The Airco DH5 was flown by No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps in 1917, specifically during the hectic Battle of Cambrai. The DH5 has a strange origin, as its wings are back staggered, while most of the World War aircraft that are its contemporaries had forward staggered wings with the upper being in-front of the back wing.

There was history behind this engineering decision. Originally aircraft couldn't fire a machine gun through the propeller. This was first solved by the Germans and when machine gun were fitted to Fokker Eindeckers with this interrupter mechanism they dominated the air over the trenches very quickly.

The French response was to fit machine guns on the top wing of their Nieuports that fired over the propeller and consequently didn't require an interrupter. The British response was to put the engine behind the pilot so that the machine gun didn't need to fire through a propeller. The best known of these pusher aircraft was the Airco DH2.

The photo above shows the pusher engine arrangement and how the front nacelle does not have a propeller in front of it to get in the way of a machine gun being fired forward. There were reconnaissance machines made with a similar layout, namely the FE2 aircraft.

Originally the British had success with the DH2, especially in the hands of skilled pilots like Lanoe Hawker, however, the Eindecker had old engineering such as wing-warping and an aileron controlled machine could easily out maneuver it. Once the powerful twin gun Albatros reached the front the British aircraft were once again hopelessly out-classed.

The British solved the engineering problem of an interrupter mechanism and rushed new aircraft to the front in response to the Albatros. These included the Sopwith Pup, the Sopwith Triplane and the Airco DH5. The Dh5 kept the back staggered wing structure, but did so with an engine in front and with a machine gun fitted with an interrupter mechanism.

The back staggered wings decreased visibility drastically. The RFC pilot who was doing the trials on the aircraft when it was being evaluated wrote, "it was found impossible to get a view of a Sopwith Scout [the aircraft it was mock dogfighting with], once one let the machine get one ones tail."

Another issue with the DH5 was speed. The Airco DH5 was put into operational service approximately eight months after the Sopwith Pup which was about the same speed as the Airco DH5 and by that time most of the German Aircraft, including the two seater reconn aircraft, had increased their engine horsepower such that the DH5 was too slow to catch them. The Australian pilots of No.2 Squadron AFC complained that they were unable to catch German aircraft of they didn't hit them in an initial dive.

The early DH5 aircraft were discovered to have extremely bad vibration problems, to the point that the instruments in the cockpit refused to work and the joystick was difficult to maintain in a constant position. It was thought that the vibration was a culmination of badly balanced engines and the stiff main bearer plate that the DH5 carried. Though the squadrons in France reported that the DH5's they flew vibrated no worse than the Sopwith Camel. Finally 32 Sqn RFC in France experimented with stiffening rods from the fuselage to the engine bearers which reduced some of the vibration but not all. Other engine cowls were stiffened with six chordwise stiffeners.

he "Men and Machines of the Australian Flying Corps" contains the passage, "One of it's [the DH5] less endearing features was the fact that it's rotary engine shed a valve tappet rod ( a quite common occurrence, which was eventually overcome by the fitting of a simple clamp ), this rod would cut through the thin engine cowling like a demented tin-opener before coming up against the relatively immovable mass of the of the Vickers Gun, which projected out forward above the engine. This solid resistance was sometimes enough to wrench the motor right out of it's mountings, with disastrous results for the poor pilot."

Since the DH5 was not fast enough to be a scout and a fighter it did manage to find a place for itself in the army support role. During the Battle of Cambrai the Australian and British DH5 squadrons were used heavily in trench strafing, bombing and support. Richard Howard writes,

During this series of operations our squadron made quite a name for itself. It even made a name for the type of machine it was flying, which hiherto had been considered as rather a 'washout'. This machine is now to be standardised for low flying work.

Low flying work and strafing is dangerous and No.2 Squadron AFC took 35% casualties during the Battle of Cambrai while doing this work. The DH5 was used by 2 Sqn AFC, 24 Sqn, 32 Sqn, 41 Sqn, and 64 Sqn RFC. After the Battle of Cambrai it was quickly replaced by SE5a aircraft as they became available. It is safe to say that the DH5 arrived on the front as an obsolete aircraft and probably only because the British were not able to produce enough Sopwith Camels and SE5a aircraft in sufficient numbers to outfit their scout squadrons.

Airco DH5 of Captain R.C. Phillips, No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps.

Airco DH5 of Lieutenant L.H. Holden, No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps.

Airco DH5 of Captain G.C. Wilson, No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps.

Airco DH5 of Lieutenant R.W. McKenzie, No.2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps.

Griggs was an American who joined the Australian Flying Corps and flew with No.2 Squadron. Unfortunately he lost his life during the Battle of Cambrai.

Griggs is fourth from left in the back row.

The Australian Imperial Force [AIF] in the First World War was monoracial, but outside that policy, the AIF was multi-ethnic. Consequently there men of many different nations that served in the AIF; Russians, Danes, English, Singaporeans, Canadians, New Zealanders, etc - and Americans. When the gold rushes in California had petered out, many Americans flooded the Victorian goldfields, and then migrating on to the Western Australian goldfields before ended up in the South African goldrushes. It should be remembered that the groups which resisted the British most at Eureka when it came to arms were Americans.

Albert Griggs was from Meridian, Mississippi and was living in Hobart when he signed up to the AIF. He went through the Fifth (flying) Training Course at Point Cook, which was rare too, as the common path for joining the Australian Flying Corps [AFC] was to be recruited from the Australian Light Horse. After completing his training in Britain he was posted to No.2 Squadron AFC.

No.2 Squadron flew the Airco DH5 which was unusual for having 'back-staggered' wings. This caused some problems in a fighter aircraft design as the pilots couldn't see what was behind them, or what was on their tail. To add to the concern of the wing design the DH5 was not a fast aircraft by any means which meant it was easy for German aircraft to catch them up if they wanted to.

