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On this day ninety-three years ago, the 4th March 1933, Able Seaman William G Laurence, at that time serving on HMS Ormonde, died in the General Hospital at RAF Hinaidi from bronchial pneumonia and was buried in the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (now known as the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery) in Plot 1 Row D Grave 13. Sadly his headstone is not one of the seventy-seven headstones that have survived out of three hundred burials at the long abandoned cemetery, but here is a photograph of the cemetery taken in 1929 when it was still being tended by the Imperial War Graves Commission (named changed to Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1960). For more information on how the cemetery became abandoned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, visit the Ma'Asker Cemetery Maintenance Timeline  page on Steve Buster Johnson's website, the information taken from every CWGC Annual report from 1937 to 2019, or visit the Ma'Asker section  for greater detail of the cemetery and its history. Plot 3 at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery (photo c 1929)

On this day ninety years ago, the 3rd March 1936, John WQ Stack, a civilian contractor with the Royal Air Force who was previously a captain in the Hampshire Regiment, died from causes unknown and was buried in the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery (now known as the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery) in Plot 2 Row B Grave 14. Sadly his headstone is not one of the seventy-seven headstones that have survived out of three hundred burials at the long abandoned cemetery, but here is a photograph of the cemetery taken in 1930 when it was still being tended by the Imperial War Graves Commission (named changed to Commonwealth War Graves Commission in 1960). For more information on how the cemetery became abandoned by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, visit the Ma'Asker Cemetery Maintenance Timeline  page on Steve Buster Johnson's website, the information taken from every CWGC Annual report from 1937 to 2019. For more background information on the Ma'Asker cemetery visit the Ma'Asker section  of the website. Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery

Headstone for Sqn Ldr Jasper Cruikshank, Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, Baghdad Headstone for Sqn Ldr Jasper Cruikshank, Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery, c1929 Exactly one hundred and one years ago, on the 20th February 1925, Squadron Leader Jasper Cruikshank OBE, commanding officer of the No 6 RAF Armoured car Company, died of Typhoid and was buried in Plot 3, Row I, Grave 14 at the Ma'Asker Al Raschid RAF Cemetery (formerly the Hinaidi RAF Peace Cemetery) in Baghdad, Iraq. Pictured are the remains of his headstone, one of only 77 that exist today, out of the 300 burials at M'asker. May he rest in peace. For more information on the Ma'Asker cemetery visit the Ma'Asker section of Steve Buster Johnson's website.

This page shows the circuit diagram of a non radiating triple stage receiver, as used by the Royal Air Force in 1918. Royal Air Force 1918 Non Radiating Triple Stage Receiver This page shows the circuit diagram of a non radiating triple stage receiver, in use by the Royal Air Force in 1918.

