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.

6 Sqn had their start as an Australian Flying Corps squadron in 1917. Their aircraft were attired in a broad red band with a white stylised kangaroo on top of it. These days the squadron flies the exceptionally powerful F111, a long way from the linen and wires of the SE5a, but in celebration of their 90th anniversary they have adorned A8-125 in the red stripe and white kangaroo of 6 Sqn AFC.

Australia took a very independent stance to the Australian Flying Corps and were not satisfied with outsourcing their training to the Royal Flying Corps. Consequently they established No.1 Wing and the four training squadrons of 5, 6, 7 and 8 AFC in the Cotswolds. These mimicked the operational squadrons but not exactly, though 6 Sqn was for training SE5a scout pilots and ground crew for 2 Sqn AFC.

1 Wing was commanded by Lt Col Oswald Watt who had painted a white kangaroo on his aircraft while flying in the French Foreign Legion. When he commanded No.2 squadron their DH5s were apparently marked with red kangaroos, though this changed to a white stripe when they became operation in France. During 2 Sqn's training period there are also photographs of white kangaroos on their Sopwith Strutters. When 2 Sqn received SE5as they changed their marking to a white boomerang.

With Watt commanding 1 Wing there was an explosion of Australian imagery on the aircraft - kangaroos, emus and boomerangs to name a few. 6 Sqn chose a heavily stylised kangaroo which is pretty similar in shape to the kangaroo that was in the DHC Beavers when the RAAF first changed over to the red roo in the blue roundel.

Probably the best known of 6 Sqns aircraft is Les Holden's "red devil". This was an all red SE5a that Holden flew while a fighting instructor - the red was so the cadets would see him. Arthur Cobby actually believed the job of a fighting instructor was more stressful and dangerous than flying over the front as the German aces that the AFC would dogfight with knew how to fly and would ram them accidentally or hamfistedly.

There is a photo of a line up of 6 Sqn SE5as in the AWM's collection that show the red stripe, white kangaroo and what appears to be blue tail markings.

After WWI the squadron was disbanded as the European and Middle Eastern contingents of the Australian Flying Corps packed up and went home. 6 Sqn would not be reconstituted until WWII when it began flying operations in 1939. Armed with Lockheed Hudsons in 1940 the squadron was to be in the thick of things including Milne Bay and Kokoda. By 1943 the squadron was re-equipped with Australian built Bristol Beauforts which they flew until the end of war where the squadron was disbanded again.

The squadron was reconstituted again in 1948 with Avro Lincolns until 1955 when the unit received Canberra bombers. In 1970 the squadron received the leased Phantoms which were replaced a couple of years later with the F111 which it continues to operate today.

The squadron is celebrating its 90th anniversary; 1917-2007 and has chosen to display its origins in the Australian Flying Corps by emblazoning A8-125 with a red rudder with white kangaroo similar to what the squadron wore in 1917.

Image courtesy of 6 Sqn RAAF.

From Scout Experimental to Fighter; 5a to 111. You can see A8-125 on public display at Avalon.