Lieutenant Sydney W. Ayers

Name Sydney Winton Ayers Date of Birth 1st May 1893 Place of Birth Cootamundra, NSW. Australia Occupation Mechanic Date of Enlistment 14th September 1916 Place of Enlistment Moore Park, Sydney Flying Unit 2 Sqn AFC Previous Unit - Service Australian Flying Corps Theatres France AIF Rank Lieutenant Awards - Victories 0 Nickname - AIF Fate Died of Wounds Date of AIF Fate 24th November 1917 Final Rank Lieutenant Date of Death 24th November 1917 Place of Death France Cause of Death Died of Wounds Notes Sydney Ayers was a founding member of 2 Squadron AFC, having been enlisted directly into the AFC and 2 Squadron.

Sydney Ayers was born in the country town of Cootamundra in New South Wales's western plains in 1893. Sydney Ayers enlisted in the Australian Flying Corps at the age of 23 years as a young lad of 130 lbs and five foot ten in height. At the time a fairly ideal stature for a pilot. Sydney enlisted at the Moore Park Showgrounds in Sydney on the 14th of September 1916. From his attestation papers, it appears Sydney was appointed directly to A Flight of the second Australian Flying Squadron by Lieutenant S.W. Addison who was commanding A Flight.

As one of the founding members of 2 Squadron, Sydney was with the squadron one month before it embarked for overseas training and service on the troopship Ulysses from Melbourne on the 23rd of October, 1916. Two months later Sydney disembarked at Plymouth in England before the Squadron was sent through the standard training Royal Flying Corps squadrons went through. Sydney was posted to Carlisle, Thetford, Ascot and Reading for theoretical training, flight training and officer training. Through this period 2 Squadron's base was at Harlaxton where they were training to operational efficiency. Sydney during this period also spent some time with 45(T) Sqn RFC in further flight instruction before returning to Harlaxton.

2 Squadron had been formed in Egypt under the operational commander, then Major W.A. Watt. Watt had been a veteran of the French L'Aeronautique Militaire before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps and serving with 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps. With a nucleus of 1 Squadron personnel and even with the personnel being embarked from Australia such as Sydney, the squadron was understrength in numbers. Ossie Watt decided to raid a nearby Lighthorse camp for qualified personnel. Watt and the recording officer backed up several lorries and started calling out for mechanics, sailmakers, fitters, riggers, etc as Lighthorsemen put up their hands, they were asked to volunteer for the AFC, when they had sufficient numbers, the recording officer asked what if they should tell the Lighthorse orderly officer, Watts reply was, "No, we must snatch them."

On the 21st of September, 1917, Sydney Ayers was promoted from 2nd Lieutenant to 1st Lieutenant, nine days after 2nd Sqn had deployed to France breaking an RFC record by having no aircraft lost in the cross channel trek. Advanced ground parties sailed to their first operational aerodrome from the 16th to the 21st, Sydney Ayers was one of the nine officers that were a part of the advanced group. By the 23rd 2nd Squadron had assembled at their new aerodrome at Baizieux as a part of the 15th Wing RFC.

The allied offensive for Cambrai began on the 20th of November under the planning of General Julian Byng's staff. 2 Sqn found itself in the thick off infantry support and counter attacking. During this period the Squadron received several Military Crosses for the efforts of the pilots in supporting the troops. Aircraft commonly returned badly shot up by ground fire. By the 23rd Sydney Ayers had, during his service career with 2 Sqn, flown for 24 hours across the German front lines.

On the operational flights of the morning of the 24th of November during the height of the Cambrai battle, Ayers was shot down by ground fire over Bourlon Wood. Ayers was mortally wounded but managed to get to allied lines and crash his aircraft. Ayers died of his wounds the next day. The squadron's intelligence summary recorded Ayers mission with,

Lt Ayers in 9263 machine left on a Special Mission over Bourlon Wood and came down at 57c T 1913. Pilot was wounded and subsequently died.

Sydney Ayers died of abdomen wounds at the 2/3rd London Field Ambulance unit of the British Expeditionary Force. Sadly, the Ayers family in Australia was faced with two lots of bad news in the year of 1917, Sydney's brother, Private Charles Ayers of the 55th Battalion had been killed at Ypres in September.

Name Sydney Winton Ayers Number - Rank Lieutenant Aircraft DH.5, A9263 Squadron 2 Sqn AFC Unit Australian Flying Corps Service Army, Australian Imperial Force Conflict World War I Date of Death 24th November 1917 Cause of Death Died of Wounds Memorial Panel 188 Memorial Details Lebucquiere Communal Cemetery Extension, Pas de Calais, France Next of Kin Son of Thomas Gabriel Ayers and Ellen Mary Ayers, of "Fernleigh," Third St., Canterbury, New South Wales. Native of Cootamundra, New South Wales. Enlistment 14th September 1916, Moore Park, Sydney Source AWM 145 Roll of Honour cards, 1914-1918 War, Army. Commonwealth War Graves Roll of Honour Card. Notes -

Lest We Forget

Photograph of Sydney W. Ayers in full dress uniform. Image courtesy of Brian Ayers and Fiona Chapman.

Photograph of Sydney W. Ayers in a car prior to his leaving for overseas service. Image courtesy of Brian Ayers.

Photograph of Sydney W. Ayers dress jacket. This has been recently donated by the Ayers family to the Australian War Memorial for preservation. Note the cloth AFC shoulder patch. Image courtesy of Brian Ayers.

Photograph of Sydney W. Ayers place of resting in France. Image courtesy of Fiona Chapman.

Panoramic photograph of Sydney W. Ayers place of resting in France. Image courtesy of Fiona Chapman.

The Australian Flying Corps Website would like to acknowledge the assistance of Fiona Chapman in the compilations of Sydney Ayers biography, service card and roll of honour card. The Australian Flying Corps Website would also like to acknowledge Bryan Ayers for the photographs of Sydney Ayers.