RAF/RFC groundcrew

[PhilB]

RAF/RFC groundcrew has always struck me as quite a safe number. The greatest danger seemed to be that of being hit by a magnum of champagne dropped by a Hun pilot for his captured comrade who was being entertained by the British officers. I`ve probably read too many Biggles books as a boy! Did the Germans attack airfields and what was the casualty rate among groundcrew? Phil B

[David E I Jones]

I have been researching this airman:

36339AC 2nd. ALFRED SAMUEL CARTER RFC died 16/07/1917 of heat stroke at Aircraft Park (Mespot) age 22.

Being hit by a magnum of champagne, I'm sure would have been very welcome..

[Starlight]

Hi,

My grandfather was a corporal in the RFC during the Great War and was based for most of the time at Abeele, near Ypres. Being close to the front, Abeele aerodrome was bombed on numerous occasions over the war years (in fact it was eventually abandoned as an allied base because it became too close to the front for safety) and on one night alone four 'other ranks' were killed and three injured in a bomb attack. Going through my grandfather's diaries it is evident that many of his colleagues were killed in the course of duty, from bombs going off in the arming of aircraft before missions, to explosions in the bomb store (general handling and fuzing of bombs was generally dangerous) and accidents when turning propellers. To the more bizarre, my grandather was hit on the head by the propeller of a landing aircraft - and survived to tell the tale. I'm sorry, I don't have any official number for ground staff injuries/deaths, though I expect someone else can provide these figures.

Regards Steve

[Flyvulcan]

My great uncle, who was with 100 (Night bombing) Sqn states the following in his diary from 26 February 1918 - "Bomb exploded on Machine just after returning from a show. Scudamore, Flt. Sgt. Green and 3 men killed." Captain Scudamore was aircrew while the other 4 were ground crew. Also, his airfield was bombed a few times with ground crew casualties reported. So the "groundies" were not always that safe.

Cheers, Dave