RFC experts help required please

[BillyH]

I am researching an Army Cyclist Corps soldier who was attached to the Royal Flying Corps by 1917.

He was in an aeroplane somewhere near Arras on 22nd July 1917 when the plane came down (presumably behind enemy lines) and he was killed. I have absolutely all the usual information about this man, including local newspaper reports and 4 pension ledger cards, but I am very curious to know what on earth he was doing in an aeroplane. Do any of the RFC experts have a record of this incident, possibly who was flying the aroplane?

All records such as SDGW, CWGC, Pension Ledgers, Soldiers Effects etc only refer to him being in the Cyclist Corps. There is no known grave for him, which is why I presume he was killed behind enemy lines, but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. Here is a link to his CWGC entry :

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/search-results/?Surname=McLAUGHLIN&Forename=&Initials=&ServiceNum=13761&Regiment=&CountryCommemoratedIn=null&Cemetery=&Unit=&Rank=&SecondaryRegiment=&AgeOfDeath=0&DateDeathFromDay=1&DateDeathFromMonth=January&DateDeathFromYear=&DateDeathToDay=1&DateDeathToMonth=January&DateDeathToYear=&DateOfDeath=&Honours=null&AdditionalInfo=&Tab=&Page=1

BillyH.

Edited 19 October , 2022 by BillyH
date corrected

[MikeMeech]

48 minutes ago, BillyH said:

I am researching an Army Cyclist Corps soldier who was attached to the Royal Flying Corps by 1917.

He was in an aeroplane somewhere near Arras on 22nd July 1917 when the plane came down (presumably behind enemy lines) and he was killed. I have absolutely all the usual information about this man, including local newspaper reports and 4 pension ledger cards, but I am very curious to know what on earth he was doing in an aeroplane. Do any of the RFC experts have a record of this incident, possibly who was flying the aroplane?

All records such as SDGW, CWGC, Pension Ledgers, Soldiers Effects etc only refer to him being in the Cyclist Corps. There is no known grave for him, which is why I presume he was killed behind enemy lines, but he is commemorated on the Arras Memorial. Here is a link to his CWGC entry :

https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/search-results/?Surname=McLAUGHLIN&Forename=&Initials=&ServiceNum=13761&Regiment=&CountryCommemoratedIn=null&Cemetery=&Unit=&Rank=&SecondaryRegiment=&AgeOfDeath=0&DateDeathFromDay=1&DateDeathFromMonth=January&DateDeathFromYear=&DateDeathToDay=1&DateDeathToMonth=January&DateDeathToYear=&DateOfDeath=&Honours=null&AdditionalInfo=&Tab=&Page=1

BillyH.

Hi

A very useful source is Trevor Henshaw's 'The Sky Their Battlefield II'.  Page 103 has a 42 Sqn. RE.8 A3446  shot down on a photo mission near FRELINGIEN.  Pilot Capt B H Smith with Pte. A McLaughlin both KIA.  I presume as your main is 'attached' to the RFC it was as an air gunner (maybe training to be an observer eventually 'on the job').  Possible claim from Vfw A Heldman of Jasta 10. I shall have a look at some other sources and see if anything else comes up.

Mike

[MikeMeech]

Hi

Further to my previous, 'Airmen Died in the Great War 1914-1918' (DVD-ROM), has his service number as 13761 and his Grade Branch or Position as Observer.

Mike

[BillyH]

That is absolutely brilliant Mike! The local report (below) infers that he was the pilot, but I didn't believe that for one minute. Observer seems much more likely.

BillyH.

[Tawhiri]

No sign of a casualty card for Arthur McLaughlin, but there are several incident and personal cards for the pilot, Bronson Howard Smith, who was a Canadian attached to the RFC. The aircraft was last seen spinning at 500 ft, and the crew were eventually presumed dead according to these cards.

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/smith-b.h.-bronson-howard

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/smith-b.h

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/7000258456-smith-b.h.-bronson-howard

http://www.rafmuseumstoryvault.org.uk/archive/7000258457-smith-b.h

https://www.casualtyforms.org/form/22318

Bronson Howard Smith's full Canadian service record can also be downloaded from the Library and Archives Canada website.

https://www.bac-lac.gc.ca/eng/discover/military-heritage/first-world-war/personnel-records/Pages/item.aspx?IdNumber=235570

Unfortunately it doesn't add anything further to the circumstances under which the crew were lost.

Edited 19 October , 2022 by Tawhiri

[josquin]

Pte. Arthur McLaughlin's Medal Index Card at the National Archives (reference WO 372/13/38477) states that he was with the Army Cyclist Corps,

with service # 12 and later # 13761.  The Air History People Index states that he was an Aerial Gunner (Probationary) with the R.F.C. in June, 1917.

There is no service record in the Air 79 series at the National Archives, so he was attached with 42 Squadron and was killed before the transfer

paperwork was finalized.  He had been attached as an A.G. (Prob.) prior to his death, so that explains his presence with 42 Squadron on 22 July 1917.

The Air History site and "100 Years Ago Today, 22 July 1917," (of The Aerodrome site) describe 22 July as follows:  T/Capt. Bronson Howard Smith,

pilot, and Pte. Arthur McLaughlin, Aerial Gunner & Observer, took-off at 8:30/9:30 a.m. on a photographic mission, believed to have been brought down

behind Frelinghein and last seen spinning at 500 feet.  The casualty report (Air 1/968 p.104) lists McLaughlin as Pte. 13761, with his Army Cyclist Corps

service number, indicating he had not been granted an R.F.C. service number.  C.W.G.C. lists that he was with VII Corps Cyclist Battalion, Army Cyclist

Corps, when he had service # 13761.

The pilot, Lieutenant (Temporary Captain)  Bronson Howard Smith, was born on 10 November 1894, at Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, lived there prior

to the war and was employed there as a clerk, and enlisted in the Canadian Expeditionary Force on 12 January 1915.  Posted to the 25th Infantry

Battalion Nova Scotia Regimental Depot as a Lieutenant, he completed pilot training in 1916 and qualified for his Royal Aero Club Certificate (# 3979)

on 14 September 1916.  Smith was appointed a Flying Officer with the R.F.C. on 24 March 1917, arrived in France and was posted to 42 Squadron

on 28 March 1917, and had been promoted to Temporary Captain on 6 March 1917. 

Captain Smith and Private McLaughlin were the first of the 15 confirmed victories of Vizefeldwebel (later Leutnant) Alois Heldmann, of Jasta 10, a

21-year old former engineering student from Grevenbrueck who survived the war and served as a Luftwaffe Colonel during the Second World War.

Heldmann claimed his first victory at Deulemont, at 9:40/10:40 (as stated in "100 Years Ago Today" and Heldmann's biography on The Aerodrome site).

Josquin

 

[josquin]

Confirming that Pte. Arthur McLaughlin's transfer to the R.F.C. was never finalized, the official death registration states:

Arthur McLaughlin; death date 1917; service # 13761, Pte., Army Cyclist Corps

(GRO War Deaths Army Other Ranks (1914 to 1921, in British Nationals Armed Forces Deaths, 1796-2005).

Josquin

[BillyH]

Well, I have to say that I am overwhelmed at the amount of information supplied to me by all three of you. I am an old hand on the GWF and I have received help on many previous occasions but never on this scale. I thought I was grasping at straws with my enquiry, and to be honest I didn't really expect the information to be available at all. The Forum comes up trumps once again - and all in just 2 hours.

Many thanks,  BillyH.