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Description: | British officer served as observer flying Vickers Fighter with 5 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps served as flight commander flying DH2 with 24 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps in GB and Western Front, 1915-1916; served as flight commander flying Sopwith Camel with 70 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps/RAF on Western Front, 1918
REEL 1 Background to commission as officer and initial service with 4th Bn, Kings Liverpool Regt in GB and Western Front, 8/1914: arrival from visit to Germany aboard Peregrine, 1/8/1914; interview concerning intelligence of German minefields at Admiralty House, London; interview with Sefton Brancker at War Office; reception at Liverpool; drinking port wine; circumstances of posting to Neuve Chapelle sector, 3/1915; story of arrest of officers suspected of being German spies; move to Ouderdom, Ypres area, 24/4/1915; question of shooting at German aircraft; story of premonition and being wounded in jaw during attack on Hill Top Ridge, 27/4/1915; question of disability pension. Hospitalisation in GB, 1915. Background to initial service in Royal Flying Corps in GB, 1915-1916: story of prior interview with Sefton Brancker and passing medical; news of death of brother, Lieutenant Gilbert Mapplebeck; story of qualifying as pilot, 1/1916; work as instructor at Netheravon, 1/1916-4/1916; opinion of DH2; question of first loop performed by Lieutenant Gilbert Mapplebeck. Recollections of period flying DH2 with 29 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps at Abeele, 6/1916-9/1916: question of charges of homosexuality made against commanding officers; question of rank; nature as quiet sector during Somme offensive; introduction of fixed Lewis gun mounting; question of aircraft markings. Period flying FE8 with 40 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps at Treizennes, 9/1916-11/1916: opinion of Major Robert Lorraine; account of shooting down German balloon and being shot down in La Bassee sector, 9/11/1916, including story of subsequent dispute with German censor over use of term 'Hun' in letters at Osnabruck POW Camp.
REEL 2 Continues: account of shooting down German balloon and being shot down in La Bassee sector, 9/11/1916, including story of dispute with German censor over use of term 'Hun' in letters at Osnabruck POW Camp, sending uncensored letter to Lorraine revealing tactic of low level approach to shoot down German balloons, subsequent lack of recognition for innovating tactic from Lorraine, dispute with Lorraine prior to take off, intermittent engine problems whilst flying another pilot's aircraft, success of low level approach, being brought down by ground fire hitting fuel pipe, forced landing on German airfield and capture. Recollections of periods as POW at Douai, Cologne, Osnabruk, Klausthal and Shreibnitz POW Camps, 1916-1918: failed attempt to conceal ability to speak German; post-war visit to Cologne with journalists; movements; ordering materials from Army and Navy Stores; role running escape committee; orders barring escape attempts from Major General H S L Ravenshaw; use of escape equipment to help POWs from Holzminden POW Camp to escape; German discovery of escape material in parcel, subsequent court martial and solitary confinement; conditions; forging identity cards for escaping officers; story of escape through tunnel and arrest at Scheibnitz Railway Station, 1918; memories of fellow prisoner Michael Bowes Lyon and his sister Elizabeth Bowes Lyon; question of various officers attempting escapes; staggered organisation of escape attempts; story of forming military band and playing tuba to cover sound of digging tunnel from under stage at Klausthal; question of various officers attempting escapes. Aspects of service with 29 Sqdn and 40 Sqdn, Royal Flying Corps, 1916: opinion of Sergeant James McCudden and question of his reliability on defensive patrols and legitimacy of his initial victory claims.
REEL 3 Continues: opinion of Sergeant James McCudden and question of his reliability on defensive patrols and legitimacy of his initial victory claims; care for personal aircraft; question of charges of homosexuality made against commanding officers; question of memories of Major Robert Lorraine. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Mapplebeck, Tom | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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recording
British-Australian officer served as Sopwith…
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