{"id":30000,"date":"2016-12-19T11:00:08","date_gmt":"2016-12-19T00:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?p=30000"},"modified":"2016-12-21T17:02:17","modified_gmt":"2016-12-21T06:02:17","slug":"australias-great-war-air","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia’s Great War in the air"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Informal<\/figure>\n

In January 1911, the Australian government announced its intention to form a flying corps to support the Army. Over the next few years men were recruited, an airbase established at Point Cook near Melbourne, and canvas hangars and rudimentary training aircraft acquired. On 1 March 1914, Lieutenant Eric Harrison, an Australian pilot who had trained in England, made the first flight of a military aircraft in Australia in a locally-assembled Bristol Boxkite, and the first pilot\u2019s course started in August that year, with four students.<\/p>\n

Early in 1915, less than a year since it became marginally functional, the Australian Flying Corps went to war, tasked with supporting operations against the Turks in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq), where vital oil supplies were being threatened. The magnitude of this achievement needs to be understood. In 1911, Australia possessed no military aviation expertise whatsoever. There were no leaders, pilots, mechanics, aircraft or infrastructure; and there was no precedent to guide or doctrine to inform. Just four years later, the AFC was being sent to the other side of the world to fight an entirely new form of warfare in an alien and most hostile environment.<\/p>\n

Led by former English solicitor, now AFC pilot, Captain Henry Petre<\/a>, the AFC ‘Half Flight’\u2014there weren\u2019t enough men and machines to support a full flight\u2014was thrown into action, only weeks after the Anzac\u2019s epic landing at Gallipoli. Such was the Corp\u2019s inexperience that two of Petre\u2019s four pilots were recent graduates, and only 18 of his 41 airmen were qualified air mechanics, the others being motor mechanics, carpenters and joiners.<\/p>\n

As with the Anzac campaign, the Half Flight\u2019s war was to be heroic, bloody, and ultimately tragic. Initially based at Basra, the Australians were absorbed into the (British) Royal Flying Corps and allocated three second-hand Morris Farman aircraft. The unreliability of these fragile machines added greatly to the dangers of wartime operations. The Half Flight\u2019s primary role was reconnaissance, which the pilots carried out in extremes of desert heat, dust and wind. Near-constant turbulence made the narrow margin between the aircraft\u2019s cruise and stall speeds a constant worry. In winds that often exceeded 80 kph, the Farmans were unable to make headway, instead drifting backwards over the ground.<\/p>\n

Reconnaissance and sabotage missions were flown deep into enemy territory. In addition to unreliable engines and flimsy airframes, maps were inadequate and landing fields hazardous. Forced landings, which were common because of engine failure, were likely to end in imprisonment at best, and at worst savage death at the hands of tribesman.<\/p>\n

After three months the Half Flight was reinforced, re-equipped with better aircraft, and renamed No. 30 Squadron, RFC. By November 1915, only Petre remained of the original pilots, the others having been killed or imprisoned; and most of the mechanics who hadn\u2019t suffered the same fate had been dispersed among RFC units. Overshadowed by the Australian public\u2019s interest in the contemporary events at Gallipoli, the Half Flight\u2019s heroic and pioneering achievements went largely unrecognised.<\/p>\n

At the same time the Half Flight was fighting in Mesopotamia,\u00a0 the AFC was expanding \u00a0back in Australia. As more pilots, observers, and mechanics were trained, the government was able to increase the AFC\u2019s contribution to the war. No. 1 Squadron was formed at Point Cook in January 1916 and deployed to Egypt in March. Later that year, Nos. 2, 3, and 4 Squadrons sailed for England for more training before a planned deployment to the Western Front in France.<\/p>\n

Among No. 1 Squadron\u2019s pilots in the Middle East was Captain Richard Williams<\/a>, later to become the greatest figure in Australian military aviation. Williams was unimpressed by the squadron\u2019s two-seat, general purpose BE2c aircraft, which were \u2018disturbingly inferior\u2019 to the enemy\u2019s single-seat Fokkers. He noted that that AFC crews had \u2018very little chance\u2019 in air combat and \u2018depended mainly on luck\u2019 when dropping bombs. The reference to air-to-air combat and bombing indicates just how rapidly the war in the air had progressed. Reconnaissance and army liaison remained No. 1 Squadron\u2019s primary tasks, but the implications of the other roles\u2014which had scarcely been envisaged in 1915\u2014were profound.<\/p>\n

