nils d Posted 20 July , 2018 Share Posted 20 July , 2018 I wonder if anyone can give details on a Belgian scorer of , l think , 1918. In Harleyfords " Air aces of the 14-18 war " there is a list of every Belgian with an aerial victory. Ive matched all these airmen to a date and a squadron with the exception of one aviator Belge~. He is Lt Jean Bastin and might be a two seater man ,pilot or observer.So can anyone close the book on this exercise and give details on his claim? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
von Smallhausen Posted 20 July , 2018 Share Posted 20 July , 2018 Have been looking into : "Above Franders Fields" by W. Pieters and "Filiations des Unités de la Force Aérienne" by A Servais and was not able to find Lt Jean Bastin. Sorry Jef Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMeech Posted 20 July , 2018 Share Posted 20 July , 2018 16 minutes ago, nils d said: I wonder if anyone can give details on a Belgian scorer of , l think , 1918. In Harleyfords " Air aces of the 14-18 war " there is a list of every Belgian with an aerial victory. Ive matched all these airmen to a date and a squadron with the exception of one aviator Belge~. He is Lt Jean Bastin and might be a two seater man ,pilot or observer.So can anyone close the book on this exercise and give details on his claim? Hi There is a short biography of Jean Melanie Louis Eugene Alfred BASTIN, 1er Sergeant-Major of 2me Esc (he was commissioned on 22 June 1920) in 'The Belgian Air Service in the First World War', page529, by Walter Pieters. All it has on his victory is a later citation that states: "Very good and courageous pilot with much devotion. Whilst carrying out a an escort mission on 3 November 1918 he brought down an enemy aircraft." There are no details of the identity of the shot down aircraft. It also states his observer was Lt Idesbalde De Groeve, with whom he flew regularly. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils d Posted 27 July , 2018 Author Share Posted 27 July , 2018 On 20/07/2018 at 12:46, von Smallhausen said: Have been looking into : "Above Franders Fields" by W. Pieters and "Filiations des Unités de la Force Aérienne" by A Servais and was not able to find Lt Jean Bastin. Sorry Jef Yes von S I too have Above Flanders Fields and was disappointed Bastin wasn't mentioned. However Mike came up with the goods and set my troubled mind at rest. Funny how so many Belgian victories occurred in the final few weeks of the war. Well done Mike, award yourself something Belgian ,something with chocolate on it or from a brown bottle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
topgun1918 Posted 27 July , 2018 Share Posted 27 July , 2018 Given the choice, I'd award myself the Kasteel Rouge with many Palmes! Graeme Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils d Posted 3 August , 2018 Author Share Posted 3 August , 2018 On 20/07/2018 at 13:07, MikeMeech said: Hi There is a short biography of Jean Melanie Louis Eugene Alfred BASTIN, 1er Sergeant-Major of 2me Esc (he was commissioned on 22 June 1920) in 'The Belgian Air Service in the First World War', page529, by Walter Pieters. All it has on his victory is a later citation that states: "Very good and courageous pilot with much devotion. Whilst carrying out a an escort mission on 3 November 1918 he brought down an enemy aircraft." There are no details of the identity of the shot down aircraft. It also states his observer was Lt Idesbalde De Groeve, with whom he flew regularly. Mike Looking further at this l see De Groeve isn't in the Harleyford list at all {l obviously lack the big Pieters book}. I expect he and Bastin were flying a Breguet 14 on this escort mission, that being 2 Sqns usual mount. While on the subject Im wondering about another victory. [or two] J Orta got a kill no date , no details , but in April 1917 he was a pilot in 4 Sqn flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters. He had an observer Lt L De Burlet and that chap is credited with a victory on 24/6/17 against a scout. So were they together - on a Strutter? Also R DE Clercq got a 2 seater on 3/10/18 in 11 Sqn but what was he flying? Officially they were a Camel unit but most time l find a mention of them they're on Hanriot's, which l cant help but think is a retrograde step.(but l just like Camels) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMeech Posted 3 August , 2018 Share Posted 3 August , 2018 2 hours ago, nils d said: Looking further at this l see De Groeve isn't in the Harleyford list at all {l obviously lack the big Pieters book}. I expect he and Bastin were flying a Breguet 14 on this escort mission, that being 2 Sqns usual mount. While on the subject Im wondering about another victory. [or two] J Orta got a kill no date , no details , but in April 1917 he was a pilot in 4 Sqn flying Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters. He had an observer Lt L De Burlet and that chap is credited with a victory on 24/6/17 against a scout. So were they together - on a Strutter? Also R DE Clercq got a 2 seater on 3/10/18 in 11 Sqn but what was he flying? Officially they were a Camel unit but most time l find a mention of them they're on Hanriot's, which l cant help but think is a retrograde step.(but l just like Camels) Hi Pieters has a photo of S/Lt Jose Orta and Lt, Louis de Burlet in their Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter on page 350. Pluscolour profile of aircraft on page 702. Their only confirmed claim was 24 June 1917, for 'C' type two-seater, destroyed over Spermalie. Flying 1 1/2 Strutter. They had two unconfirmed claims: 7 Sept. 1915 for an 'Aviatik' over Dixmude, OOC. 30 June 1916 for Enemy Aircraft off Westende, OOC. For these they were probably flying Voisin or Farman types. Sergent Rene Declercq of 11me Escadrille confirmed claim for 3 Oct. 1918 was for a two-seater 'C' type over Lichtervelde at about 0810 hours, he had repeatedly attacked this aircraft. He was most probably flying the Hanriot as this was one of the Belgian squadrons that supposedly were fully equipped with the type, although it appears to have had Camels in March 1918. In the book there is an Appendix B that is a 'List of Confirmed and Unconfirmed Victories of the Aviation Militaire', pages 712-716. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nils d Posted 10 August , 2018 Author Share Posted 10 August , 2018 Thank you Mike for all your digging If 11 Sqn had Hanriots EOW why was wrong with their Camels? The British gave them plenty of a good plane after all. I had to look up Graemes suggested celebratary drink but its sounds " bon" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MikeMeech Posted 10 August , 2018 Share Posted 10 August , 2018 9 hours ago, nils d said: Thank you Mike for all your digging If 11 Sqn had Hanriots EOW why was wrong with their Camels? The British gave them plenty of a good plane after all. I had to look up Graemes suggested celebratary drink but its sounds " bon" Hi Although some sources tell us the 11me Escadrille was fully equipped with Henriots by the end of the war, there is an image of a Camel (with another in background) with the squadron marking on the fuselage on page 487 of Pieters's book, with Leon Cremers, which appears to suggest that he flew this aircraft over his parents house on 11 November 1918. On page 521 is a picture of Sgt. Leon Guillon of 11me Esc. sitting in his Henriot on which he claimed two victories during October 1918. I suspect the unit may still have had a mixture of aircraft late in 1918. This also is the information contained in the Appendix A of this book, although as I mentioned some other sources state differently, eg. 'French Aircraft of the First World War', page 270, by Davilla and Soltan. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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