Lt. L H Heathcote 1 Sqn. AFC

[domsim]

Hi folks

Has anybody got dates and circumstances of the capture of Lt. L H Heathcote of 1 squadron AFC?

Cheers

Dominic

[Dolphin]

Dominic

Is this your man? Lt Leonard Walter Heathcote of No 67 (Australian) Sqn RFC was captured on 9 March 1917 while flying a BE 2e (probably 6295) on a bombing mission to Junction Station. His engine failed and he was forced to land near Gaza, where he was taken prisoner.

Lt Herbert Ramseyer Heathcote was the pilot of an RE 8 of No 3 Sqn AFC, with Lt H B James as his observer, who was credited with forcing a Fokker D.VII to land near St Quentin on 14 September 1918.

They're the only Heathcotes I can find in the Australian RFC squadrons or the RFC.

I hope that this is useful.

Gareth

[frev]

Hi Dominic

If Lt LW Heathcote is your man, here's what Aircraft Mechanic Joe Bull had to say about his capture in his diary:

Friday 9 March:

Lieutenant Heathcote was brought down in a B.E.2e and was seen to smash the machine on landing in the enemy lines. Lieutenant Snell dropped to 100 feet with the intention of picking up Heathcote, but the Turks made it too hot with machine-gun fire. When last seen, Heathcote was running away and the Turks had machine-guns firing on him. He was surrounded by the enemy so had no chance of getting away.

Cheers, Frev

[domsim]

Hi Gareth & frev

Thankyou for replying, yes the man I am interested is the Gaza Heathcote of 67 squadron. there are 2 photos in the Australian War Memorial site that purport to show him and his crashed aircraft (i can't seem to upload copies here though). I would like to see what type of aircraft people think is in the photos-I am no expert!

Thanks again for the information.

Cheers

Dominic

[Dolphin]

Dominic

The aeroplane certainly isn't a Bristol Fighter in March 1917, as the first of these didn't arrive in Palestine until July and No 67 (A) Sqn didn't use them until December. However, the wreck doesn't have the sesquiplane look of a BE 2e either, and the tail is nothing like that of a BE 2e - it does look like a Bristol Fighter. Lt Heathcote's Service Record is clear about his flying a BE 2e when he was captured, so it seems most likely that the photograph isn't of Lt Heathcote's wreckage.

Regards

Gareth

[domsim]

Hi gareth

yup this confirms the suspicions I had about the notes on this photo. In the Osprey book 'Bristol F2 Fighter Aces of World War 1' By Jon Guttman on page 81 the same photo is shown (the one with the chap with the pipe at the tail end) and the caption says it shows the crash site of Lt. G V Oxenham and Lt L H Smith (1 Squadron AFC) near Kutrani on the Hejaz Railwayand that Smith is the guy with the pipe. They were shot down on the 27th June 1918 and were flying a Bristol Fighter.

This is the real reason I am interested (not that Heathcotes crash is not interesting of course!) as i am researching Oxenham and Smith's crash. I have located their (Oxenham and Smith's) crash site on google earth from the aerial photo of the downed plane in the 1 squadron war diary. Unfortunatley It doesn't really match the landscape visible in the crash photos. i was put on to this by providing some details on the location of the aerodrome at Kutrani where Oxenham was buried to the late Neville Hayes. He was trying to help present members of the Oxenham family locate the site of his grave at Kutrani.

A bit involved but again thanks for your help

Cheers

Dominic

[frev]

Hi again Dominic

There is also a similar photo (taken from a different angle & Smith has his hat on) of the same crash site in 'One Airman's War' - and the photos are from Joe Bull's private collection.

The photo is captioned: "A Turkish snapshot of Oxenham's fatal crash. Lt Smith stands in the centre beside the wreckage apparently non the worse for wear!"

Looking more like the AWM photos are miscaptioned.

Bull's diary entry for 27 June reads:

Before 6am this morning Lieutenant Oxenham and Lieutenant Smith drove down a two seater Hun machine and while diving down to shoot at it, Oxenham failed to get out of the nose dive and crashed into the hills. At the same time, Captain Brown in another B.F. [No. B1149 with Lt Finlay] knocked and crashed a Hun at the same place. It is thought that both Oxenham and Smith are killed. This afternoon a machine went out to a place which is on the Mecca railway somewhere between the forcces of the Sheriff of Mecca and the Turks, but they could not go low down as the Turks rushed a gun up on the railway. The observer saw our B.F. and one Hun machine crashed by the other machine which was surrounded by Bedouins and was apparently trying to take off.

Cheers, Frev

[domsim]

Hi Frev

You must be right the Aussie war memorial must have it wrong. I have various versions from Smith of the incident and Capt. A R Brown's combat in the air report (he was in the other plane with Oxenham and Smith). Do you know if Brown or his observer Lt. Garfield Finlay ever wrote any descriptions of the incident?

Thanks again for your help.

Cheers

Dominic