Triplane over the Aegean

The Sopwith Triplane, often referred to as the "Tripe", saw sterling service with the Royal Naval Air Service on the Western Front between December 1916 and November of 1917. However, one, and only one Triplane, N5431, was dispatched to Macedonia in January 1917, and it served the RNAS No. 2 Naval Wing. This Wing operated from Imbros and other Aegean Islands in support of Allied forces in Salonika and the Dardanelles, mainly flying from Mudros Bay on the island of Lemnos in the Aegean Sea. N5431 flew with the Wings 'E' Flight, and it was coded with the letter 'L'. Its first pilot Flight Lieutenant John William Alcock, who would undertake the first transatlantic flight together with Arthur Whitten Brown after the war. However, Alcock managed to crash N5431 at Mikra Bay Airfield in Saloniki on March 26. The Tripe overturned after running into a ditch and it was badly damaged. N5431 was initially written off, but nevertheless rebuilt at Mudros. In mid-May it flew again, this time with 'B' Squadron at Thermi, and sans the letter 'L' on the fuselage. It was later taken over by 'C' Squadron at Imbros, Its first action was the pursuit of an enemy aircraft over Suvla Bay, but without any result. Later on, the Tripe became the aircraft of choice for a Flight Lieutenant Mellings.

 Mellings

Flight Lieutenant Harold Thomas Mellings DFC, DSC and Bar, was born in Shropshire in August of 1897 or on August 5, 1899 (sources vary). Mellings joined the RNAS in 1915, and he received Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate No. 2028 on November 11, 1915 at the Beatty flying School in Hendon while flying a Caudron. He was confirmed a Flight Sub-Lieutenant on April 3, 1916, and he was eventually posted to No. 2 Naval Wing on the Macedonian Front in October 1916. Mellings shot down his first aircraft, an LVG, on September 30, 1916, while flying a Bristol Scout over Smyrna. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross for "...when he attacked a hostile aeroplane with great gallantry at heights varying from 12,000 to 2,000 feet" on March 19, 1917. On September 21, 1917, Mellings was awarded the Hellenic Silver War Medal. 

Sopwith Triplane N5431

On May 25, 1917, Mellings flew the Tripe as an escort for a BE 2c above Suvla Bay when he spotted a Halberstadt scout near Aivali. Mellings promptly attacked, and a scrap ensued. The Halberstadt eventually dived away in a tail-spin with smoke coming out of its engine.It fell down to some 3,000 feet, where the pilot righted the Halberstadt. Mellings turned and dove after the Halberstadt, chasing the German back to his airfield, where ground fire forced Mellings to break off the pursuit. The German did claim that the BE 2c had been shot down into the sea, though. 

The German forces in Turkey had deployed a number of aircraft, including a number of Albatros W.4 float planes. This was an aircraft that looked similar to the Albatros D.I, although the W.4 was somewhat bigger, and it handled well despite the two floats suspended under the fuselage. The W.4:s were paqrt of the German Navy's Wasserfliegerabteilung at Chanak Kale in Turkey. They were apparently known as "Blue Birds' by the RNAS due to their blueish-gray camouflage markings. Five W.4s were deployed to Turkey and, while eight second hand W.4s were used by the Austro-Hungarian air forces. Two of the former W.4s were to destined meet Mellings. 

 Albatros W.4

On the early morning of September 30, 1917, said two W.4s were escorting a German reconnaissance two-seater over Mudros Bay. Mellings in N5431 was ordered to intercept the hostile force together with Arthur Brown in a Sopwith Camel and another pilot in a Sopwith Pup. Harold Mellings initially headed for the two-seater, but he was engaged by one of the W.4s. He avoided being hit or tailed, and fired a burst at the second W.4, but with no visible results. Alcock also attacked a W.4, possibly the one that had fired on Mellings, but Alcock stalled his Camel after firing. As Alcock fell away from the dogfight, he saw smoke from the W.4 he had fired at. Meanwhile, the second W.4, piloted by Fliegerobermaat Walter Krüger, was being pursued by Mellings as it dove towards the sea. Mellings fired again, taking off the upper left wing of the W.4 and wounding the pilot. Krüger crashed into the Aegean and was killed, while Mellings climbed back at altitude to have another go at the two-seater while Alcock finished off the remaining W.4, although he soon had to head back to the airfield with an engine problem. The Tripe and the Pup followed the German two-seater down to sea level, but the Germans managed to get away. However, the unidentified pilot that was fired upon by Alcock in his Camel was brought down as well and described by RNAS Captain Augustine F. Marlowe as follows: "We  have been showing a Hun prisoner around. He was forced to down in the sea and we picked him up. He seems quite a nice bloke and very friendly." Arthur Whitten Brown was awarded a DSC for the action on September 30, while Mellings received a Bar to his DSC: "For the great skill, judgment and dash displayed by him off Mudros on 30 September 1917, in a successful attack on three enemy seaplanes, two of which were brought down in the sea".

September 30 ended badly for Arthur Whitten Brown, though. That evening, Brown took off together with Lieutenants Wise and Aird in a O/100 bomber to attack the railway station at Haydarpasa in Constantinople. The aircraft had to make an emergency landing at sea due to a broken oil pipe, and the crew was captured (see http://talesanecdotesandtrivia.blogspot.com/2014/11/bombing-constantinople.html).

