Australian Flying Corps - beginnings of an Air Force

I thought it might be interesting to provide a little background about the 1^st Squadron, Australian Flying Corps.

You will have noticed that Athol’s letter (15 July 1916) was stamped with “'A' Flight 1st Squadron A.F.C.” The Squadron was formed at Point Cook outside Melbourne, Victoria, in January 1916. Only a few weeks later, on 16 March 1916, the unit sailed from Melbourne. A total of 28 officers and 195 other ranks arrived in Egypt on 14 April and, shortly after their arrival, the less experienced pilots went on to England for further training. The remaining airmen stayed in Egypt as part of the British Expeditionary Force. This modest Australian unit was dovetailed into the British Flying Corps and under its command. As part of this process the 1^st Squadron, AFC was re-named No.67 (Australian) Squadron R.F.C. However, the unit itself never regarded itself as part of the RFC, and never used its official RFC number. There was no consultation with the new Australian Flying Corps personnel about this change and the men strongly resented the implication that the Squadron was a unit subsumed into the British RFC. Richard Williams, a flight commander of 1st Squadron AFC, put it this way in his autobiography: 'There was no more authority for calling us a squadron of the Royal Flying Corps than there was, for example, for calling the 9th Battalion AIF, the 23rd Battalion of the Middlsex Regiment.' Hence Athol’s letterhead with ‘A’ Flight 1^st Squadron A.F.C. In February 1917 the General Officer Commanding, Royal Flying Corps, issued an order giving effect to the wishes of the Australians and the Australian Squadrons thereafter retained their original Australian names.

In 1916, the Australian Flying Squadron was comprised of 3 Flights - A, B and C. Athol was in ‘A’ Flight. To start with, each Flight only had 4 planes. The Squadron also brought with it from Melbourne other transport equipment which amounted to 2 motorcars and 7 'motor-bicycles' which were all the property of the airmen themselves. This small crew formed the beginning of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) and was soon on active duty.

Major T.F. Rutledge*, an Australian from the Western districts of Victoria, arrived from England to command the Squadron. We know from his 15 July letter that Athol reported to Major Rutledge the day before being sent to Sherika to join ‘A’ Flight in mid-July 1916. One interesting aside is that the CO of 1^st Squadron AFC, Major Rutledge, had no previous experience of Army administration and did not produce a War Unit Diary. Therefore there is no official record of from April 1916 til December 1917. This is noted in Clifford's book - reference below.

In mid June the the Australian Squadron took over the machines of the 17 Squadron RFC which had been sent to Salonica. The Australians also took over the 17^th’s Canal stations and headquarters at Heliopolis. The Australians’ ‘B’ Squadron was the first to be sent out on active duty to the Suez station. ‘C’ Flight remained at Squadron Headquarters at Heliopolis. Captain Sheldon and ‘A’ Flight were sent to Upper Egypt and the base at Sherika within the Kharga Oasis on 9 July 1916.

‘A’ Flight stayed at Sherika until 8 November 1916. The reconnaissance flights from Sherika flew over hundreds of miles of desert much of which was occupied by the Senussi. The AFC's mission was to find the enemy and report their location and strength so that the BEF ground forces could pursue them.

The BEF (British Expeditionary Force) in the Kharga Oasis was a composite force. They were known as the Kharga Oasis Detachment under the command of Lieut. Colonel Angus MacNeil, 2^nd L.S. Yeomanry. Apart from the Yeomanry, the other sections under his command were the Highland Mounted Brigade, a squadron of Egyptian Lancers, a company of the ICC, a company of Royal Engineers, a battery of Sikh Mountain Gunners, an Australian Flying Corps unit (1^st Australian Flying Corps, 'A' Flight), 1,000 baggage Camels and 2,000 Egyptian Light Cavalry. There was also a bakery section and a slaughter-house and later another ICC company were added. At their disposal were three 15-pounder guns.

* See http://www.raafa.org.au/sites/default/files/Clifford%20book-pgs-A3.pdf at p.7.

Reference: Cutlack, Frederic Morley (1941)

 The Australian Flying Corps in the Western and Eastern Theatres of War, 1914–1918. Official History of Australia in the War of 1914–1918. Volume VIII (11th ed.). Canberra: Australian War Memorial

D.D. Ogivy's book 'Fighting on Three Fronts: A Black Watch Battalion in the Great War' is also a useful reference.