…... torpedo and about two yards to the left. The bomb appeared to explode as the torpedo was passing. The torpedo ran on for about 20 yards and then came to the surface, almost stopped, turned 45 degrees to the left and ran slowly forward at about four knots, leaking oil and flaring and smoking. No attempt was made to drop further bombs on the torpedo and the machine returned to the aerodrome. Quite a satisfactory exercise.
General Sir Charles Harrington KCB
CMG DSO had been sent to Turkey to negotiate with General Ismet the establishment of an Armistice in preparation for the signing of a peace treaty. During these negotiations the Squadron carried out reconnaissance sorties along the neutral zone, and although the aircraft were forbidden to approach nearer than two miles to the neutral boundary the pilots were able to report Turkish activity in the area. This information was sent by WIT to General Harrington’s ship and was of great value to him in his
negotiatio
ns with General Ismet. (In the accompanying photograph of the mosaic of the Bosphorous taken in November 1922 shows the uses of aerial photography at the time). A story is told that, during these discussions, General Ismet jokingly said to General Harington that the latter seemed to know more about the disposition of Turkish Troops than he did himself which was of course true!
The experiments with radio-telephony were keenly received and General Headquarters in Constantinople were very interested in all tests carried out. One of the uses to which R/T was put was in assisting the Army, in particular the anti-aircraft batteries, in assessing an aircraft’s height. On 11th July a pilot and wireless operator took off to fly over the 84th Infantry Brigade and the 19th Brigade R.F.A. to show exactly what an aeroplane looked like at different altitudes. Starting at 500 feet and progressing upwards to 10,000 feet wireless messages were sent to the ground throughout the whole flight to notify the various altitudes. All this was excellent training, however flying at San Stefano came to an end after peace was ratified in Lausanne on 23rd August 1923. The following day orders were received to evacuate Turkey.
