Posted By: stljeffbb
Detailed history of 18 Squadron RFC? - 07/31/17 09:03 PM
Hello everyone...
So, I have a nice budding RFC career (George Lyons May 1915) in the early part of the war.
In anticipation, I have been scanning the RFC squadrons for when fighters first appear for the lower ranks (figuring I will probably either not advance far enough to the "Highest Ranks" or will end up having a few careers before I get there, lol). I recall from my reading that 24 RFC (with Lanoe Hawker) came over to France in early February 1916. There are some others also start to appear at around the same time (that I do not entirely recall off hand at the moment), however, I was intrigued when looking also at the recce/bombing squadrons, and I came across 18 RFC. In WOFF:UE, they start right on January 1, 1916 in France, and entirely with DH.2 type aircraft, a little more than a month before 24 RFC arrived, and in a "fighter" role right at the start.
I did a quick bit of online searches, and found that they actually arrived in France on 19 November, 1915 "principally equipped with the Vickers FB5 'Gunbus', supplemented by a few Airco DH.2s and Bristol Scouts, and operating in the Army cooperation role" (taken from Wikipedia).
I would like to know more about how these planes, especially the DH.2s and Scouts, were utilized before April, when they switched entirely to F.E.2b type craft (and indeed WOFF:UE is faithful here as they most often are everywhere else!). I might actually be suggesting a slight change (perhaps in the next version of WOFF:UE that comes out) to add Bristol Scouts to their roster, but I would personally like to know more before hastily jumping to such a suggestion.
I started a test pilot (on January 1, 1916) just to see what things looked like over at 18 RFC, and I will admit that all of the missions assigned to me, including "alternative targets and "optional targets", were behind the lines (perhaps in the spirit of "army cooperation"?)
Any info would be great, thanks in advance!
Regards,
Jeff
So, I have a nice budding RFC career (George Lyons May 1915) in the early part of the war.
In anticipation, I have been scanning the RFC squadrons for when fighters first appear for the lower ranks (figuring I will probably either not advance far enough to the "Highest Ranks" or will end up having a few careers before I get there, lol). I recall from my reading that 24 RFC (with Lanoe Hawker) came over to France in early February 1916. There are some others also start to appear at around the same time (that I do not entirely recall off hand at the moment), however, I was intrigued when looking also at the recce/bombing squadrons, and I came across 18 RFC. In WOFF:UE, they start right on January 1, 1916 in France, and entirely with DH.2 type aircraft, a little more than a month before 24 RFC arrived, and in a "fighter" role right at the start.
I did a quick bit of online searches, and found that they actually arrived in France on 19 November, 1915 "principally equipped with the Vickers FB5 'Gunbus', supplemented by a few Airco DH.2s and Bristol Scouts, and operating in the Army cooperation role" (taken from Wikipedia).
I would like to know more about how these planes, especially the DH.2s and Scouts, were utilized before April, when they switched entirely to F.E.2b type craft (and indeed WOFF:UE is faithful here as they most often are everywhere else!). I might actually be suggesting a slight change (perhaps in the next version of WOFF:UE that comes out) to add Bristol Scouts to their roster, but I would personally like to know more before hastily jumping to such a suggestion.
I started a test pilot (on January 1, 1916) just to see what things looked like over at 18 RFC, and I will admit that all of the missions assigned to me, including "alternative targets and "optional targets", were behind the lines (perhaps in the spirit of "army cooperation"?)
Any info would be great, thanks in advance!
Regards,
Jeff