1917 - 1918 Draper 12

At the time of this writing I have been in touch with one of the Squadron Old Boys, Mr. J. A. Richie, who was the mechanic who carried out most of the work in connection with this conversion. In his letter he says that to make room for the gunner some of the cross bracing wires and ribs just had to be removed, and we spliced the longerons at this particular spot. It was also necessary to make a smaller petrol tank which was secured under the pilot’s seat.


No one in the Squadron knew much about the technicalities of these things, but we did it and flew this Camel quite successfully. Richie tells me he also went up in it with Flight Commander Jordan. Sad to relate we never had the opportunity to try it out against the enemy. Just when we began to boast about our experiment some confounded Staff Officer turned up, reported it officially and we received orders to re-convert it back to its original state of a single-seat-fighter. The Squadron was then completely under orders of the new R.A.F. and how dare anyone show a bit of originality?


We now seemed to be getting back into our old form, so it was a great disappointment to be ordered south unexpectedly, to a place called Tramecourt. We had to leave our Theatre which, with the help of the other Squadrons, we had built at Serny. It was complete with stage, curtains and lighting, and we gained quite a name for our stage productions. Any sort of diversion was jumped at and we sometimes got as far afield as Boulogne, St. Pol, Amiens and even Paris.


During the two months we spent at Tramecourt we were much excited by the presence, in a nearby chateau, of His Majesty King George V; there was a great deal of “hush-hush” regarding his whereabouts, but everyone knew, just the same.


Being the nearest Squadron, we received special orders to be on the alert for enemy aircraft, and got in a fierce panic one night when half-a-dozen bombs were dropped in the vicinity. Later we heard that the King had been gone some days when this occurred.


Tramecourt was a difficult aerodrome from which to operate, having a nasty slope, and all who served there will remember the pilot who removed the top of a tree and the corner of a Bessonneau hangar, ending up in a hedge without hurting himself.


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