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An extract from “Wings Across the Border” Vol 1 reads
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Although over the next four months some twenty-nine more ships would be sunk in Llangefni's patrol area with the loss of over fifty lives, the DH4s did not return. Their replacement in the summer of 1918 comprised obsolete and surplus Airco DH6 two-seater trainers adapted as light bombers for an antisubmarine role. With their 90 h.p. RAF 1a, 80 h.p. Renault or 90 h.p. Curtiss OX-5 engines they were capable of 75 M.P.H. maximum and could carry only half the bomb load of a DH4. But they were supplied not at the request of individual stations but as part of a wider package as a new antisubmarine strategy was adopted, crucial to which was the philosophy that, since the likelihood of the destruction of an enemy submarine by an aeroplane was remote, 'scarecrow' patrols did not need front-line aircraft or the most experienced crews. Obsolete aircraft, readily available in vast quantities, manned by second-rate crews, could supply the necessary deterrent factor equally effectively and at half the cost! In this context one should note two events of import that occurred early in 1918. In their struggle against the U-boat the Admiralty began to implement a policy of 'combined operations'. Llangefni's airships had long cooperated with Royal Navy surface vessels but now the hunt was to be controlled and co ordinated on an area basis. To this end Captain Gordon Campbell, V.C. (of Q-ship fame) ( see below) was appointed supremo of antisubmarine forces, both sea and air, at Holyhead. Initially he had under his command a flotilla of superannuated destroyers, an armed steam yacht, an armed drifter which doubled as a harbour defence vessel, some twenty-two lightly armed motor launches, four airships (rising to six by the end of March) and (on paper at least) a squadron of aeroplanes! In May Campbell was able to move his flag into the light cruiser HMS Patrol. Moves towards this state of affairs had been made in November 1916 with the creation an Anti Submarine Division with the Naval Staff. In April 1917 a South western Group took over responsibility for anti “U” boat operations in the Western Approaches. As enemy submarine activity increased this was further sub divided in November 1917 into a Milford Haven Group with responsibility for the Irish Sea, and March 1918, as already noted, into a Holyhead Group. Eventually the air element in the new strategy would be under to the tune of 1,060 DH6s distributed between some thirty-four Sp Duties Flights or Coastal Patrol Flights deployed around the vulnerable parts of Britain's coastline. It was several weeks before an aircraft materialised in North Wales. On 14 March 1918 S/Cdr. J.I K. Allsop, in company with Llangefni's CO, S/Cdr. Brotherton, toured Anglesey and adjacent parts of Caernarfonshire looking for a suitable aerodrome site. Despite the fact that four months earlier Llangefni was considered suitable to house DH4s. it was a different matter for the lighter DH6s. The airship landing grounds were considered too rough without a great deal of preparation at too great an expense. S/Cdr Allsop had commanded 4 Squadron at Bray Dunes (Belgium) in February-March 1917 before taking over 7 Squadron at Coudekerque (April-June) and was therefore something of an expert in establishment of 'forward' airfields and converting flights squadrons. In May 1918, some 50 acres of Glan-y-mor-isaf farm, on the coastal flat a mile east of Penrhyn Castle, was selected as a 'Special Station' and duly commissioned July 1918 by the simple expedient of uprooting two hedges, erecting tent lines and Bessoneau hangars, digging bomb dump trenches and commandeering a farm outbuilding for the W/T station. The first aircraft arrived on 14/15 August. But until then patrol aircraft had to use Llangefni landing ground. The only problem was the inability for the DH6 to carry a reasonable pay-load. This meant that they often flew with an observer and no bombs, ideal for convoy escort duty, where feeding information to surface vessels was of the essence. When the flight moved to Glan-y-mor-isaf and the number of aircraft doubled, three out of four DH6s were flown as single sealers the only way they could carry an adequate bomb load!
