Lt Reginald Hawkins RAF

[jimmyjames]

This young RAF officer, only 19, was serving in 79 Sqn (I think, Sopwith Dolphins!!) and was killed on 29th July 1918.

It may well have been only his first or second flight, but I would be grateful for any details of the circumstances of his death.

He was a popular lad in Cheltenham, being commemorated on 6 memorials!

Regards

Jimmy

[jimmyjames]

Lt Reginald Hawkins, RAF.

[Dolphin]

Lt R Hawkins was killed in an accident while flying Sopwith 5.F1 Dolphin C4187 on 29 July 1918.

C4187 was built by Sopwith in the first production batch C3777-4276, and would have looked rather like the No 79 aircraft below. The white square is the squadron marking.

I hope this helps

[jimmyjames]

Thanks, Dolphin.

Generally, were young inexperienced officers "babysat" or thrown directly into combat situations.

Regards

Jimmy

[Dolphin]

Jimmy

The RFC/RAF certainly made an effort to protect new pilots when possible. When time and circumstances permitted, the normal procedure was for them to spend some time becoming familar with their part of the front before going off on an Offensive Patrol, during which they were told to concentrate on keeping formation and getting used to life over the lines. More experienced pilots tried to keep an eye on them.

Unfortunately for the newcomers, they had to become involved when the Flight they were part of was involved with enemy aircraft. It was in these circumstances that the new pilots' inexperience and lack of 'spacial awareness' became apparent, and they were an easy target for the opposition. As well as enemy aircraft, there were the additional problems of navigation over battlefields, weather, ground fire, airframe and engine failures and lots of other things to contend with - all of them greater difficulties for inexperienced men. I read somewhere that some 80% of air casualties were suffered by aircrew who had flown less than 20 operations.

Cheers

[jimmyjames]

Thanks, Dolphin.

The stats [80% of air casualties were suffered by aircrew who had flown less than 20 operations] are sobering.

I wonder if Germany and its allies suffered the same sort of casualty rate. How did their pilot training compare to that of the Commonwealth and Allied forces.

Regards

Jimmy

[Dolphin]

Jimmy

I don't have any figures to back up my statement, but I'm sure that the German casualty rate over the Western Front would have been lower for two main reasons.

1. The Germans generally kept on the defensive, so that more air combat took place over their side of the lines than over Allied territory. Hence, a German airmen who was forced to land (either unharmed or wounded) was likely to be able to continue his fighting career, rather than being sent to a PoW camp.

2. The prevailing wind over the Western Front was a westerly, so that an Allied aircraft damaged behind the enemy lines often had to struggle against the wind to reach friendly territory, while the wind would have assisted German aircraft in the same circumstances.

Also, with respect to single-seater pilots, the RFC, RNAS, RAF and AFC frequently posted novices direct to fighter units from training, whereas their German counterparts often spent some time in two-seater units, becoming accustomed to war flying, before being posted to a Jasta. This experience would have been most beneficial.

There's also the minor issue of parachutes. In 1918, German pilots were issued with parachutes, which saved some lives. I've read that there were 47 parachute jumps by German or Austro-Hungarian airmen over the Western and Italian Fronts between 1 April and 11 November, with 38 successful openings.

I hope this helps.

[jimmyjames]

Dolphin, many thanks for the most informative reply.

Any idea of the final toll of pilots/flyers of both the Central Powers and the Allies. A total of 993 commonwealth flyers with no known grave on the Western Front are on the Arras Flying Services Memorial alone.

Would be interesting just to compare the figures.

Regards

Jimmy

[Dolphin]

Jimmy

Your question isn't an easy one to answer, not least because of the lack of data relating to the Austro-Hungarians, Italians, Russians, Turks and others. I tried to compare what might the most relevant, the British Empire airmen and the German fliers who were killed, but it's not quite as simple as that. Figures are there, but not calculated in the same way, eg the Germans didn't seem to include kite balloon crews in their totals, and they are only Army, so German Naval aviation fliers, such as seaplane and Zeppelin crews, plus the airmen of the Marine Feld Jastas, aren't counted. However, the Germans have figures for their wounded, but have a different way of accounting for the missing, and so on.