This page provides samples of informative 6 Squadron footnotes that appear in 'For God England and Ethel', written by Steve Buster Johnson 6 Squadron WW1 Facts 3 - Footnotes taken from my book, 'For God, England & Ethel' Footnotes are inserted throughout For God, England & Ethel where I felt extra explanation would be of interest to some readers. They are printed 'en masse' as Endnotes after the Epilogue, but are not essential to the story. Though many relate to the operations of 6 Squadron over the western front during WW1, many refer to other interesting facts about the flying and the Western Front. Displayed below are four examples : 19 The Royal Aircraft Factory FE2 (Farman Experimental No 2), or 'Fee' as it was commonly referred to by its crews, was a two-seater 'pusher' engine fighter biplane. Though designed before the war, it was not introduced into service until the latter part of 1915 when five aircraft were delivered to 6 Squadron in Abeele. The FE2 proved more than a match for the Fokker Eindecker and was used to protect reconnaissance aircraft like the BE2 from being attacked by enemy scouts. It could carry three Lewis machine guns which were able to be fired in any direction except directly to the rear, where the engine and propeller were mounted. the FE2 was most successful when fighting with other FE2s in a circular formation, each one protecting the aircraft in front. 88 As at 8th July 1917, the date at which Major James addressed the men of his squadron, the most successful British pilot in the Great War was Captain Albert Ball who, at the date of his death on 6th May 1917 had already claimed 44 victories. Captains Fred Thayre (pilot) and Francis Cubbon (observer) had claimed 20 and 21 victories respectively, most scored whilst flying together, before both men were killed in action by an anti-aircraft shell whilst flying a FE2d for 20 Squadron on the 9th June 1917. Also by the 8th July, Canadian pilot Captain Willy Bishop had claimed 31 of his eventual 72 victories, his compatriot Lieutenant Raymond Collishaw 31 of his eventual 60 victories (6 enemy aircraft being downed by him on a single day) and Australian pilot Lieutenant Robert Little 27 of his eventual 47 victories. Other British pilots flying at the time who were to later become WW1 aces were Lieutenant Edward McMannock who had already claimed 2 of his eventual 61 victories and Captain James McCudden, who with 5 claimed victories flying as a flight sergeant had recently been promoted to flight commander and would eventually claim 57 victories. Of all these men, only Lieutenant Colonels 'Billy' Bishop and 'Collie' Collishaw and Major William John Charles Kennedy Cochran-Patrick would survive the Great War. 98 The most commonly used British Army trench maps in WW1 had a scale of 1 : 40000 and were used by both pilots and observers as they were small enough to fold and clip on to the cockpit dashboard while still providing sufficient detail for accurate spotting. The maps of Belgium and France were divided into rectangular Sheets, each Sheet being given a number (e.g. Sheet 28 for the area around Ypres) and representing a width of 36,000 yards. Every Sheet was then divided into 24 smaller rectangles or zones, 6,000 yards wide and either 5,000 or 6,000 yards deep (depending upon the particular Sheet) and identified by a letter of the alphabet (A to X). These rectangles were further divided into squares of 1,000 yards and numbered 1 to 30 or 1 to 36 depending upon the size of the larger rectangle. Each square was then divided into four quarters, labelled 'a', 'b', 'c', 'd', which in turn could be further divided into 100 squares, the side of each square representing 50 yards. By estimating a position within one of the small squares (ie. number of tenths) it was possible to report a position to an accuracy of 5 yards (e.g. Sheet 28 J22c.54.67). For a graphical example of mapping coordinates refer to the diagram in this book - Grid System Used by Aircraft & Artillery. 105 The morse signal for J11AR2BBB represented ' J' for 6 Squadron, ' 11' for Thomas Rogers' personal identifier, ' AR2' for the battery call signal and ' BBB' for "Are you receiving signals? "

86 aerial photos (6 Sqn) taken before and after the Battle of Messines in June 1917, printed by No 2 Advanced Section Army Printing & Stationery Service (AP&SS) Battle of Messines - Aerial Reconnaissance Photos by 6 Squadron Royal Air Force This section of my website show the contents (43 pages, 2 photos per page) of an aerial dossier produced by 6 Squadron as part of its operations during WW1 over the Western Front. The photographic images (two to a page) show the effect of the allied bombardment before and after the Battle of Messines in June 1917 when the allies exploded 19 mines beneath the German lines on the ridge around Messines. Each of the 86 photographs is marked with a date and time stamp as well as mapping coordinates. If you know the name of the location you are looking for, select the appropriate images from the MESSINES sub menu, otherwise simply scroll through the images displayed in sequence immediately below the Aerial Photos Summary Chart . In late 2016, David Weekes kindly sent me part of his WW1 photographic collection from the UK so that I could use the photographs in my own personal research as well as help others gain knowledge regarding aerial warfare and photography on the western front during WW1. He also expressed the desire that the documents eventually be donated to the British National Archives. To date I have been unsuccessful in my attempts to have the 6 Squadron "The Battle of Messines" aerial photograph dossier, printed by the No 2 Advanced Section A P & S S - Army Printing and Stationery Services - included in the AIR 1 collection alongside other 6 Squadron documentation that has survived the test of time, the sole reason given to me being the fact that the document has never been processed by the Air Historical Branch. Rather than deny others access to these important historical photographs that provide a direct comparison of the landscape of the region around Messines before and after the British attack on the German positions on the morning of 7th June 1917. For anyone unfamiliar with the military gridding system used by the Allies during WW1, I have reproduced two images here, the first taken from my book, For God, England and Ethel (showing the coordinates of two artillery 'shoots' carried out by 6 Squadron aircraft) and the second a summary of the areas of the Western Front around Ypres and Messines that are covered by one or more of the 86 photographs. For anyone interested in seeing 'then' and 'now' photographs of the area around Palingbeek, I recommend you visit Hugh Shipman's website The Palingbeek Time Machine . Battle of Messines - 6 Sqn Aerial Photos Summary Chart 1/1