John Smith: Gone to Russia to Fight

Wing area: 160 sq. ft. Wing loading: 7.7 lb/sq. ft.

Engine: one 110 hp Le Rhone rotary engine. Maximum speed: 106 mph.

Service ceiling: 16,500 ft. Weights: (empty) 825 lbs; (loaded) 1,235 lbs.

Endurance: 2.25 hours. Armament: one forward-firing Vickers machine-gun.

The Nieuport 17 was introduced into French service during 1915 and played a major part in restoring the balance against the German Fokker. Many of the Allied aces started their careers flying Nieuport types, including Ball and Bishop. It was a light, manoeuvrable aircraft with a good speed and climb rate for the conditions when it was introduced. One fault of the aircraft, because of its light weight, was a tendency to lose the top wing in steep dives. France manufactured thousands of Nieuports and the type was used by France, Britain, Italy, Belgium, and America, as well as Russia.

Both the White and the Red air forces used the Nieuport. Large numbers had been imported into Russia and it was also built in Russia under licence.

Although it had been an effective aircraft, the Nieuport was probably past its best by 1919, but the small numbers of aircraft available during the Russian Civil War meant that it was still a useful aircraft.

General F. C. Poole, Nov. 1918-Feb. 1919; General Briggs, Feb. 1919-June 1919; General H. C. Holman, June 1919-Feb. 1920; General Payne, Feb.1920-June 1920.

Commanding Officers RAF in South Russia

Lieutenant-Colonel A. C. Maund, May 1919-Jan. 1920; Major J. O. Archer, Jan. 1920-April 1920; Major A. W. Clemson, April 1920-June 1920.

Commanding Officer 62 Wing

Lieutenant-Colonel F. W. Bowhill, Jan. 1919-Aug. 1919.

Commanding Officers 221 Squadron

Major J. O. Andrews, Dec. 1918-May 1919; Major De Ville, May 1919-June 1919; Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon, June 1919-Aug. 1919.

Commanding Officer 266 Squadron

Captain J. A. Sadler, Feb. 1919-Aug. 1919.

Commanding Officer A Flight 17 Squadron

Captain A. D. Makins, Jan. 1919-Nov. 1919.

Commanding Officers 47 Squadron (‘A Detachment’ after Oct. 1919)

Captain S. G. Frogley, June 1919; Major R. Collishaw, June 1919-March 1920.

Commanding Officer A Flight 47 Squadron

Captain L. H. Slatter, Oct. 1919-Dec. 1919.

Commanding Officer B Flight 47 Squadron

Captain S. Kinkead, Sept. 1919-March 1920.

Commanding Officers C Flight 47 Squadron

Captain H. G. Davies, May 1919-July 1919; Captain S. G. Frogley, July 1919-Nov. 1919; Captain W. F. Anderson, Nov. 1919-March 1920.

Commanding Officers Z Flight

Major J. O. Archer, Nov. 1919-Jan. 1920; Captain A. P. Ritchie, Feb. 1920-March 1920.

Commanding Officer Crimea Group

Major R. Collishaw, Jan. 1920-March 1920.

Commanding Officer Kuban Group

Major L. H. Slatter, Jan. 1920-March 1920.

Commanding Officers Training Mission

Major L. P. Paine, May 1919-July 1919; Major J. O. Archer, July 1919-Nov. 1919.

Commanding Officer RAF Air Park Novorossisk

Captain A. W. Clemson, Sept. 1919-March 1920.

Aten, M. H., Last Train Over Rostov Bridge , Cassell, London, 1961.

Bechhofer, C. E., In Denikin’s Army , 1921.

Boyd, Alexander, The Soviet Air Force , Macdonald and Jane’s, London, 1977.

Butt, V. P., The Russian Civil War , Macmillan Press Ltd, London, 1996.

Collishaw, Raymond, Air Command , William Kimber, London, 1970.

Cronin, Dick, Royal Navy Shipboard Aircraft Developments , Air-Britain Publications, 1990.

Denikin, A. I., The White Army , Ian Faulkner Publishing, Cambridge, 1992.

Fowler, Simon, RAF Records in the PRO , PRO Publications, London, 1994.

Dobson, Christopher and Miller, John, The Day We Almost Bombed Moscow , Hodder and Stoughton, London, 1986.

Hodgson, John Ernest, With Denikin’s Armies , Lincoln Williams, London, 1932.

Jackson, Robert, At War With The Bolsheviks , Tandem, London, 1972.

Jane’s Fighting Aircraft Of World War One , Studio Editions, London, 1990.

Jones, H. A., Over the Balkans and South Russia , 1923.

Jones, Ira, An Air Fighter’s Scrapbook , Greenhill Books, London, 1990.

Khvostov, Mikhail and Karachtchouk, Andrei, The Russian Civil War: The Red Army , Osprey, London, 1996.

Khvostov, Mikhail and Karachtchouk, Andrei, The Russian Civil War: The White Armies , Osprey, London, 1997.

Lincoln, W. Bruce, Red Victory , De Capo Press, New York, 1999.

Maudsley, Evan, The Russian Civil War , Birlinn, Edinburgh, 2000.

Riaboff, Alexander, Gatchina Days , Smithsonian Institute Press, Washington, 1986. Seaton, Albert, Stalin , Combined Publishing, Pennsylvania, 1998.

Silverlight, John, The Victors’ Dilemma , Barrie and Jenkins Ltd, London, 1970. Sturtivant, Ray and Page, Gordon, The D.H. 4/D.H. 9 File , Air-Britain Publications, 1999.

Sturtivant, Ray and Page, Gordon, The Camel File , Air-Britain Publications, 1993. Williamson, H. N. H., Farewell to the Don , 1970.

Wrangel, Alexis, General Wrangel , Leo Cooper, London,1987.

Wrangel, Petr, The Memoirs of General Wrangel , Williams and Northgate Ltd, London, 1929.

Most of the records relating to the RAF in south Russia are in the National Archives at Kew. Other records are in the National Army Museum in Chelsea, the Maritime Museum in Greenwich, the RAF Museum in Hendon, and the British Library in the Euston Road.

This edition published 2013

Amberley Publishing

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Gloucestershire GL5 4EP

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Copyright © John T. Smith 2010, 2013

The right of John T. Smith to be identified as the Author of this work has been asserted in accordance with the Copyrights, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without the permission in writing from the Publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data.

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978-1-84868-891-9 (PRINT)

ISBN 978-1-4456-2034-3 (e-BOOK)

National Archives, 72 Squadron diary

Cullen, A. A., unpublished memoir

National Archives, 72 Squadron diary

Ibid.

National Archives, Andrews, J. O., War Experiences

Knock, D. B., ‘An Armourer’s Diary’, Popular Flying , May 1938, page 90

Ibid.

National Archives, Gayford, O. R., War Experiences