57 Sqn Officers Photo - Nov 1917

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The attached photo was sourced from the 57 & 630 Sqn Association page. It is believed to have been taken at Boisdinghem, France,  in November 1917 as the Squadron’s first Commanding Officer, Major Sir L A Pattinson MC handed over command to Major C A A Hiatt MC. I have just asked the association if they may have a higher resolution copy - and await a reply.

 

In the interim I thought I`d ask if any GWF pals recognised the photo, could name the officers, or had a high resolution copy (or knew where I could obtain one)?

 

My cousin and I believe the right hand most (looking at the photo) figure, standing in the 2nd row, may be our grandfather 2/Lt William Charles Venmore. Wlliam flew as an observer with 57 Sqn between Oct 17 and Mar 18, and continued to serve with the RAF, latterly as an education officer, right through the second war. William was flying with Capt Alexander Roulstone on 17 Mar 18, when the pair shot down the German ace Hans Bethge. Both Alex and William were wounded in the encounter, William seriously.

 

Regards, Paul

 

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I believe the original resides with the current 57 Sqn. I have approached the Sqn to see if I can obtain a better copy. Any additional help would still be welcomed!

 

Regards, Paul

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On 27/03/2019 at 01:24, pjwmacro said:

Sir L A Pattinson MC

 

Sir Lawrence Arthur Pattinson, I think is probably the central seated figure in the photo. Born 8 October 1890, died 28 March 1955 - he went on to become an Air Marshal in the second war. Educated at Cambridge University, Pattinson was commissioned into the 5th Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry in 1914 at the start of the First World War. He subsequently transferred to the Royal Fusiliers and then to the Royal Flying Corps and became Officer Commanding No. 57 Squadron on the Western Front in 1916. In March 1918 he became Officer Commanding No. 99 Squadron and later that year he took command of the 41st Wing.

Between the wars he was Station Commander at RAF Andover and then, from 1930, Deputy Director of Organisation at the Air Ministry.[1] He went on to be Air Officer Commanding the Armament Group in 1934 and Air Officer Commanding No. 23 (Training) Group in 1937. He served in the Second World War as Air Officer Commanding Flying Training Command and then as Head of the RAF Training Mission to the Chinese Air Force before retiring in 1945. In recognition of his contribution to the development of the Chinese Air Force, in 1943 General Chiang Kai-shek gave him a black and gold lacquerware vase which is now in the Victoria and Albert Museum. (Wikipedia)

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On 27/03/2019 at 01:24, pjwmacro said:

Major C A A Hiatt MC

 

Cuthbert Ambrose Anthony Hiatt was born in London in March 1890 and was commissioned in the Norfolk Regiment in February 1915. Securing a secondment to the Royal Flying Corps shortly afterwards, he qualified for his Royal Aero Club Certificate (No. 1223) on a Maurice Farman Biplane at Shoreham that May and, following further instruction in the U.K., was posted as a Flying Officer to No. 9 Squadron, which unit was shortly after ordered to France, where it carried out Army co-operation duties in B.E.2s.

In March 1916, Hiatt was appointed a Temporary Captain and Flight Commander in No. 4 Squadron, in which capacity he undertook important reconnaissance work on the Somme. On 1 July he was entrusted with a special low-level mission over the German trenches at Thiepval, duly completed at an altitude of just 600 feet, while on a similar operation back over Thiepval two days later, his B.E.2c was badly shot up and damaged. Later that month, and having been recommended for his M.C. by Trenchard, he was ordered to the U.K., where he joined No. 66 Squadron as a Flight Commander.

Advanced to Temporary Major in May 1917, Hiatt assumed command of No. 57 Squadron out in France that November, a D.H. 4 unit engaged on photographic reconnaissance flights and bombing duties, in which role its pilots frequently encountered enemy aircraft - by the War’s end, when Hiatt returned to the U.K., No. 57 had been credited with 166 enemy aircraft destroyed, 285 tons of bombs dropped and the taking of over 22,000 photographic plates.

Relinquishing his commission in October 1919, Hiatt returned to life as a soldier and, having served as Adjutant of the Bermuda Volunteer Rifle Corps in the 1920s, was placed on the Reserve of Officers as a substantive Major in February 1931. But he returned to uniform on the renewal of hostilities in September 1939, when he was appointed an Honorary Flight Lieutenant and Assistant Commandant of No. 11 Elementary and Reserve Flying Training School in Perth, Scotland. Later still, he served in the Middle East as a member of the Administration and Special Duties Branch. (Source DNW: https://www.dnw.co.uk/auction-archive/past-catalogues/lot.php?auction_id=187&lot_id=188107)

 

His medals were auctioned by DNW in September 2010.