225787 Lt.Col. Louis Strange MC, DSO.Royal Flying Corps 80th Wing from:Tarrant Keynstone, Dorset Louis Strange was born in Tarrant Keyneston, Dorset where his family were land-owners and farmers. In 1912 he joined the Dorset Yeomanry but determined to become a pilot. He obtained a pilot’s certificate and became an instructor to the Royal Aero Club at Hendon, and also took part successfully in a number of air-races, before being posted to the RFC's Central Flying School at Upavon in May, 1914. Strange was formally commissioned as a second-lieutenant in The Dorsetshire Regiment on 30 July 1914 on attachment to the Royal Flying Corps. In August 1914 he was despatched to join No.5 Squadron RFC at Gosport and on 15/16 August the squadron flew to Maubeuge, France.
Strange was noted for his inventive mind, variously devising mounts to enable Lewis and Vickers machine guns to be attached to aircraft, designing under-wing bomb racks and home-made petrol bombs that his observer would drop by hand from their biplane onto the convoys of German troops and transport. He invented a safety strap that allow the observer to "stand up and fire all round over top of plane and behind", and a bomb chute to drop 7-pound shrapnel bombs through a steel tube set in the floor of the Avro 504. In early 1915 he was promoted to Captain and posted to No. 6 Squadron as Flight Commander. He earned the Military Cross by carrying out one of the first tactical bombing missions.
On 21st of September 1915 Louis Strange was promoted to Major and appointed commander of the new No. 23 Squadron RFC at Gosport, Hampshire. In March 1916 he was appointed to establish the No. 1 School of Air Gunnery at Hythe in Kent before being promoted again later in the year to Lieutenant-Colonel and to establish the No. 2 School of Air Gunnery at Turnberry. In April 1917 he became Assistant Commandant at the Central Flying School.
On 26th of June 1918 Strange returned to active combat when he was given command of the newly formed 80th Wing, RAF, comprising seven Squadrons - two of which were Australian - tasked with undertaking massed raids on the enemy airfields. During the next five months he was to be awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order. His DSO citation specifically mentions operations on 30 October 1918, when "he accompanied one of these raids against an aerodrome; watching the work of his machines, he waited until they had finished and then dropped his bombs from one hundred feet altitude on hangars that were undamaged; he then attacked troops and transport in the vicinity of the aerodrome. While thus engaged he saw eight Fokkers flying above him; at once he climbed and attacked them single-handed; having driven one down out of control he was fiercely engaged by the other seven, but he maintained the combat until rescued by a patrol of our scouts."
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