Squadron trip to the WW1 battle fields, france

It seems hard to believe that the Squadron mission to Salute the Airmen of the Great War has finally come about and indeed has been blessed by not only the Weather Gods but by our Guardian Angels!

The idea started back in 2011 when I suggested to Tim Clark that we should make a trip over to the Western Front at the start of the centenary. All seemed a long way off.

Until suddenly …!

Managing the best part of 80 people and over 30 aircraft, the booking of hotels, coaches, dinners, guides, along with the recces to airfields and securing the required permissions is all a fair workload. The one decision that I made well was asking Andrew Wimble to join me in this mission… ALL thanks go to him as without his skills and enthusiasm the task would have been somewhat consuming! The next good decision we made together was to get the booking of hotel rooms started 18 months ahead of the start date. 2014 and the start of the centenary has proved to be a very busy time for the key Western Front cities and towns, particularly Ypres and Amiens.

We very early on decided on a sketch program for the trip. We wanted to find a balance of solemnity and fun… To this end we made contact with the French Memorial Flight (FMF) who have their workshops at Le Bourget and their airfield at La Ferté Alais, south of Paris.They, along with the Salis Collection, are akin to our Shuttleworth Trust. The aim was to start the trip with the FMF even though La Ferté Alais is not geographically in the war zone. We wanted to get the Squadron into a WW1 mind set, and the FMF proved to be perfect allies for that purpose. The time at La Ferté Allais was to be followed by an air and ground recce of the whole of the Western Front to include the Somme, Arras, and the Ypres Salient. The plan was to achieve all within a slightly extended long weekend.

The next important ingredient was to recruit good guides. Here we scored well with Andy Robertshaw, our ground expert, and Josh Levine, whose passion is in the air war.

It was hoped to draw in all wartime participating nationalities in some form or another. This was only partially achieved in that we were joined by Peter and Gail Allen representing Canada and the French were represented by the FMF and General Patrick de Rousiers and his wife at the dinner on 13th September. We were also joined by Dmitry Muravski, a World class photographer, from the Ukraine representing the war on the Eastern Front, as well as continuity to the Squadron’s very successful trip to the Ukraine in 2013.

There were a number of other little balls that we threw into the air like the booking of dinners, a band for the Saturday night party, the acquisition of poppies, plates, cups et al for the goodie bags… presents for those who so generously helped us throughout the trip… to name a few, the hidden aspects to trip organization!

What could go wrong? THE WEATHER… the weather was our biggest gamble however the weather Gods were on our side with a high set over the UK on the run up to our departure.

With the stage set how did it go?

The weather was ideal for our escape from the UK. I set forth with my daughter Susie on the Wednesday to get a foot on the ground early, and also to overfly all the important landmarks and airfields. Andrew followed on Thursday, meeting up at La Ferté Alais in the evening to be ready for the arrivals on Friday.

Most people arrived in an unflustered state after a lovely clear run, many via St Omer as we had suggested, it being such a key aerodrome during WW1. The exception was Tim Williams, with Ian Sutherland as his passanger, in his Tiger Moth. He had to make a precautionary landing with a very sick engine. They had been flying with the low and slow comprising of Jonathan Elwes, Ralph Hubbard, and David Cyster in their Tiger Moths, as well as Susie Whitcombe and Martin Barraclough in their Super Cubs. Tim, as it turned out, had fuel issues which he managed to resolve but not before getting the book thrown at him by the Police, along with posing for pictures in the local press!
29 aeroplanes arrived safely at La Ferté Alais. We were all staying at a local conference center, Domain de Fremigny, where we had a buffet supper and brief for the following day and indeed a good night’s sleep.

Saturday 13th dawned with clear skies; however a northerly wind prevented the flying of WW1 machines, certainly for the morning, although we kept our fingers crossed that they could fly in the afternoon. A bus party went to visit the Chateau at Fontainbleu, with the rest of the party headed off to the airfield for a morning of guest flying, tail chases and aviation fun and games. I wanted to get everyone who had not flown in an open cockpit to do so… I wanted to get the WW1 spirit going as well as allow people to immerse themselves in all that the Museum could offer.

The Salis Collection of aeroplanes is magnificent BUT in June this year the hangars were severely damaged by a storm, which threw hailstones the size of oranges at them. The result was that the hangar roofs are in need of total restoration. The aeroplanes received some damage and have had to be dispersed elsewhere. The only hangar to survive the onslaught was the new B17 hangar, which has absorbed a large number of the planes. As luck had it the weather was so good that the FMF could display their collection on the hard standing outside enabling us to admire their magnificent machines in sunlight and in all their glory.