The advantage was that the pilot had an excellent view in-front as no upper wing obstructed their vision. Partly as a consequence of this realisation, and the fact that during the Battle of Cambrai all available aircraft were needed to support the offensive on the ground, the DH5s were pressed into a ground attack role. It was very dangerous work and the casualty rate in No.2 Squadron was high during this period.

Griggs, unfortunately, was one of those who were lost during the support of the offensive. On November 23rd the allied offensive stalled at Moevres where three Irish Battalions where trying to take the town. An Irish company was pinned down by a German defensive position and they watched a back-staggered DH5 return to attack the position again and again; until it crashed into ground; killing Albert Griggs.

Two weeks later, the Irish Fusiliers put a notice in The Times: "To an unknown airmen, shot down on November 23rd, 1917, whilst attacking a German strongpoint south west of Bourlon Wood, in an effort to help out a company of Royal Irish Fusiliers when other help had failed."

No.2 Squadron's DH5 aircraft were pressed into the ground attack role during the Battle of Cambrai. It was dangerous work as the linen and wood aircraft were susceptible to small arms fire at the low levels they worked at. Harry Taylor was shot down while performing a ground attack mission, and surviving the crash had quite an adventure before getting back to the squadron's aerodrome.

On the morning of the 20th of November the Battle for Cambrai was well under way. The dawn horizon clammered with the sound of artillery shells from both sides being fired in never ending barrages and through the impenetrable mist. At the crack of dawn a flight of six aircraft from 2 Squadron Australian Flying Corps took off from their Warloy aerodrome in their DH5 aircraft to strafe and bomb the German rear and offer tactical air support for the allied soldiers. The mist was so dense, as it had been for the whole of the month, that formation flying was impossible and the six aircraft split up into pairs and went off to find for targets of opportunity.

Of this first flight Captain Bell who had been a pilot with 1 Squadron AFC in the Palestinian theatre , in company with Lieutenant McKenzie attacked a series of German Artillery positions at low altitude. The ground attack work was dangerous, often the DH5's would be less than 30 feet off the ground due to the heavy mist. McKenzie after releasing his bombs on a position strafed another with his Vickers gun until he was low on ammunition, his partner however had received a bullet wound in the chest from ground fire and was forced to land near the front lines. Bell unfortunately was to die of his wounds in a hospital, but his downed aircraft was to play a role in another escapade that occurred later in the day.

Before this first morning flight had returned a second flight was taking off from Warloy to attack German positions under the command of Phillipps and Wilson. In the formation was a well respected pilot by the name of Lieutenant Harry Taylor. Taylor had been a Mechanic before the war having found himself in Australia after being born and living much of his life in Birmingham, England, and joined the A.A.S.C on the outbreak of hostilities. Later he transferred to the Australian Flying Corps and was posted to France with 2 Squadron. On November 20th he was flying as a pair to Captain Wilson, who says of the initial attack;

Close together we dived down and opened our machine guns on the Germans, pulling up to the level of the fog again ( about thirty feet off the ground ), and letting a bomb drop as we rose.

After another zoom , Wilson noted he had lost Taylor and was looking for him when Wilson saw a red rocket fired up into the sky meaning Taylor was in distress. Wilson wrote;

That he was sufficiently alive to fire those rockets was amazing. His machine was just a heap of wreckage. One wing lay 20 yards from the rest of the heap." Wilson also noticed that 50 yards from Taylor were groups of enemy infantry who had been watching Taylor come down, uncertain as to whether he was crashing or going to strafe them. As he crashed they lifted their rifles to fire on Taylor.

Taylor had crouched behind a small mound after crashing and with his automatic starting firing back at the German soldiers. Taylor would run and fire with each strafing run of Wilson's until he was close to a small group of British soldiers who quickly clamoured around him and started firing back at the German soldiers. Wilson saw Taylor pick up the rifle of a fallen soldier and fire alongside the British soldiers at the German infantry who was now surrounding the British position.

Wilson continued to strafe the German infantry in an attempt to get them to disengage the British soldiers and break up their attack , but offering himself as a target eventually had consequences. Wilson writes;

Then there was a crashing sound and I was blinded. Two bullets had pierced the wind screen in front of my eyes and dust from the triplex glass had been flung into my eyes. ....... For a while I flew about anywhere, certain of one thing only, that I was climbing up clear of enemy fire. Gradually the glass dust got washed from my eyes and I was able to see again.

When Wilson returned to the crashed aircraft the surrounding land was in the control of the Germans and neither Taylor or the British soldiering party could be seen. The men that Taylor had found had lost their Officer and Taylor fought with them as they edged their way back to more easily defensible lines and the main body of troops they were attached to. Taylor left the group once they reached safety and began the long trek back to the advanced landing ground when he came across Captain Bell's machine. Taylor with the help of some troops attempted to get the engine started but they were unable to. Taylor walked back to the airbase , reaching it in time for dinner.

The official description of Taylor's escapade for that day read;

attacked parties of the enemy with a German Rifle , joined an advanced British infantry patrol, led it forward, and brought in a wounded man. He found Captain Bell's machine and tried to fly it , but without success. He then rejoined the squadron at the advanced landing ground.

Unfortunately Taylor was to die in an aeroplane accident on the 18th of August 1918 while flying as an instructor with the Training Wing of the Australian Flying Corps in England.

Under Andrew Murray-Jones No 2 Sqn AFC earnt a name as a quiet, humble, confident and proficient squadron. While this is not a result of the squadron commander alone, but a combined result of the attitude and ethic of the flight commanders, pilots and ground crew, there is no better example of the squadron's proficiency than Captain Roy C. Phillipps. (more)