Anyway, the best figures I can find are as follows.

There were 9352 British and Empire airmen (RNAS, RFC, RAF and AFC, including ground staff, plus WRAF) who died up to 11 November 1918, comprising 3954 killed in action or died of wounds, 2982 killed while flying or died of injuries and 2416 who died from 'other' or unknown causes. The figures are different in other sources I have.

Incidentally, the most dangerous British aircraft to be flying was the Sopwith Camel, as 831 pilots died while flying them, including 424 who were casualties in action.

I've seen a figure of 2870 French aircrew killed in action out of a total of 7250 lost, including missing, wounded and PoW. Similar figures for the USA are 235 and 513. I don't know if these include Naval fliers.

On the other side, as far as I can judge, 5953 German Army airmen died or were killed, being 1035 officer pilots (299 at home and 736 at the front), 2385 NCO/other ranks pilots (1143 home and 1251 front), 1352 officer observers (303 and 1049) and 333 NCO and other ranks observers (118 and 333). 848 other Army aviation personnel also died at home (10 officers and 838 NCOs and other ranks).

It's a complex exercise, but I hope it makes some sense. Please let me know if I can provide further data.

Cheers

[jimmyjames]

Dolphin

Many thanks for those figures - I had no idea of the scale of the losses of both sides. They are astonishing.

It appears the Camel had a lot to answer for. The aviation-history website states

"As the successor to the Pup, the Sopwith Aviation Company produced a fiery, temperamental little biplane, the famous, and notorious, Sopwith F.1 Camel. In the hands of an experienced pilot the Camel could out maneuver any contemporary airplane, with the possible exception of the Fokker Triplane. From July 1917, when it reached the Front, until the Armistice, the Camel accounted for no less than 1,294 enemy machines"

Others say "it was the most successful fighter plane of WWI" and yet the figures tell another story, accounting for nearly 9% of Empire pilots, and it was in service for only 16 months.

Again, thanks for the stats.

Regards

Jimmy

[ChrisM]

Dolphin said:

"There were 9352 British and Empire airmen (RNAS, RFC, RAF and AFC, including ground staff, plus WRAF) who died up to 11 November 1918, comprising 3954 killed in action or died of wounds, 2982 killed while flying or died of injuries and 2416 who died from 'other' or unknown causes."

Thanks, Dolphin, for that assessment which was very interesting – although such an adjective seems hardly appropriate in these circumstances.

Is it possible to express the total British/Empire losses as an approximate percentage of all those who served in the RFC, RAF etc? And how would this compare with Army losses on the same basis? Also would there be any data available which compared aircrew losses, again in percentage terms, with any assessment of overall losses amongst front line Army units?

I suspect I am asking some difficult questions!

Chris

[Dolphin]

Chris

You are asking difficult questions!

Unfortunately, I don't know of a source for the figures you seek. it would be a very complex exercise to work out the number of men and women who served in the air services during the war, taking into account those who joined and left for various reasons.

The strength of the RAF on 31 October 1918 was 5739 combatant officers, 2304 non-combatant officers and 81214 other ranks outside the United Kingdom, plus 11767 officers and 182628 other ranks (including cadets in training) in the UK and other non-active areas. The Official History says that in addition to the foregoing there were between 7000 and 8000 officers then attached to home units for instruction.

The AFC would not be included in the above figures.

I'm not sure how air services casualties could be compared with the Army, as [aside from ground staff who were at risk during air raids, shelling and other enemy action] in the RFC/RNAS/RAF/AFC only the small percentage that were aircrew actually engaged in combat.

With luck, someone will have some appropriate data.

[ChrisM]

Thanks for that, Dolphin. It puts the 3954 and 2982 figures in your earlier posting into a useful context and gives a sense of the degree of risk accepted by those who went through training and subsequently joined a front line squadron.

Whether, on average, it was more dangerous to be up there at 13000 feet without a parachute, sucking oxygen from a rubber tube and fighting for one’s life, than to be scrambling around as a subaltern in the mud far below is I suppose merely an academic point; and one which we are lucky enough just to be able to think about and not have to prove in person.

Chris