nothing special happened, at 9.45 we had a long reconnaissance & at the end of this as we were crossing the lines I spotted a brilliantly red coloured machine with three other machines with him on our side of the trenches, all of us dived on them & a general scrap followed. The Capt. Brought one down but he managed to get back to hunland before crashing, in turn Capt was shot down by one of the hun, shots going right through his petrol tank. He came down in a spin but managed to right her before hitting the ground. Two more of our patrol were shot down & it left another pilot and myself to do our best, the other fellow was splendid & put up a splendid show. However after scrapping for some time two of the huns managed to get away & it left me with one fellow. He had a wonderful machine & the finest flyer I have been up against. We each tried to better the other from 12,000 to 800 ft & when we got near the ground I managed to get in some good shots & down he came, burst into flames just before hitting the ground & the machine went vertically into a pond. I landed in a field next to him & rushed over, thousands of tommies & people were watching & a cheer went up from all of them. However we got the poor fellow out the doctor found him with 5 shots through the heart so there was no chance for him It was all frightfully exciting. Fortunately I did not have a shot in my machine. The hun machine has been brought to the aerodrome & it belongs to their crack squadron & is the very latest type and most beautifully fitted up.” (Source: 'Airfields and Airmen: Ypres' By Michael O'Connor, Casemate Publishers, 23 Dec 2008] Cole’s victim was Alexander Kutscher of Jasper 28. Cole scored six more victories with 1 Squadron in only 6 weeks during the period known as Bloody April when the Germans had air superiority with more advanced aircraft. On 1 May 1917, he and fellow pilot Frank Sharpe captured a German Albatros D.III fighter at Roulers-Elverdinghe, and he received promotion to lieutenant the same day. Following this, Cole was withdrawn from action and returned to England as an instructor. In July 1918 he was promoted to the rank of Captain. At the close of hostilities he resigned from the RAF, but served again in World War 2. Add to this record. 224441 2nd Lt. Stanley James Mason 7th Btn South Wales Borderers Stanley James Mason served on the Western Front from September 1915 with the South Wales Borderers and is listed as Cadet Temporary 2nd Lieutenant (on probation) from 20th of December 1917, General List R.F.C.; Aeroplane Officer from 1at April 1918; 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Air Force from 25th May 1918. He joined 60 Squadron at Boffles, France 1 April 1918 On 3rd October 1918 Lieutenant Mason flying an S.E.5 from Baisieux shot down a Fokker DV11 in flames, and on the 25th he was credited with a similar German aircraft out of control (probable) and on the 29th of the same month flying from Beugnotre shot down another Fokker (60 Squadron Records and R.A.F. Communiqué refer). The History of 60 Squadron suggests that Mason was one of "... perhaps the most prominent and succesful pilots during the British advance..." Mason was granted a short service commission from 19th of December 1919 as Flying Officer and on 28th of August 1924 was killed piloting a single seater Snipe aircraft at R.A.F. Duxford. Information is from the Christie's Catalogue at the sale of his medals in 1992. Nigel Edwards Add to this record. 221892 Mjr. James Thomas Byford "Mac" McCudden VC, DSO and Bar, MC and Bar, MM. 60th Sqd. Royal Air Force (d.9th Jul 1918) James McCudden was born on 28th March 1895, the son of the late Sergeant-Major William McCudden, and Amelia E. McCudden, of Pitlochry, 37 Burton Road, Kingston-on-Thames. He was aged 23 when he died of a fractured skull in Auxi-le-Château following a crash, and he is buried in the Wavans British Cemetery in Calais. His brothers William T. J. and John Anthony McCudden also died as fighter pilots during the war. An extract from The London Gazette No. 30604, dated 29th March 1918, records the following:- "For most conspicuous bravery, exceptional perseverance, keenness and very high devotion to duty. Captain McCudden has at the present time accounted for 54 enemy aeroplanes. Of these 42 have been definitely destroyed, 19 of them on our side of the lines. Only 12 out of the 54 have been driven out of control. On two occasions he has totally destroyed four two-seater enemy aeroplanes on the same day, and on the last occasion all four machines were destroyed in the space of 1 hour and 30 minutes. While in his present squadron he has participated in 78 offensive patrols, and in nearly every case has been the leader. On at least 30 other occasions, whilst with the same squadron, he has crossed the lines alone, either in pursuit or in quest of enemy aeroplanes. The following incidents are examples of the work he has done recently:- On the 23rd December 1917, when leading his patrol, eight enemy aeroplanes were attacked between 2.30 p.m. and 3.50 p.m. Of these, two were shot down by Captain McCudden in our lines. On the morning of the same day he left the ground at 10.50 and encountered four enemy aeroplanes; of these he shot two down. On the 30th January 1918, he, single-handed, attacked five enemy scouts, as a result of which two were destroyed. On this occasion he only returned home when the enemy scouts had been driven far east: his Lewis gun ammunition was all finished and the belt of his Vickers gun had broken. As a patrol leader he has at all times shown the utmost gallantry and skill, not only in the manner in which he has attacked and destroyed the enemy, but in the way he has during several aerial flights protected the newer members of his flight, thus keeping down their casualties to a minimum. This officer is considered, by the record which he has made, by his fearlessness, and by the great service which he has rendered to his country, deserving of the very highest honour." James McCudden was also awarded the Croix de Guerre on January 21st 1916. S Flynn Add to this record. Recomended Reading. Available at discounted prices.

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