4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps

The History of 4 Squadron Australian Flying Corps

No 4 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps was formed in Australia and arrived in England in March 1917. Originally under the command of Captain A. Lang, during 4 Sqns training period, command was handed over to Major Sheldon, who was an experienced old hand from 1 Sqn AFC and it's operations in Palestine and Egypt. On departure for France Major W.A. McCloughry took over command as he was a veteran of aerial combat on the Western Front having served as a flight commander 2 Sqn AFC.

The squadron was equipped with the Sopwith Camel, a plane that had vicious stall and torque characteristics at low speeds and subsequently killed many an inexperienced pilot. It had however many advantages in combat, such as it's fast right turn. The Camel with the pull of the Clerget rotary motor and in the hands of a skilled and experienced pilot was a deadly combat fighter. The Sopwith Camel was to become the allied plane which accounted for the most enemy planes. Over 5,000 Sopwith Camels were built, which is quite a remarkable number for its time.

Like 2 Sqn, 4 Sqn flew across the channel to St Omer, the allied squadron gathering and polling aerodrome, which 4 Sqn achieved without mishap. From there 4 Sqn was sent to Bruay where they spent several weeks in combat training and learning their sector of operations. Unfortunately during this training period the squadron suffered it's first casualties, when Lieutenants A.M. Anderson , R.H. Curtis and J.N. Cash were killed in a formation flying mishap which resulted in a collision on the 6th of January. The first combat casualty the squadron suffered was when Lieutenant F.B. Willmott's engine failed him over enemy lines and he was captured upon landing his aircraft , this was in the second week of January.

During the early period of flying on the Western Front, 4 Sqn with only a couple of hardened and experienced pilots was predominantly new and inexperienced adding to that, the British were husbanding their forces for the upcoming offensive, subsequently the combats were few and far between and always inconclusive for 4 Sqn. It wasn't until February that the 4 Sqn's victory tally started climbing as they learnt their aircraft and the skills of aerial combat. On the 3rd of February, Captain O'Hara Wood, an Australian with the Royal Flying Corps attached to the Australian Flying Corps for his experience, took two young pilots, Lieutenant E.F. Pfaulm and Lieutenant A.H. Cobby out on an offensive patrol. They spotted three DFW's and the flight dived on them with each pilot destroying a DFW. This was to be the first of many victories for Cobby which by the end of the war ranked him as the leading AFC ace.

As activity continued to increase, the squadrons first fatality was suffered when the Sopwith Camel of Lieutenant C.H. Martin broke up for no apparent reason in mid-air. In the same flight Lieutenant F.S. Woolhouse destroyed a DFW. During this period the squadron was involved in the dangerous task of ground attack work, and two pilots were lost to enemy ground fire and taken prisoner. Before the German offensive of the 21st of March, enemy air activity increased in 4 squadrons sector, including the famous Richthofen Circus being based opposite the squadron. The Australians first met them on the 16th of March after seven Camels had bombed a Railway Station. They met 16 Albatros Scouts and a free for all ensued. Lieutenants G.F. Malley, C.M. Feez and A.W. Adams all made claims for victories however Lieutenant W.H. Nicholls was shot down and managed to land just short of the allied lines and was taken prisoner. He had only been with the squadron for 3 weeks.

4 squadron again met the Circus a week later when ten Australian Camels dived on a large formation of Albatros Scouts. Before the ground mist broke up the dogfight, Lieutenant Cobby had accounted for two planes and one each to Lieutenants Pflaum and A.E. Robertson. As the German Offensive began, 4 squadron spent the following weeks ground strafing and attacking ground targets in support of the allied infantry. Occasionally the squadron found low flying enemy reconn aircraft of which several were shot down, and in this period squadron casualties were light, only one killed and three wounded.

The squadron went back to it's offensive patrols over German territory as the March offensive petered out and the squadron recorded several more victories, but lost Lieutenant Feez to a failed engine and he was captured. By April a second offensive had started and the squadron once again found itself completing sorties in support of the ground infantry but fortunately once again casualties were light with only one killed and one captured. With this offensive stopped the squadron went back to its offensive patrols but their aerodrome had brought the attention of the German Artillery and Bruay was being shelled continually, forcing the squadron to move to Clairmarais.

During May, the squadron commander Major McCloughry started using his Camel as a night fighter in unsuccessful attempts to bring down the Gotha bombers which were attacking England. The Camel had been used in the night fighter role in Home Defence in England, but it was rare in France. The leading Australian Ace of the war, Robert A. Little, who flew with the RNAS, was to lose his life when attacking a Gotha while he was flying the Sopwith Camel in a night fighter role. The squadron had also discovered enemy balloons as targets, and as a consequence balloons started to appear on the squadrons victory list. These large targets were heavily defended from both the ground and the air, making them extremely dangerous targets to attack. For 4 Squadron's sector, increasing use of balloons for artillery reporting by the German Army had made these viable targets and the squadron took to it with relish. Cobby was the first from the squadron to add one to his victory list on the 21st of May. This sparked off a series of attacks and victories over balloons by the Australian pilots. Cobby and the New Zealander, Lieutenant Herbert G. Watson, were the main exponents of this sort of warfare, and Cobby was to end the war with five balloon victories, making him a balloon ace.

