8AAP Lympne 'Gotha patrol 5.6.17'

[Annette Carson]

Can anyone please advise me how to locate the AIR1 record for a supposed 'Gotha patrol' in which D.V. Armstrong is reported to have participated on 5 June 1917?

 

He was at the time employed as ferry/test pilot out of SAD Farnborough which presumably explains his presence at Lympne, but 'patrol' suggests that he was scrambled to reinforce the RFC defence aircraft sent up to counter the Gotha raid on 5 June (on which date I understand that 9 machines of various types rose from the Aircraft Parks at Hendon and Lympne. 

 

I should like to discover details of his participation including which aeroplane he flew on this occasion. I'll be going to Kew on Tuesday but am still out of my depth identifying documents online. If anyone can point me to the source of such information it will save me much heartache!

Thanks

Annette

[MikeMeech]

20 minutes ago, Annette Carson said:

Can anyone please advise me how to locate the AIR1 record for a supposed 'Gotha patrol' in which D.V. Armstrong is reported to have participated on 5 June 1917?

 

He was at the time employed as ferry/test pilot out of SAD Farnborough which presumably explains his presence at Lympne, but 'patrol' suggests that he was scrambled to reinforce the RFC defence aircraft sent up to counter the Gotha raid on 5 June (on which date I understand that 9 machines of various types rose from the Aircraft Parks at Hendon and Lympne. 

 

I should like to discover details of his participation including which aeroplane he flew on this occasion. I'll be going to Kew on Tuesday but am still out of my depth identifying documents online. If anyone can point me to the source of such information it will save me much heartache!

Thanks

Annette

Hi

Cole & Cheesman, 'The Air Defence of Britain 1914-1918', page 240, has Lt. D Armstrong flying Sopwith Pup B1731 from No. 8 Aircraft Acceptance Park, Lympne.  I can only suggest to check if there is a file relating to 8 AAP or look through any files relating to air defence of that period.

 

Mike

[Annette Carson]

Thanks very much, Mike. Since the index of Cole & Cheesman listed Lt D Armstrong separately from 'my' D.V. Armstrong, I remain unsure whether it's the same person. Frank was very accurate over names and initials, as you know. I need to check a final few details of my biography before it goes to the publisher, and had the brainwave that maybe someone here had looked at this record. I tried the TNA online chat service but they say I need one of their specialists so I've completed an enquiry form. 

 

That's where it sits right now unless anyone joins this conversation with more ideas.

 

Back to the keyboard

Annette

 

[fetubi]

Hi Annette - So, you're looking for a Lt DV Armstrong flying on a Home Defence sortie out of 8AAP Lympne on the 5th June 1917.  And Mike mentions a reference to a Lt D Armstrong flying a Home Defence sortie out of 8AAP Lympne in Pup B1731 on 5th June 1917.  And you wonder if it's the same man!! 

There's only one other D Armstrong in the RFC RAF that I've ever come across, in all my searching, and that is a chap mentioned just the once, with 10 Squadron, back in May 1915.  Every other mention I've seen of a D... Armstrong is your man.  I suspect the files Cheesman and Cole were looking at referred to "Lt D Armstrong" - so he copied that down. 

My view is I seriously think Mike might have found your details for you...

Cheers. Trevor

Edited 3 August , 2018 by fetubi

[Annette Carson]

Hi Trevor

 

Thanks for letting me know that you've reached the same conclusion. I have indeed consulted as many published sources as I can, including those mentioned by you and Mike (that chap in 10 Squadron appears to be a David Armstrong) ... but the thing is that as a historian I feel bound to go back to original documents to see the source of other people's work. For example, DVA's official records are by no means full and accurate, and you yourself have generously provided material to me that sheds different light on what was previously assumed. I suppose I have learnt salutary lessons working in the world of mediaeval history, where your arguments are trashed if they are not backed up with original research, and I myself have found records wrongly interpreted resulting in misleading conclusions. Happily WWI aero historians aren't that competitive. But I am about to do some work at TNA, and Cole and/or Cheesman must surely have found this record among some TNA papers, therefore I'd like to verify it and, if possible, flesh it out with time of day or even a contact report, who knows?  Apparently whatever exists at Kew on 8AAP is not easy to find at a glance, so my fingers are crossed that someone there can locate it for me. 

 

Cheers, Annette