Lot 3680

Description

Royal Flying Corps, photos, negatives and glass plates featuring many allied pilots and of particular Australian interest is the 7th Training Squadron of Australian Flying Corps stationed in England; the collection includes the following,
1) Small album with 42 related RFC photos.
2) Medium size album featuring 72 RFC related photos with the name, 'Marrie P. O'Grady Dec 1917' (believed to be a sweetheart).
3) Large album featuring 123 RFC related photos, many on loose sheets.
4) 12 loose RFC photos in a box.
5) 5 x large glass negatives (Four of these being portraits of pilots).
6) 67 large negatives (unknown if these are duplicates or extra undeveloped RFC photos).
Pilots mentioned by name include Ryan, Carter, Exley, White, Basset, Leiper, Solomons, Plenderleith, Whiteside, Turner, Stewart, Nichols, Brown, Cooper, Grimshaw and the types of planes captioned include RE8, BE2E and numbered 4424 on tail, DH6, plane numbered A3124, A5925 (pilot killed), BE2D, plane numbered 4214, DH5 and numbered B49, BE2D and numbered A3128 on tail, DH bomber and numbered A6903 on tail, and it must be noted that the majority of these planes have a clear image of a kangaroo painted on the body of the plane. Very fine, historic and rare. (lot)

The Australian Flying Corps (AFC) made its first operational flight of WWI on 27 May 1915 and by 1917 it had four operational squadrons. Now, the training of airmen at the Central Flying School, at Point Cook was unable to keep up with demand for trained men. Accordingly, four training squadrons were established in the United Kingdom in 1917. One of these, 32 (Australian Training) Squadron, RFC was formed on 24 October 1917 at Yatesbury In January 1918 it was renamed 7 Squadron AFC and relocated to Leighterton on 23 February 1918 operating there until disbanded in March 1919. This training squadron was tasked with preparing personnel for service with 69 (Australian) Squadron, RFC and then 3 Squadron AFC, operating with British Forces along the Western Front.

It is at the training school that the photos above show a large number of Australian planes, all identified by a kangaroo and clearly numbered on the tail. There is a particular focus on the crashes of these planes and it is here where this collection has a graphic insight to many of our Australian and Allied pilots who died whilst in training.