No. 1 Squadron\u2019s pilots were at the forefront of technological and tactical innovation. The mercurial Lieutenant L.J. Wackett<\/a> (another towering figure in the history of Australian aviation), for example, designed a machine gun mount for the top centre-section of the BE2c, considerably enhancing the aircraft\u2019s dogfighting capability. And the squadron was prominent in the revolution that air bombardment brought to warfare.<\/p>\n

On 11 November 1916, only seven months after arriving in-theatre, the Australian airmen staged what was at the time the Middle East\u2019s largest air raid. A force of ten aircraft was launched to strike against an enemy stronghold at Beersheba. Weaving through a barrage of anti-aircraft fire, the crews successfully bombed Beersheba\u2019s aerodrome, tents, railway line and station. They then demonstrated their versatility by coolly photographing the damage.<\/p>\n

The AFC had made remarkable progress since the outbreak of war. Sophisticated tactics had evolved, technology had advanced dramatically, training systems had been established, and outstanding leaders had emerged. By the end of 1916, Australia\u2019s first airmen were poised to make a significant contribution to the allies\u2019 broader campaign in the Great War.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In January 1911, the Australian government announced its intention to form a flying corps to support the Army. Over the next few years men were recruited, an airbase established at Point Cook near Melbourne, and …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":563,"featured_media":30001,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mi_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,1267],"tags":[44,225,66,726],"class_list":["post-30000","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general","category-australia-and-the-great-war","tag-australian-defence-force","tag-air-power","tag-history","tag-raaf"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nAustralia's Great War in the air | The Strategist<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Australia's Great War in the air | The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"In January 1911, the Australian government announced its intention to form a flying corps to support the Army. Over the next few years men were recruited, an airbase established at Point Cook near Melbourne, and ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Strategist\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-19T00:00:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-12-21T06:02:17+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"639\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"481\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Alan Stephens\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ASPI_org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Alan Stephens\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\",\"name\":\"The Strategist\",\"description\":\"ASPI's analysis and commentary site\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg\",\"width\":639,\"height\":481,\"caption\":\"Informal portrait of trainee pilot Captain (Capt) Thomas Walter White, Australian Flying Corps (AFC) at the controls of a Bristol Boxkite at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, Victoria. c.1915\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/\",\"name\":\"Australia's Great War in the air | The Strategist\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2016-12-19T00:00:08+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-12-21T06:02:17+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1c2a1f10578a6abc94042276ba15f0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Australia’s Great War in the air\"}]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1c2a1f10578a6abc94042276ba15f0\",\"name\":\"Alan Stephens\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-AU\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c9fa685f012c4fb48db2223e4ad61f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c9fa685f012c4fb48db2223e4ad61f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Alan Stephens\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/alan-stephens\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Australia's Great War in the air | The Strategist","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Australia's Great War in the air | The Strategist","og_description":"In January 1911, the Australian government announced its intention to form a flying corps to support the Army. Over the next few years men were recruited, an airbase established at Point Cook near Melbourne, and ...","og_url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/","og_site_name":"The Strategist","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/ASPI.org","article_published_time":"2016-12-19T00:00:08+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-12-21T06:02:17+00:00","og_image":[{"width":639,"height":481,"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Alan Stephens","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@ASPI_org","twitter_site":"@ASPI_org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Alan Stephens","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/","name":"The Strategist","description":"ASPI's analysis and commentary site","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-AU"},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/12\/RAAF_Boxkite_AWM.jpg","width":639,"height":481,"caption":"Informal portrait of trainee pilot Captain (Capt) Thomas Walter White, Australian Flying Corps (AFC) at the controls of a Bristol Boxkite at the Central Flying School, Point Cook, Victoria. c.1915"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/","url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/","name":"Australia's Great War in the air | The Strategist","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#primaryimage"},"datePublished":"2016-12-19T00:00:08+00:00","dateModified":"2016-12-21T06:02:17+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1c2a1f10578a6abc94042276ba15f0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-AU","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/australias-great-war-air\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Australia’s Great War in the air"}]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/4b1c2a1f10578a6abc94042276ba15f0","name":"Alan Stephens","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-AU","@id":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c9fa685f012c4fb48db2223e4ad61f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0c9fa685f012c4fb48db2223e4ad61f0?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Alan Stephens"},"url":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/author\/alan-stephens\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/563"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=30000"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":30021,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/30000\/revisions\/30021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=30000"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=30000"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.aspistrategist.ru\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=30000"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}