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But before Captain Campbell saw any of his aeroplanes the Admiralty's new initiative was hi-jacked and modified by the merger; of the RNAS and RFC on 1 April 1918 to form the RAF. The immediate impact was to impose upon a loose naval organisation the RF's hierarchal orthodoxy of Group, Wing, Squadron, Flight. Whether they liked it or not the RAF was committed to the Admiralty's 'scarecrow' expedient using DH6s. No. 14 (Marine Operations) Group was formed on 1 April 1918 with its HQ at Haverfordwest. It had oversight of Llangefni, Killeagh. Malahide and Pembroke (airship stations), Fishguard (seaplane base) and units at Bangor/Aber, Dublin (RAF Tallaght). Milford Haven (HQ 77 Wing), Pembroke Dock and Wexford. As re-organisation spread northwards. Luce Bay (aeroplanes) and Luce Bay (airships) came firstly (from 1 July 1918) under the control of No. 22 (Marine Operations) Group with HQ at East Fortune, and then (from 12 August 11918) under a new 25 (Marine Operations) Group, HQ Luce Bay. Which had oversight of nine Royal Naval Air Stations in south-west Scotland and Ulster. Within 14 Group ground organisation started with six Coastal Patrol Special Duties Flights (SDF) established on 6 June 1918. 519 and 1520 SDFs at Pembroke, 521 and 522 SDFs at Llangefni and 523 and 124 SDFs at Luce Bay. On 25 July 1918 the six flights came under the umbrella of newly formed 255 Squadron, HQ Pembroke and the first Captain R. R. Soar DSC, a Western Front veteran who had flown planes, Sopwith Camels and Triplane Scouts with 8 Squadron. He ran a Sopwith F1 Camel (D9542) as his own personal transport to get around his widely flung command. In the first instance only eight DH6s operated out of Llangefni 1791, B3020, B3021, C2021, C6656. C7861, C7863 and C7864). ‘They were picketed out in the open, no hangars being provided. The SDFs as yet did not have their own armourer, nor mechanics, but were serviced by airship ground crews. The first fatality occurred on 14 August 1918 the day before the unit transferred to its new home at Glan-y mor-isaf when Airco DH6 B3021 suffered engine failure whilst on patrol and crashed, killing Lt. J. R. Johnstone. On the same day C2021 failed to return from patrol, lost at sea without trace. It was rather sombre crowd that moved across the Menai Straits on the day to their new war station. The move coincided with, indeed, was prompted by, a further shakeup of Special Duties Flights and Squadrons. 255 Squadron, instead of being split between three widely dispersed stations and working under three Senior Naval Officers, was reconstituted as three squadrons, with the addition of an extra flight and more aircraft and pilots if not the ground crews to keep them in the air! The official date for the transfer is 15 August 1918, although some aircraft may have flown in a day or two earlier. With a new coastal patrol flight, 530 SDF and six extra aircraft. they reformed as 244 Squadron under the command of Major H. Probyn. A much streamlined 255 Squadron now comprised just the two Pembroke SDFs. With the addition of 245 (Seaplane) Squadron based at Fishguard and formed on 20 August, the three new squadrons came under the aegis of No. 7 Operational Wing established on 8 August with HQ at Milford Haven. With the addition of a new coastal patrol Right (No. 529 SDF) 523 and 524 SDFs at Luce Bay formed a new 258 Squadron, but under the control of No. 25 (Marine Operational) Group. There was no Operational Wing within this latter Group. After only two months at Aber 530 SDF, or at least a section of it, was sent to Ireland to patrol the eastern seaboard north and south of Dublin, the equivalent of the Malahide detachment of Llangefni's airships. On 18 October 1918 five DH6s C7786, C7796, C7861, C7863 and C9444 flew out together under their own steam, a not inconsiderable achievement for obsolete aircraft! They were based at RAF Tallaght. It only opened in August 1918 as a Training Depot Station hut in 1919 successively home to 117, 141 and 149 Squadrons in their internal security role. Whilst at Tallaght 530 SDF lost C9444, piloted by Ft. Lt. H. F. Monypeny. which crashed near Dun Laoghaire on 6 November. The Armistice officially removed the need for special coastal patrols. Without realising it, the end of the war was already in sight, all U-boats having been recalled to Germany on 21 October. There was some 'tidying up' to do, but airships could seek out and destroy floating mines far more effectively and on 11 November 530 SDF's Irish detachment flew back to Aber. there to sit out two months of utter boredom in appalling conditions as the weather broke and tented accommodation became untenable, necessitating a quick move to outbuildings on the Penrhyn Castle estate. The 1918 list of shipping losses in Llangefni's patrol area shows the same steady haemorrhaging. peaking during the winter's gales and storms which kept Anglesey's blimps grounded for days on end — 5 (4) in January 1918, 9 (1) in February. 