Australian Airmen History of the 4th Squadron Australian Flying Corps
[Western Australia]: [Burridge], circa 1980. Quarto, illustrated blue hardcovers, 80 pp., frontispiece, illustrated throughout with black and white photographs and tables. Despite the lack of publishing details, it is more than likely that this facsimile copy was printed in the 1980s by Burridge.
An account of the 4th Squadron Australian Flying Corps. Formed in October 1916, the unit was based at Point Cook (Victoria). In January 1917, the 4th Squadron was sent to England to receive training at Castle Bromwich near Birmingham. Equipped with Spotwith Camel Fighters, the squadron took on a new name and would be known as 71(Australian) Squadron, Royal Flying Corps (RFC). It was only in mid-January 1918 that the unit would revert to their original title: 4th Squadron Australian Flying Corps. In December 1917, the Squadron undertook its first operation in France from their station in Bruay (Pas-de-Calais department in the now Haut-de-France region) providing support to the British 1st Army and carrying out offensive patrols and escorting reconnaissance machines. They patrolled over Germany lines for the first time in January 1918 and got involved in their first air combat fight a few days later that same month. In March 1918, the 4th Squadron Australian Flying Corps's offensive patrols and ground attacks increased as they engaged with some of Manfred von Richthofen's "Flying Circus" successfully destroying five enemy aircraft in an attack led by Captain Arthur Henry Cobby.
In late 1918, 4th Squadron Australian Flying Corps established themselves in Serny where they were re-equipped with Sopwith Snipe fighters becoming the second unit in France to be equipped with these type of aircraft. In the weeks that followed, the unit was relocated several times until, after the Armistice, they were finally assigned to the British Army of Occupation. It then moved to Bickendorf, near Cologne in December 1918. Finally, in March 1919 the unit returned to Great-Britain before embarking on the RMS Kaisar-i-Hind in May 1919 returning to Australia. After their arrival in Melbourne in June 1919, the Squadron was disbanded. Item #4012
Light spotting, otherwise a fine copy.
Price (AUD): $250.00