The Royal Flying Corps

[Kemp]

hey, since i was in the armed forces my nephew asked me some help with his uni project. he's looking for some history about the Royal Flying Corps from the beginning to World War 1. he is actually looking for one bloke who died in 1917, an airman 2nd class named Arthur Coulter Laycock. i know there are some lads on here that are/have been in the military and i was wondering if you have any guides or tips or help to give the kid. since i'm Canadian i don't have much connections with the UK stuff.

thanks,
Kemp.

[Gannex]

When the Royal Flying Corps needed funding, sceptics asked what the RFC was good for, what threat they could possibly neutralise? Nobody in Parliament had an adequate answer, but a few, far-sighted individuals argued that control of the air would be important in the twentieth century. Arthur Coulter Laycock was probably one of the men who understood this, otherwise he wouldn't have signed up for the Royal Flying Corps; it was universally understood to be extremely dangerous work.

[oily oaf]

When the Royal Flying Corps needed funding, sceptics asked what the RFC was good for, what threat they could possibly neutralise? Nobody in Parliament had an adequate answer, but a few, far-sighted individuals argued that control of the air would be important in the twentieth century. Arthur Coulter Laycock was probably one of the men who understood this, otherwise he wouldn't have signed up for the Royal Flying Corps; it was universally understood to be extremely dangerous work.

You're not wrong my learned fiend. Didn't they have an expectation of life gauged in seconds or something?

In actual fact my paternal greatgrandfather Biggles (Ginger) Oaf was an inaugral volounteer member of the corps and was shot down and killed instantly before he could take off by an American ack ack gun just outside Cleethorpes.
Fair play to the old geezer though. Not once did he try to sell his story to a tabloid newspaper for a shedload of dosh :)

Stand by your beds men! :mad:

[CarlMetro]

Have you tried looking on something like wikipedia?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Flying_Corps

Lots of useful links on the bottom of the page too.

[AndyRAC]

Along with the RFC was the Royal Naval Air Service(RNAS), as has already been said, weren't taken seriously by Navy and Army. Became the RAF on the 1st April 1918.

[Mark in Oshawa]

All I know is the RFC was full of brave young guys who had a life expectancy as fighter pilots that was about 4 weeks long, but they loved to fly and fight if they had to fight at all.

I hope you hit the library Kemp, for I am sure most libraries will have either the books you need or the access to them. Not everything is on the net, and when it comes to history, books are the way to go.

Take note also Kemp, the little known fact that 5 out of the top 10 aces in the RFC/RNAS were Canadians. Billy Bishop was the top surviving ace and second to only "Mick" Mannock. Also, as you do your research, you will come across the RNAS's history as well, and you might want to include that. The idea of the Triplane fighter that we think of as the Red Baron's famous plane was originally from the Sopwith Tripes that the RNAS flew. Ray Collishaw, a Canadian flew with his countrymates in all black Tripes and terrorized the German's. He and Donald McLaren were two of those five Canadian aces that the poltically correct anti-Canadian history fools we have in our society didn't want you to learn about in high school. It was this unit that got Fokker into building a Tripe and the Red Baron adopted the whole "elite" squadron idea for his "Flying Circus".

Best flying stories of any war come from the brave young men of the RFC and RNAS.....just cant name one book off the top of my head to recommend. They are out there though. I think the net is not best source however...it just will point you in some directions. Gotta find the books man.....

[Gannex]

Interesting stuff, Mark, and I like the lick of patriotism that you throw in to the story. Your advice to read books, rather than screens, is good advice, I think, but I doubt many will follow it.

Thinking about those poor *******s, dying, scared out of their minds every day. . . No one should have to go through that. Another reminder that war is hell.

[Gannex]

The idea of the [Fokker] Triplane fighter that we think of as the Red Baron's famous plane was originally from the Sopwith Tripes that the RNAS flew. Was the Fokker a big improvement on the Sopwith, do you know?

[Gannex]

In actual fact my paternal greatgrandfather Biggles (Ginger) Oaf was an inaugral volounteer member of the corps and was shot down and killed instantly before he could take off by an American ack ack gun just outside Cleethorpes.
Ah yes, The Cleethorpes Affair. The less said about your great-grandad's behaviour in that little escapade, the better, don't you think, Oily? I'm surprised that you'd be bringing that up, frankly.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Was the Fokker a big improvement on the Sopwith, do you know?


The Fokker really wasn't an improvement at all, and what is more in some ways was a liability. The Fokker was a reaction to the Tripe, but the Brits figured out was that while the Tripe climbed faster than any other fighter at the time, ( and this was the advantage the Germans sought ), it was not very fast, and had visibility issues with the extra wing. Also, it was becoming clearer as the war went on that firepower and speed also mattered, and while you could put more guns on a triplane, that extra wing cut the visibility and limited the speed.

