The RFC & Aerial Reconnaissance in Mesopotamia & Palestine 1914-18.

[Oxon/Bucks Boy]

I am in the process of doing an MA on the FWW at Wolverhampton University and would like to explore this topic for my dissertation as not a lot seems to have been written on what was a fundamental asset to the eventual success of the campaigns in the Middle East. I Would really welcome some pointers and directions as to how I can expend this line of research in greater depth!

 

Thank you ...

[Dolphin]

You might like to look at a copy of Wings Over Mesopotamia by Mark Lax, Mike O'Connor and Ray Vann, which is available through Cross & Cockade International: https://www.crossandcockade.com/

 

I hope this helps

 

Gareth

 

[Oxon/Bucks Boy]

Thanks for the lead Gareth, much appreciated - I have just ordered!..... 

Edited 10 June , 2020 by Oxon/Bucks Boy

[MaureenE]

You could look at the online resources linked from the FIBIS Fibiwiki pages, which includes  RFC/RAF items

Mesopotamia Campaign

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Mesopotamia_Campaign and 

Egypt, Palestine, Syria (First World War)

https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Egypt,_Palestine,_Syria_(First_World_War)

 

Cheers

Maureen

 

[Oxon/Bucks Boy]

Fab! - Thanks Maureen.  x

[Guest]

Mate,

 

You may also want to look at the other side of the river, try Ottoman Aviation 1909-1919. for some insight into the Ottoman/German operations in Mespot.

 

S.B

[pjlambert]

I haven't been on in some time.  I wrote my Master's thesis on Air Operations in the Mesopotamian Campaign back in 2003.  I am also currently working on an annotated bibliography of the Mesopotamian Campaign, that i should have finished later this year. Please feel free to reach out. 

Cheers

Peter

[dpolglaze]

There is also "Above and Beyond Palestine" by C.E. Hughes, described as An Account of the Work of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron 1916-1918.

Dan

Edited 14 June , 2020 by dpolglaze

[MaureenE]

3 hours ago, dpolglaze said:

There is also "Above and Beyond Palestine" by C.E. Hughes, described as An Account of the Work of the East Indies and Egypt Seaplane Squadron 1916-1918.

 

There is an online edition https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.83088/page/n5/mode/2up

 

Cheers

Maureen

 

[Airshipped]

There have been some useful articles in Cross & Cockade over the years. Their index can be searched quite easily, and the relevant edition can be purchased in electronic format relatively inexpensively in comparison to the cost of academic history journals. 

 

Apart from all the chronological historic detail do also have a look at the various memoirs of those who served in the theatre. Although the RNAS might be out of scope, Benn's In the Sideshows is a good read. Similarly, the Australian Flying Corps via Aces and Kings. 

 

However, any academic research project has a budget, so there's no point in me mentioning 1,000,001 books or articles if you've constraints of time and budget. In that regard perhaps take a quick look through some of the freely available memoirs. 

 

For example, Lewen Francis Barrington Weldon commanded the HMS Anne. His Hard Lying memoir touches upon the aerial observation and reconnaissance themes,  https://archive.org/details/HardLying 

 

[b3rn]

OBB, there are a number of good articles from the 1920s regarding aerial photography to be found in JSTOR. Drop me a line if you’ve not seen them. 

[david murdoch]

Another good book worth reading .https://www.naval-military-press.com/product/in-the-clouds-above-baghdad-being-the-records-of-an-air-commander/

It's also available digital for download as a pdf  https://archive.org/details/incloudsabovebag00tennrich

 

[Grid]

Are you looking at primary documents for the MA?

 

One of the most important primary sources in The National Archives (TNA), Kew is: Flight Commander, Mesopotamia, War Diary, TNA AIR1/2263. Be warned the Mesopotamia file in AIR1 is voluminous! There are also primary documents at the Australian War Memorial Museum. 

 

Two important individuals who left documentation are Hugh Reilly and T. W. White.

 

For Reilly, who was one of the senior officers, there is material at Leeds University in their special collection. I can help you with this if you message me.

 

For White, his diary is held at the Australian War Museum along with documents from others who served as airmen or aircrew. He also wrote an influential memoir, Guests of the Unspeakable, of which a quarter/third is about his aerial experiences and the rest his imprisonment.

 

Less useful but worth looking is Francis Yeats-Brown, The Lives of a Bengal Lancer in which he devotes a small chapter to his time in the Half Flight in Mesopotamia. There may be more in his book Caught by the Turks, but it has been a couple of years since I looked at this.

 

Obviously, given the heavy Australian involvement you should be looking at Molkentin, Australia in the War in the Air (Oxford). The footnotes in the relevant chapter(s) will be invaluable for further guidance.

 

Don't forget that the Mesopotamian Half Flight was eventually attached to 30 Squadron RFC, so TNA history of 30 Squadron contains information about the operations by the Half Flight, see attached AIR1 file cover.

 

All the best on this interesting topic.

 

Adam

Edited 1 July , 2020 by Grid

[barkalotloudly]

Several years ago I purchased a number of trench maps of the campaign in Palestine , unlike western front maps these are paper "duplicated " maps the notes that came with these indicated they were drawn from a set of aerial photographs that should have also been present but unfortunately were absent

Several years later I came across an old catalogue listing these for sale but alas they had long since gone