Under Andrew Murray-Jones No 2 Sqn AFC earnt a name as a quiet, humble, confident and proficient squadron. While this is not a result of the squadron commander alone, but a combined result of the attitude and ethic of the flight commanders, pilots and ground crew, there is no better example of the squadron's proficiency than Captain Roy C. Phillipps.

The flying services which fell under British administration used the Royal Flying Corps system of scoring. In this system combats could be recognised as Driven Down, Out of Control, Destroyed and Captured. By comparison the other services were far more strict in what they demanded as evidence for an aerial victory. The British system was better for collecting statistics and information on air battles, whereas other systems were superior in determining victory tallies.

It has been a common knock in World War I historical discussions that the British system was far too lenient in awarding victories to pilots, and as a result, many aces under this system have inflated scores. Not so Roy Phillipps. His victories;

• Captured DFW, 22nd November 1917.
• Destroyed Fokker DrI, 22nd March 1918.
• Destroyed Albatros DV, 23rd March 1918.
• Destroyed Albatros DV, 24th March 1918.
• Destroyed Fokker DrI, 27th March 1918.
• Captured Type D, 27th March 1918.
• Destroyed Pfalz DIII, 16th May 1918.
• Destroyed Fokker DrI, 12th June 1918.
• Destroyed Fokker DrI, 12th June 1918.
• Captured LVG C, 12th June 1918.
• Captured Fokker DVII, 12th June 1918.
• Destroyed Fokker DVII, 25th July 1918.
• Destroyed DFW C, 1st August 1918.
• Out of Control Fokker DVII, 1st August 1918.
• Destroyed Fokker DVII, 12th August 1918.

Source: "Above The Trenches : A Complete Record of the Fighter Aces and Units of the British Empire Air Forces 1915 - 1920" Christopher Shores, Norman Franks and Russell Guest, 1990.

Roy Phillipps was born in North Sydney, but when war broke out he was working as an accountant in Perth. Phillipps enlisted in the Army, and served in the famed 28th battalion, who along with the 26th battalion were the "Black ANZACs", named as they conducted the first Australian trench raids in France. Phillipps was promoted to Captain and earned a Military Cross for his valour before being wounded heavily in the leg, leaving his leg partially paralysed.

Phillipps transferred to the Australian Flying Corps, serving as the adjutant for No.2 Sqn AFC before signing up for flying training. Phillipps flew with No.32 Sqn RFC in Airco DH5s for operational experience before rejoining No.2 Sqn. Phillipps took part in the Cambrai battles, scoring one victory, before he squadron received SE5a aircraft. The aircraft in which he scored the bulk of his victories.

Before the armistice, Phillipps was promoted to Major and took command of No.6 Sqn AFC in England. In World War II, Phillipps rejoined the Air Force as a Wing Commander, and took command of the Flying Training School at Archerfield. Sadly he was to die in a plane crash in 1940.

The whispers and scuttlebut in the Cotswolds during 1918 was that the Australians had captured the Red Baron's aircraft and were flying it over the English countryside to test it. Not quite. It was Les Holden flying an all-red SE5a as a fighting instructor.

A Cotswold native, Les Sellars recalled;

There was one aircraft we saw often which we were told that was the captured Fokker belonging to the infamous 'Red Baron' Richthofen.

Butterow local Percy Hodge remembers;

We sat on the stone wall and watched the aeroplanes go up and down like flies. We were near enough to see some of them starting the engines by swinging on their propellers. Sometimes they would wave to us - I remember one red fighter, we called it the 'Red Devil

Source: "ANZACS over England - The Australian Flying Corps in Gloucestershire 1918-1919" by David Goodland and Alan Vaughan.

Captain L.H. Holden was a fighting instructor for No.6 Training Squadron Australian Flying Corps. The fighting instructors conducted dogfights against the cadets so they had training in the modern fighting tactics. The instructors found it tiring, as cadets are less predictable than the experienced German pilots they faced on the Western Front - the instructors were constantly in danger of being flown into. As a result they painted their aircraft bright colours so they could be easily seen.

Les Holden earned the nickname "Lucky Len" and "Homing Pigeon" with 2 Sqn Australian Flying Corps during the Battle of Cambrai. His DH5 often being so full of bullet holes it was either a write off or required 12 hours of labour on it to bring it to flying condition again. In March of 1918 during the offensive, Holden averaged one SE5a a day until his luck ran out and he was wounded. After convalescence the four victory scout pilot was posted as an Instructor to the AFC Training schools in Michinhampton.

More: A History of No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps.

Themetre James Hammond was a Queenslander who served with the Lighthorse before transferring to the Australian Flying Corps. He joined 2 Squadron AFC in France in May of 1918. He scored one victory before being shot down in June.

Themetre James Hammond was born in 1893, in Sydney and at the outbreak of hostilities was a Grazier in Adavale, Queensland. After serving with the Lighthorse he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and after training served with 2 Squadron AFC, joining the squadron on 24th of May 1918. Unfortunately Hammond wasn't to be with the squadron for long, being killed in combat just over a month later, after scoring a Destroyed victory and accumulating 12.35 hours of flying time with the squadron.

The end of May was dominated by bad weather - so bad that in the Armienteres region 2 Squadron AFC was based in, there was little to no flying. This also disrupted the tactics that 2 Squadron AFC had been using. These mimicked the German Circus' of stacked formations where mixed Squadrons of machines flew at different altitudes and forced attacking aircraft into the lower layers where they could be outnumbered.

By the beginning of June, the weather cleared and German Army resumed an offensive in the Somme region. As German aviation strength followed the ground offensives, 2 Squadron AFC starting seeing constant combat in the air as the density of allied and German aircraft increased to match the activity on the ground. Hammond flew in this environment through early June until on the 11th he scored his first victory over a two-seater near Cuvilly. He was flying SE5a C9541. Unfortunately the next morning he fell to the same fate. The Official History describes June 11th and 12th;

In the afternoon of the June 11th five machine under Forrest brought six enemy two-seaters to an engagement over Curvilly. Lieutenant T.J. Hammond destroyed one of them. Soon after dawn next morning Hammond was himself shot down and killed near Noyon in a fight with the circus against eight Pfalz Scouts and four Fokker Triplanes. Two Pfalzes having dived on a Camel of the second deck of the circus, Manuel, leading the SE5a's promptly attacked one and set it on fire. In the general engagement which followed Hammond was killed, but three enemy machines were shot down by the Camels, two of them in flames.

It is possible the Camels were from 73 Sqn RAF, who were operating in the area at the time and made three claims for 10.00 AM on the morning of June 12th. Hammond was shot down in SE5a, D3960 by Hans Martin Pippart of Jasta 19. It was Pippart's 15th victory. Pippart himself was killed near Noyon less than two months later. Hammond's memorial is at the Arras Flying Services Memorial, Pas de Calais, France.

More Information

• 2004-2002 AFC site - Themetre James Hammond