7 (4) in March. 7 (4) in April. Figures in parenthesis indicate additional losses elsewhere in St. George's Channel and the Irish Sea. There was a marked drop in the number of casualties during the summer months, perhaps coinciding with the introduction of the new Sea Scout Zeros from March onwards and the arrival at Milford Haven and Holyhead of American light forces to ease the burden of providing patrols and convoy escorts. In June the arrival of the 'scarecrow' Special Duties Flights, first at Llangefni then moving to a temporary aerodrome outside Bangor in August 1918. may also have contributed to the seasonal fall in losses. It is difficult to quantify the achievement of these second rate machines with second grade aircrews. Their task was to patrol the off shore trade route between Anglesey and Liverpool Bar lightship, but the endurance of a DH6 was only some 90 minutes. . Two of the last three sinking’s in the Irish Sea were in fact in Llangefni's 'home waters'. On 14 October the tiny Dundalk (794 tons), outward bound from Liverpool to Dundalk with general cargo and many deck passengers, was sent to the bottom by torpedoes from both the UB123 and U90 off the Skerries Anglesey with a heavy loss of life. UB90 went on to sink SS Pentwyn off the Smalls, St. George's Channel, two days later. The inhabitants of the North Wales coastal strip had very quickly become accustomed to seeing Llangefni's blimps making a welcome landfall and hugging the coastline home. Apart from the actual physical dislocation caused by new aerodromes and the traumatic social impact they had upon adjacent rural communities, the advent of military aircraft in ever increasing numbers impinged itself upon the sensibilities of people along the northern March of Wales. While headstones, brasses, stained glass and war memorials yet survive to point to distant conflict in the air. The First World War aerodromes that spawned such aerial activity experienced mixed fortunes. As already noted, 244 Squadron's base at Glan-y-mor-isaf disappeared without trace. It took just five months to clear the site completely, the Bessoneau hangars being the last to go in June 1919. Without exception these early aerodromes were all-grass airfields with hutted or tented accommodation, and their obliteration and reversion to farmland was achieved without much trouble or disfigurement of the rural landscape. There appears to be no particular reason behind the selection of sites for training aerodromes in north-east Wales and adjacent Cheshire/Shropshire border country unless it was the obvious relatively flat, obstruction free and capable of being upgraded with minimal engineering works and at minimum cost
Thanks to Derrick Pratt and Mike Grant
Royal Air Force History
History of No. 244 Squadron.
Motto:No motto
Badge: No Badge
No 244 Squadron was formed in August 1918 at Bangor, North Wales from Nos.521, 522 and 530 Flights for anti-submarine patrols off the coast of North Wales. It was equipped with D.H.6s which it flew until disbanded on 22 January 1919.
History of No. 258 Squadron.
Motto: "In medias re" "Into the middle of things "
Badge: In front of wings elevated and conjoined in base, a panthers face
No 258 Squadron was formed on 25 July 1918 from Nos.523, 524 and 529 Flights at Luce Bay, being the aeroplane unit of the former RNAS airship station at Luce Bay. For the rest of the war, it flew D.H.6s on anti-submarine patrols over the Irish Sea and Firth of Clyde and disbanded on 5 March 1919.
DUNRAVEN, 10th August 1917, English Channel, to the north of Ushant island, France (48°38’N, 5°28’W) - foundered from torpedo and gunfire damage by German "UC-71". British Q-ship "Dunraven" (or "Boverton", collier, 3,100grt, 1-4in, 4-12pdr, 2-14in tt, built 1910), commanded by Capt Gordon Campbell V.C. (his third Q-ship after "Farnborough" and "Pargust") was slightly bigger than the earlier "Pargust" damaged and paid off in June 1917, but with the same crew. On the 8th August 1917, 130 miles southwest of Ushant in the Bay of Biscay at 48°00’N, 7°37’W, coastal minelayer "UC-71" was seen which submerged and closed before surfacing astern at the start of a three hour engagement. The submarine slowly approached and at 11.43hrs opened fire at long range, Campbell making smoke and sending off a panic party. "Dunraven" was hit, her depth charges detonated and the stern caught fire. Crew members, including Lt Bonner and PO Pitcher stayed hidden as the fire raged. A 4 inch gun and crew was then blown away revealing "Dunraven's" identity and "UC-71" dived. A second panic party abandoned ship, and after "Dunraven" had been hit by a torpedo, yet a third party went over the side, leaving only two guns manned. "UC-71" came back up, shelled "Dunraven" and again submerged. Campbell now replied with two torpedoes that missed, and around 15.00hrs, the U-boat finally headed away; "Dunraven’s" complement is not known, but one of her crew was killed.
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