We saw what Sopwith felt was the best solution, the Camel, arguably one of the best fighters of the war, to be followed by the heavily armed Dolphin, which was less manoeverable, and was not a success only because the war ended. The SE5a was also a superior plane as well. The Germans figured it out eventually too, and the Fokker D7 was probably the best plane of the war, with two powerful guns, good speed and very good ability in dogfights while being strudy and providing good visability.

When you compare these planes to what was flying in 1914, it is scary to think what would have happened if the war continued to 1920 or so? Would all metal monoplanes been out of the question?

Oh boy...lol...I got sidetracked, but I always love a chance to talk about old fighters...

[Mark in Oshawa]

As for Oily's ancestor serving in the RFC, well it is sad that Cleethorpes business. A rather messy business, that should have been left forgotten; for why a grown man would be wearing a dress with a German helmet on his head would try to take off is beyond me.....must have been the absinthe habit it was rumoured he had....

[Gannex]

As for Oily's ancestor serving in the RFC, well it is sad that Cleethorpes business. . . why a grown man wearing a dress with a German helmet on his head would try to take off is beyond me.....must have been the absinthe habit it was rumoured he had....
I think you've got it wrong, there, Mark. What I heard was, Biggles Oaf was an RFC mechanic who fell in love with a visiting American's sexy Czech wife, Brenda Bendova. Biggles bragged to Bendova that he could fly, she asked him to take her up, he slapped a German helmet on her head, put her in the back of a Sopwith Tripes he'd been working on, and was just in the process of trying to take off, when the American, who knew Biggles couldn't fly, shot Biggles through the temples to save his wife's life.

I don't know if that's the true story, but it's what I read in "Boys' Own Compendium of Lousy Mechanics From Around The World".

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gannex...well I knew there was some illicit subtances involved...after all, it is Oily's ancestors, a shameful past that he should be at great pains to not bring up too much. He is a good man for someone with a fetish for llamas and ancient hedgetrimmers....

The really sad part is, Oily thinks Biggles was a great man..delusional fantasies must be part of the Oaf family traits....

[oily oaf]

Enough already!
I didn't come here to be pilloried thus :(

PS Did I mention my other Great Grandad, Albie "Popeye" Sump-Plug
He joined The Royal Navy in 1913 to "see the world" and spent the next 30 years in a submarine.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Heck Oily, at least he didn't get shot by an American for trying to steal his woman!!!

[Gannex]

True, but his naval career ended badly, when he was caught in a compromising position with a periscope.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gannex, you are an expert on the Oaf family tree it seems....Oily must resent you airing all the family dirty laundry. Just what did he do with the periscope?

[Gannex]

Because this is a family forum, I can't go into too much detail about that, except to say that Albie "Popeye" Sump-Plug is the only person in medical history to have been castrated by an optical instrument.

[oily oaf]

Because this is a family forum, I can't go into too much detail about that, except to say that Albie "Popeye" Sump-Plug is the only person in medical history to have been castrated by an optical instrument.

Take it back or by The Holy Oxo Cube of Carthage you'll be picking bits of beef stock gelatine out of your ears for a fortnight you cackling Godless hyena!

PS Any chance of sending me a couple of pics of your missus with no togs on? :s murf:

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gannex it is a shame about Oaf's family....he seems so well adjusted except for his odd bit of mindless violence and exposing himself to the local goats on his walks....

Now of course, the real issue is, did Sump plug do it all in the service of his nation?

[Gannex]

PS Any chance of sending me a couple of pics of your missus with no togs on? :s murf:
Not just the pics; I'll happily send you the missus as well.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gannex, does the missus know you are going to send her off to the Oaf? Good lord, she might end up traumatized....

[CarlMetro]

......or satisfied ;)

[oily oaf]

......or satisfied ;)

Behave yourself!
I'm not taking her out for a feed as well :mad:

[Gannex]

Believe me, she won't need feeding for a good six months or so.

[oily oaf]

Believe me, she won't need feeding for a good six months or so.

Hehehehehe It's a good job your lady isn't privvy to your insidious slurs my fine macintosh wearing friend ;)

In fact I'd be willing to bet my beef stock rifle that she's an absolutely delightful lady, charming, erudite and far too pretty for a foul reprobate like you matey :s mokin:

[Res Ipsa Loquitur]

This is right up my street. I used to research WW1 military history and casualty records for a living.

Private message follows.