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Description: | British NCO served as air mechanic with Royal Flying Corps in GB; attached as wireless operator to 81st Heavy Artillery Group on Western Front, 1917-1918
REEL 1: Aspects of training with Royal Flying Corps in GB, 1917: reason for joining Royal Flying Corps, 3/1917; description of training at Farnborough flying school; discipline; opinion of food; Morse code; lectures; buzzers; volunteered for overseas service; issued with uniform and kit; qualified as air mechanic after nine weeks training; drafted to France and arrived at camp in Boulogne; posted to 81st Heavy Artillery Group at Flamertinghe, Belgium; opinion of officers; role during 3rd Battle of Ypres; accommodation in dugouts; memory of shelling and casualties; moved to post in chateau; operation of Mk 4 receiver; erection of aerial mast; use of letters cut out of canvas on ground as signals for aircraft; description of communications with Royal Flying Corps spotter aircraft; contact with pilot and observer; strength of signals; identification and selection of suitable targets for batteries; map positions; code letters; use of clock face to describe area shelled; role in guiding batteries onto target; story of German spotter plane; effects of gas; sick; story of falling into shell hole at night; description of station in communication trench; problem of aerial mast being blown down and uncomfortable headphones; moved to Arras area, France, 1918.
REEL 2 Continues: description of German offensive, 3/1918; use of caves and sewers in Arras; memory of large naval gun; accommodation in cellar; casualties; zone calls; mending lines; moved to Cambrai area; billets; memory of civilian refugees; attached to 290th and 235th Siege Btys Royal Garrison Artillery, 11/1918; memory of Armistice, 11/11/1918; memory of Christmas dinner, 1918. Summary of movements and activities on Western Front until demobilisation, 3/1919. | Publisher: | http://www.iwm.org.uk | Source: | Imperial War Museum | Creator: | Hunt, Frederick | Identifier: | http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/o... | Go to resource |
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