In the second half of 1918 No 4 squadron joined forces with 2 squadron AFC operating from Reclingham. They were now a part of 80 wing RAF which consisted of 4 AFC, 2 AFC, 88 RAF which flew Bristol F2b's, 46 RAF which flew Camels, 54 RAF which flew Camels and the reconn squadrons 92 which flew Bristol F2b's and 103 Sqn RAF. They used the tactic whereby the Camels would fly at 8 000 to 10 000 feet and the SE5a's of 2 Sqn AFC and Bristol F2b's of 88 Sqn RAF would fly at up to 18 000 feet. The SE5a's and Brisfit's would stop the Camels from getting bounced and drive the the attacking enemy Scouts down to the Camels where the Sopwith's superior low altitude ability in unison with the altitude fighters, was enough to take care of the attacking Scouts. These wings worked effectively but often the sheer number of planes in the air would scare attacking enemy pilots off.

In August, 4 squadron met with considerable success in their aim to be the top scoring Australian squadron in the Australian Flying Corps and the leading allied squadron in 80th Wing RAF. In November of 1918, 4 Squadron AFC had 141 victories to their credit since the first of July. In comparison for the same period 88 Sqn RAF had 121 victories to their credit, 2 Squadron AFC had 104, 46 RAF had 24 Sqn and 54 Sqn RAF had a mere 4 victories to their credit. But this high tally of 4 Squadrons was being met with a price in experienced and capable Australian airmen, August came with more squadron victories but also considerable losses. Lieutenant L. Wharton found himself alone after a combat and undaunted spotted two LVG 2 seaters upon which he immediately attacked. He sent one down in flames but a patrol of German Scouts bounced him and he sought shelter in the clouds. After coming out of the clouds he was wounded by British anti - aircraft fire and crash landed. He was invalided to England. Lieutenant Howard was wounded by ground fire along with Lieutenant Smallwood. Lieutenant Edols was wounded on the 25th and Lieutenant Keay died in a mid-air collision. On the 17th Lieutenant McCleery had died in the big raid on Lomme Aerodrome. He was the squadron's first fatality for over two months.

In September, a five plane patrol including the old hand Lt Lenny Taplin from 1 AFC met a large formation of enemy Scouts in the air. Four of the five pilots were killed with only Taplin surviving but with his plane shot out from under him, crash landed behind enemy lines. He was taken prisoner. In October 4 Squadron was equipped with the Sopwith Snipe. The Germans were flying higher and higher to get an advantage and the pilots used the Snipe to get as high as the Germans to take them on. The fighting for 4 Sqn AFC culminated in a black day on the 4th of November, in a morning sortie Lieutenants Goodson and Rhodes were taken prisoner and in an afternoon sortie Captain Baker, Lieutenant Palliser and Lieutenant Symons were all killed during one short but torrid engagement. Those three died less than a week shy of the armistice. In the same dogfight just outside of Wattines, Captain Elwyn R. King destroyed two Fokker DVII's, bring his final total to 26 and making his total on Snipes 7. This is the highest total for a pilot flying the Snipe.

After hostilities had ended, 4 Squadron formed a part of the aerial contingent of the Occupational Forces, being one of only two Australian units to be part of the Occupational Forces. The other unit was the 3rd Australian Casualty Clearing Station based at Euskirchen. The Squadron remained at the Bickendorf aerodrome which included a Bristol Fighter equipped squadron and an American Spad XIII squadron, in Cologne until February 1919 when the squadron was demobbed for transferral back to Australia. In that time though, the squadron as well as their normal flight duties and parades, did much in the way of sight seeing and relaxation. To this end there was an AFC owned bar situated at their headquarters ironically named Kaiser Willhem Hotel, the squadron pursued ice skating as well as joy riding in a captured German Rumpler. There was a sports day held with track and field events as well. One episode involved the men of 4 Sqn deciding to put a crown, cape and leggings on a 40 foot statue of the Kaiser in Cologne. The local fire brigade had to be called to remove the fake crown the Australians had put there. Finally the squadron embarked for England and then Australia in May of 1919.

In one of the nicer touches of the war, 4 Sqn had a mascot, the 10 year old young Belgian child, whose name was Henri Heremene. Since the age of six, Henri had been the mascot of many RFC units and also been wounded near the Ypres Front. On Christmas Day of 1918 he happened to attend a banquet at No 4 Squadron and decided to stay with the Australians. The Australians naturally accepted him as their new mascot. Upon disbandment and embarkation, the Squadron smuggled him back to Australia and Henri settled at Jandowae, Queensland, in the home of T.W. Tovell who had been a mechanic with 4 squadron.