No.4 Squadron AFC was part of the Commonwealth Occupational Forces and based at Bickendorff in Cologne until demobbed in April 1919. From the research of
Gordon Branch
into 4 Sqn AFC's operational period with Sopwith Snipe's, E8082 was flown by Lieutenant E.J.Richards for 14 operational flights and 3 non-operational flights. Richards recording an OOC victory in E8082 on the 26th of October 1918.
E.J.Richards, born in Tyanderra in Victoria, had been a journalist before enlisting. Later he was to write the book, "Australian Airmen", a history of 4 Squadron AFC. An original Sopwith Snipe hangs in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, USA in the markings of E8082. It was originally a two-seater and has been modified into a single seater.
There is also photographic evidence that E8082 might have had a blue cowl at one stage while at Bickendorff.
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Carpo