The aircraft of WWI did not have electronic ignitions and the method of getting the engine running was similar to how you would start a manual car by putting it in gear, rolling it down the hill, and the dumping the clutch. The difference was ground crew would swing the propeller to engage the engine. But 180hp and 200hp engines have a great deal of compression; and it often took more than the muscle of one person to get the propeller turning.

Richard Williams writes that hand starting was practical for the 90hp and 160hp engines in the BE2 and Martinsyde's but the 200hp engines of the squadron's Bristol Fighter meant hand-starting was difficult. The Bristol Fighter and SE5a were fitted with magneto type self starters. Williams describes it:

An explosive charge was drawn into the engine cylinders by rotating the airscrew by hand and that having been done the ignition was switched on and a small magneto type apparatus was rotated to create a spark in the cylinders and fire the charge.

When Williams took over 40 Wing RFC he noticed that the aircrew of No.111 Squadron RFC were still hand starting the SE5a. He writes:

It was obvious the mechanics felt the same way [as Williams who wouldn't have liked to hand start a 200hp engine] and I asked the squadron commander why it was being done. He said the starters were useless.

We had gone through this in No.1 Squadron [AFC] and had found that when properly adjusted the starter was very good. I was able to arrange attachment of No.1 Squadron's senior electrician to the SE squadrons, starters were properly adjusted and swinging the airscrew by hand was stopped to the delight of the little chaps who had been doing it. Most of them really were little chaps.

The photo at the top of this article is of an SE5a squadron in Palestine. It is likely this picture was taken before Williams and No.1 Squadron's Electricians spent time with No.111 Squadron.

Another solution, in the ongoing absence of an electrical starter, was to make a mechanical one. The Hucks Starter was one such solution. It hooked up to a truck and rotated the propeller mechanically, substituting mechanical power for human power.

However the Hucks starter had similar limitations to hand starting and could not deal easily with the increasing compression of more powerful engines as horsepower output grew.

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.

Scott Eberhardt of the University of Washington has published a paper which compares the performance properties of the scout aircraft of World War I. It is titled; "Performance Analysis and Tactics of Fighter Aircraft from WWI" [PDF Warning]

The abstract describes the paper as using for the basis of performance analysis;

For this paper analysis involved finding data from various sources and backing out aerodynamic parameters, such as Do C and e, the Oswald efficiency factor. Then, climb, turns, stall and other performance parameters can be backed out. In many cases, data is scarce and of dubious origin. Nevertheless, a fair amount can be learned if the data is accepted in the spirit for which it is intended.

The paper contains some interesting graphs which relate to 1918 performance. The Sopwith Snipe does well, largely due to its powerful engine and low weight.

Source: "Performance Analysis and Tactics of Fighter Aircraft from WWI" [PDF Warning]

It should be noted though, that by the arrival of the SE5a and Spad VII aircraft on the western front, the Royal Navy's blockade of Germany ahd tipped the technology scales in favour of the allied air services. After the Hispano was produced in numbers, the German engine industry was never able to match the allies for horsepower. This was due to important supplies such as oil, lubricants etc being cut off. It is interesting to note that in the area of aerofoil design, German technology was way ahead.

Source: "Performance Analysis and Tactics of Fighter Aircraft from WWI" [PDF Warning]

The Snipe again showing that it was the last in the evolution of the light rotary engined fighters. The success of the SE5a and Spad should have shown the way for British industry to produce boom and zoom designs for 1918.

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.

The Fighting Instructors of the Australian Flying Corps squadron's painted their aircraft up in whites and reds so the future fighter pilots they were training could see them easily in the sky. Cobby noted in his memoirs that it was stressful dog-fighting recruits as they consistently threatened to collide with the fighting instructors through lack of flying skill. This was before parachutes were used in aircraft. More on Les Holden's SE5a.