British Military Aviation in 1915 - Part 1

Part 2

January
Small numbers of Royal Flying Corps aeroplanes are kept at readiness to combat possible enemy airship raids.

January
The Experimental Photographic Section of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) is formed under the command of Lieutenant J.T.C. Moore Brabazon (later Lord Brabazon of Tara).

19-20 January
The German Navy mounts the first airship raid on Britain. Three Zeppelins (L3, L4 and L6) were despatched; one was forced to turn back with engine difficulties 90 miles from the English coast. The remaining airships bombed Great Yarmouth and King's Lynn, killing 2 residents of Yarmouth and injuring 3, and killing 2 and injuring 13 residents of King's Lynn. These were the first British Militaryian casualties due to air attack.

The first night air defence sorties are flown by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Following the attack by Zeppelins L3 and L4, two Vickers FB5 Gunbuses of No.7 Squadron were ordered to take-off from Joyce Green and patrol over the southern outskirts of London, without result.

23 January
British reconnaissance aircraft spot Turkish forces preparing to attack the Suez Canal area.

February
Headquarters of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) directs that one flight in each squadron is to specialise in bombing as well as normal duties.

17 February
The seaplane carrier HMS Ark Royal arrives off the Island of Tenedos to conduct air operations in support of Royal Navy vessels attacking Turkish fortifications in the Dardanelles.

10 March
The Battle of Neuve Chappelle opens. The assault on Neuve Chappelle is based, for the first time in the history of warfare, on maps prepared solely by photographic reconnaissance. The battle also included the first attempt at air interdiction, with bombing attacks on railways at Courtrai, Menin, Lille, Douai, and Don by Royal Flying Corps aircraft carrying 25 pound and 100 pound bombs in an effort to delay the progress of enemy reinforcements. However, Royal Flying Corps Headquarters judged only 3 out of 141 railway attacks to have been successful. The aircraft also bombed a divisional headquarters at Fournes.

24-26 March
Elements of No.3 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service, arrive at Tenedos aerodrome with 18 aircraft of varying types to support operations in the Dardanelles.

28 March
The first flight by an aircraft from Tenedos aerodrome takes place to reconnoitre Turkish positions.

April
The first German Fokker Eindekker enters service on the Western Front. The Eindekker was armed with a synchronised machine-gun firing through the propeller arc and as such, has often been described as the first true fighter aircraft. This marked the beginning of the 'Fokker Scourge'.

1 April
No.9 Squadron is re-formed at Brooklands. This squadron would subsequently to form the basis of the Royal Flying Corps School of Wireless.

22 April
During a gas attack at Ypres in Belgium, Royal Flying Corps (RFC) aircraft spot the gas cloud moving towards French troops and are able to warn them of the danger.

25 April
British Commonwealth and French forces begin to land on the Gallipolli Peninsula.

Part 2