Mellings continued flying the Tripe through 1917. On November 19, Mellings shot down an Albatros D.III, wounding Vizefeldwbel van Ahlen of Fliegerabteilung 30 in the process. A Rumpler was shot down in flames over Drama on November 25, and another D.III was shot down on November 29. Mellings was subsequently re-deployed to the Western Front.and No. 10 Naval Squadron in 1918. He had ten confirmed victories, five driven down and two unconfirmed victories when he was shot down by Ludwig Beckmann of Jasta 56 on July 22, 1918.

Trusty N5431 hit a wall upon landing in 1918, and she was broken up.


Sources:

http://wpalette.com/en/pictures/23689
iwm.org.uk
The London Gazette (Supplement) no. 30437, December 18, 1917
Norman Frank. Sopwith Triplane Aces of World War One.

Bombing Constantinople

As the nations of Europe were facing the outbreak of World War One, the German battle cruiser Goeben and her companion, the light cruiser Breslau, were chased through the Mediterranean between August 3 and August 10, 1914. Both ships made it to Constantinople, and they became the only modern units of the Turkish Navy. The ships remained crewed by German sailors and Admiral Souchon, the commander of the German ships, became Commander-in-Chief of the Turkish Navy. During the war, the two German vessels engaged the Imperial Russian Navy on several occasions and they also supported Turkish ground troops.

A mission to bomb the Goeben, or Yavuz Sultan Selim, as she was known in Turkish service, was conceived late in 1916 by Squadron Commander Kenneth A. Savory of the Royal Navy. A Handley Page O/100 heavy bomber was to be used, and initially a torpedo attack was considered, but as the planning proceeded it was decided to use 112lb bombs instead.

It was 2,000 miles from Manston in Kent to Moudros on the Greek island of Lemnos. There the bomber was to be armed and fly to Constantinople and Stenia Bay where the Goeben was anchored. Extensive preparations were required before undertaking the mission, the first intercontinental bombing mission in history, and on May 23 the aircraft took off. The crew was composed of Commander Savory, co-pilot Lieutenant McClellan, flight engineer Lieutenant Rawlings and two mechanics. The O/100 was loaded with spare parts, essentially enough to build another engine, as well as personal equipment and two propellers that were strapped to the side of the bomber.

Commander Savory and Lieutenant his crew finally took off on the first leg of their journey. Despite the 700-mile range of the O/100, the trip was divided into 200 mile segments, and the bomber flew from Hendon to Paris and through France down the Rhone Valley to Marseilles and then on to Pisa and Rome, where the crew was received a “very hearty welcome” from the Italian Air Staff. The flight then proceeded to Naples, Otranto and over the Adriatic to cross the Albanian mountain ranges before arriving at Salonica. The crew reported that they had been chased by hostile horsemen while crossing Albania, who apparently were hoping that the aircraft would be forced to land.

O/100 3124 reached Moudros at the end of the first week of June. The attack was scheduled for July 3, but the aircraft engines overheated and the mission had to be postponed until July 5. However, this time a burst tire forced the mission to be postponed yet again. Bad weather three days later caused another delay, but on July 9 the O/100 finally took off at 8.47pm, and it reached Constantinople just five minutes before midnight. Constantinople was apparently brilliantly illuminated, and the Goeben was easily spotted since it had all lights on and men walking the deck.

After flying parallel to the Goeben, and circling twice to determine the necessary data for bomb release, four bombs were dropped from a height of 800 feet. The first salvo missed the battle cruiser, but one or two submarines were supposedly hit. However, after circling around the target, the second salvo of four bombs scored a direct hit on the Goeben.The lights were instantly turned off, and the bomber flew off in the direction of the Golden Horn, dropping two bombs on the “General”, a converted liner that served as a headquarters for the German Imperial Staff supporting the Turkish forces. Savory then steered his bomber to the Turkish War Office and dropped his remaining two bombs at the building. He claimed to have hit the War Office with the aid of the light from the fire that his first bombs had caused. By then, the Turkish anti-aircraft defenses were fully alert and guns were opening fire at the O/100, and it was later on found that 26 bullets had penetrated the aircraft, with one bullet disabling one of the engines. The bomber spent in all 35 minutes over the target before returning to Moudros, and the mission was deemed a success. Commander Savory could add a Bar to his Distinguished Service Order.

The O/100 remained at Moudros after the mission, since there was a lack of spare parts, but it was used both for anti-submarine patrols and to bomb targets in both Adrianopolis and Panderma. On September 30 the aircraft took off to attack the railway station at Haydarpasa near Constantinople, but the O/100 was forced to do an emergency landing at sea due to a broken oilpipe. The three crewmen, Lieutenants Wise, Aird and Alcock were all taken prisoner. Lieutenant John Alcock would later achieve fame by crossing the Atlantic in a Vickers Vimy together with Arthur Whitten Brown.

 O/100 No 3124 arriving back at Mudros after one of its bombing sorties over the Eastern Mediterranean in the summer of 1917.

Left: Flight-Commander Savory, D.S.O. and Bar, who took part in this raid, with his greyhound mascot. Right: Squadron-Commander Smyth-Piggot, D.S.O., with his mascot

 

A rather fanciful rendering in a 1918 issue of Flight illustrating Commander Savory’s bombing of the Goeben.

Sources:

British Airmen Bomb the Cruiser Goeben. New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16590, July 13, 1917

British Bombs hit Turks’ Ships and War Office. The Chicago Tribune, July 12, 1917

London to Constantinople by Air. Flight, December 20, 1917

Turkish Fleet Bombed. Bendigo Advertiser, July 13, 1917