Over the day many of both the FMF and our own aircraft flew numerous sorties, making a lot of people very happy!

At 1pm we had a finger lunch followed by a symposium, the aim of which was to allow Josh Levine to introduce the air war and the FMF (through our principal contact, Cyrille Manileve) to talk about their collection, the building, maintenance and flying of the WW1 era machines. We also had Peter Allen, who has huge experience in early flying machines, and our own Frank Chapman, a Shuttleworth pilot talk and take questions. It was a useful springboard to the days ahead.

The afternoon saw many more satisfied passengers both from the Squadron and our French hosts… the day could not have run better… but was not over as we hosted a dinner to thank the FMF and to which we invited General de Rousiers, his wife and Dmitry, our photographer from the Ukraine. Good dinner, good band and a good night!

We knew from the forecast that Sunday was likely to be dubious at our destination airfield, Amiens. That proved to be correct. The issue was not just one of slipping the time, as Amiens had an airshow on in the afternoon, so we had to have our aeroplanes settled by 12:30 at the very latest. Time beat us so we had a quick re-think of plans. We decided to fly to Arras instead and arranged taxis to drive everyone to Amiens. In retrospect this turned out to be to our benefit as it did make the logistical issues easier for the next day. The party met up at a restaurant called Le Quai, where we the Historians briefed us for the following day, a good dinner, followed by a sound and light show at the Cathedral.

Monday 15th was always to be a busy day with a ground recce of the Somme, taking in many of the iconic sights such as the Newfoundland Memorial and one of the great craters. The morning Somme tour ended with lunch at Arras airfield who generously provided a splendid BBQ.

After lunch we visited nearby Vimy Ridge and the RFC memorial in the cemetery at Arras. As luck had it we had already cut out the Arras flight but nonetheless what we were trying to squeeze into the programme was still too much. The only casualty turned out to be the crash site of the Red Baron.

We all flew that evening to Lille Marcq from where we were bused to Ypres… it was the end of a long day!

There were comings and goings with our party at La Ferté Alais, Amiens and Ypres… some could not make the whole trip but we managed to juggle rooms and bookings for a seamless flow of those comings and goings!

Tuesday started with a 09:00 hrs departure of buses to visit the Ypres Salient. Our Historians brought to life the horrors of the war and kept the Squadron fuelled with stories and descriptions. The morning was long but fascinating and utterly captivating.

The afternoon allowed people a well-deserved rest prior to a thoroughly magnificent and humbling ceremony at the Menin Gate, which ended the trip with the sounding of the Last Post.

The 17th was a day to disperse, and disperse we did, most back home but some to await the next mission to Arnhem starting on 19th, and for Coreth to set off to visit his foundry in the CZ Rep … 6 glorious hours of flying to the East!

This skip through the trip could so easily be expanded 1000-fold but suffice to say it was in our opinion a TOTAL success, as the many kind emails and letters have so clearly stated. Many people gave so much beyond the call of duty towards making it a success… apart from the FMF hosts and Arras and Lille Marcq airfields, our pilots gave so generously their time and energy with guest flying, the guides did a sterling job in keeping the trip on its toes, and there are so many more …… THANK YOU all.

To sum up the main purpose of the trip: A Poem to the Brave by Susie Coreth

To the victims and all the survivors of war,

Who never forgot the terror they saw.
To all the civilians, both friend and foe,
Who lost everything and had nowhere to go.
To the officers who had to decide
The right time to shoot and the right time to hide.
To the school boys, who signed up so young,
Thinking the war would make them strong.
To the RFC, the aviators,
Mapping the trenches and the craters.
To the men of the land who committed no crime,
But whose farmyards and fields became the front line.
To the children lying awake in their beds,
Not knowing if Brother or Father were dead.
To the factory workers, who created the tanks,
The bombs, guns, planes and sent them to France.
To the women at home whose husbands had gone,
Who could only pray and try to stay strong.
To nurses who cared for man after man,
Who patched up their wounds and held onto their hands.
To the men in the trenches, who with no word or cry
Had to carry on fighting after seeing friends die.
To deserters, those whose bravery lapsed,
Shot for this crime – they would never come back.

It’s clear to see, one hundred years on,
The names on memorials of those that have go
ne.
Thousands of crosses mark out the graves
Of eternal soldiers; the eternally brave.
But we should not, we must not, we cannot forget
The millions who lived with pain and regret:
The shell-shocked, the mourners, the orphans and more,
All those affected by the Great War.

For all those who feared, for all those who cried,
For all those who lived and for all those who died,
We must remember.