Royal Flying Corps arrives in France

14 August 1914

Britain’s Royal Flying Corps has commenced its deployment to France as part of the British Expeditionary Force. Yesterday morning, Numbers 2, 3, and 4 Squadrons flew their aeroplanes from Dover to Amiens. The first machine, an RAF BE.2a (serial number 327) piloted by Captain Francis Waldron took off at 6.25 AM. The first to complete the 231-km (144-mile) flight was another BE.2a (serial number 471) piloted by Lieutenant Hubert “Bay” Harvey-Kelly.

Major Charles Burke, Commanding Officer of the squadron, had intended to land first, but Harvey-Kelly, took a short-cut over some woods and beat him to the honour. Burke’s diary records:

“Just as I was gliding down I saw another machine. Landed at 8.22. It was Harvey-Kelly.”

In a photograph taken in Yorkshire last week, Harvey-Kelly is to be seen reclining between his mount and a haystack, enjoying a cigarette:

Lt “Bay” Harvey-Kelly,
2 Sqn, Royal Flying Corps

Page from Maj Burke’s diary

Aeroplanes of numbers 2 and 3 Squadrons took off at five-minute intervals and arrived in France largely without incident. Fog delayed the departure of the aeroplanes of number 4 squadron until 10.00 AM, and some of the machines of the squadron’s B Flight were damaged when they followed one of their number prematurely to the ground. Before reaching Amiens, engine trouble forced Captain Francis Cogan to make an emergency landing. He set his BE.2a (serial number 231) down on a ploughed field at Equihien, damaging its undercarriage. Three other pilots followed suit! Lieutenant Patrick Playfair recalls:

“I can remember being with the aircraft that followed Captain Cogan down to his forced landing in France, and I can still remember the roughness of the field he was unlucky enough to choose. I also remember that after refuelling and resuming the flight I was not above landing again to ask a passing pedestrian the way to Amiens.”

All together, forty-four aeroplanes have made the crossing yesterday. Number 4 Squadron has left one of its flights back in England to perform coastal patrol duties, but has instead taken with it a flight of three aeroplanes crewed by men experienced in wireless telegraphy from the air.

Number 5 Squadron is also in the process of deploying to France, but its movements have been hindered by a series of accidents with their aircraft and a shortage of shipping available to transport its vehicles and support staff across the channel. The squadron is presently at Gosport.

Numbers 2 and 4 Squadrons are furnished entirely with the BE.2a (described below). Number 3 Squadron operates a mixture of Blériot XIs (previously described in this journal) and Henry-Farman HF.20s. Number 5 Squadron also has Henry-Farman HF.20s, plus Avro 504s and RAF BE.8s.

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The Royal Aircraft Factory BE.2a

The BE.2 is the most numerous aircraft type in the Royal Flying Corps’ inventory today. First flown in February 1912 by its designer, Geoffrey de Havilland, dozens of these aircraft have now been produced by a variety of manufacturers, including Vickers, Armstrong Whitworth, Handley Page, and the British and Colonial Aircraft Company.

It is a two-seat biplane of the configuration pioneered by Louis Blériot; that is, with the engine and propeller mounted at the front of the aeroplane, and the elevators grouped with the rudder at the rear. (This configuration is the source of the “BE” designation, which stands for “Blériot Experimental”). Power is supplied by a 70-hp Renault V-8 engine that can propel the aeroplane to 74 mph.

Since last winter, RFC commanding officer Lt Col Frederick Sykes has been seeking to obtain BE.2s to replace the less capable and reliable types flown by the Corps.