British Military Aviation in 1914 - Part 2

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17 August
Flying training commences for the first four officers of the Australian Army Corps to attend the Australian Army Corps' Central Flying School in Point Cooke.

19 August
Captain P. Joubert de le Ferte, in a Blériot of No.3 Squadron, and Lieutenant G.W. Mapplebeck in a Royal Aircraft Factory BE2c of No.4 Squadron take-off from Maubeuge at 0930hrs to carry out the first Royal Flying Corps reconnaissance flights of the First World War. Neither sortie was particularly successful, as both pilots lost their way and failed to locate either the enemy or the Belgian Army, whose respective whereabouts they had been asked to ascertain.

20 August
The first successful Royal Flying Corps aerial reconnaissance is completed when German Army troop columns are located near Tervueren and Wavre.

22 August
Sergeant-Major D.S. Jillings, an observer serving with No.2 Squadron Royal Flying Corps, becomes the first British serviceman to be wounded in an aeroplane when his aircraft was hit by ground fire during a reconnaissance sortie over advancing German columns.

22 August
The Royal Flying Corps (RFC) fly twelve reconnaissance sorties. One of these observed German movements that indicated the right flank of the German advance through Belgium would turn the left flank of the British Expeditionary Force position at Mons.

22 August
An Avro of No.5 Squadron becomes the first British aircraft to be lost in action, when shot down by rifle fire over Belgium. Lieutenant V. Waterfall and Lieutenant C.G.G. Bayly were killed.

23 August
Japan declares war on Germany.

24 August
Captain H.C. Jackson and Lieutenant E.L. Conran of No.3 Squadron made the first British bombing attack while flying over Lessines at 1130hrs. They aimed a single bomb at three German aircraft on the ground. It exploded wide of the mark.

25 August
The first British aerial victory of the First World War is achieved, when a German Taube aircraft is forced to land by three aircraft of No.2 Squadron. One of the British aircraft also landed, and the crew chased the German crew into nearby woods. They then set fire to the German aircraft before taking off again.

27 August
The first Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) unit arrives on the Continent. The Eastchurch Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service, under the command of Commander C.R. Samson, is transferred to Ostend and the squadron is subsequently re-deployed to Dunkirk. The Eastchurch Squadron was renamed No.3 Squadron RNAS on 1 September 1914.

28 August
The first recorded effective British bombing attack is undertaken by Lieutenant L.A. Strange of No.5 Squadron. He dropped a home-made petrol bomb on a German truck near Mons. The vehicle swerved off the road and caught fire. The blazing petrol also caught the following truck which also caught fire.

3 September
Royal Flying Corps reconnaissance reports to Field Marshal Sir John French the new south-easterly and easterly direction of march of General von Kluck's German First Army. The information is passed to the French Commander-in-Chief, General Joffre who realised that von Kluck's movement would expose his flank to the French armies near Paris. He ordered the counter-attack that led to the Battle of the Marne. Joffre later said that "The British Flying Corps had played a prominent, in fact a vital part, in watching and following this all-important movement on which so much depended. Thanks to the aviators he had been kept accurately and constantly informed of Kluck's movements. To them he owed the certainty which had enabled him to make his plans in good time."

The counterstroke on the Marne prevented the quick victory that Germany sought in the West. As a consequence, Germany was faced with a war on 2 fronts with forces potentially much stronger than herself.

15 September
The first use of air photography and wireless telegraphy for artillery observation in combat takes place during Battle of the Aisne.

16 September
The Canadian Aviation Corps is formed with two officers and one aircraft, a Burgess-Dunne biplane.

16 September
A modified Maurice Farman two-seat pusher biplane of No.5 Squadron, the first Royal Flying Corps aircraft in France to carry a machine gun, is flown across the Channel. However, rifles and revolvers continued to form the primary armament of Royal Flying Corps aircraft well into the summer of 1915.

22 September
The first British air attack on Germany takes place when four aircraft are despatched to attack the Zeppelin sheds at Dusseldorf and Cologne. Due to poor weather conditions, only one, a Sopwith three-seater of No.1 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, flown by Flight Lieutenant C H Collett, reached its designated target. Three bombs were dropped on the shed at Dusseldorf, one fell short and two failed to explode.

24 September
Lieutenants D.S. Lewis and B.T. James use airborne radio for the first time in warfare. Both members of No.4 Squadron, Royal Flying Corps, were involved in directing an artillery shoot from the air during the 1st Battle of the Aisne. Their radio log begins "A very little short. Fire! Fire!" And ends 40 minutes later with "I am coming home now".

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