B flight, number 7 squadron, Royal Flying Corps, Flanders 1918
My Father, Reginald Vaughan Facey, was a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps towards the end of World War I. His observer was 'Peter' A G Wilson. They both went on to read medicine at Brasenose College, Oxford and became GPs.
Left to right from the centre of the front row: commanding officer Bertie Sutton, 'Peter' A G Wilson, Reginald Vaughan Facey. I cannot identify the others, although some of their signatures may be below.
Below is my father's pilots licence:
It seems the Air Ministry used civilian licence documents with the insertion of the word NOT. The licence is for "the Avro 504K class of aircraft".
Training was rudimentary. My father had been taught to land by being told to fly gently downwards until he could see the individual blades of grass and then pull up a bit. Unfortunately, my father had rather poor eyesight and never could see the blades. As a result, he gained a reputation for writing off his undercarriage. He told me that, despite this, he had no problem getting observers to fly with him as he was fine when airborne.
Here is one of the reconnaissance photos taken, I presume, by Peter Wilson whilst my father was flying the plane:
I think the pale streaks are duck boards. As this was the only photo my father kept, it can be deduced that the density of shell holes seen here was exceptional.
Flying in the first World War was exceptionally hazardous. At its low point, in 1917, the average life expectancy of a pilot was 21 days (risks considerably higher than those faced by Bomber Command in WWII). My father joined the RFC in December 1917 at the age of nineteen, so he only caught the tail end of the war and that was fortunate otherwise I probably wouldn't be here. It seems that the airmen spent much of their spare time drinking, which is perhaps understandable.
The postcard below was sent to my father in London and is postmarked 27 June 1918. It is marked CARTE POSTALE but seems to have been posted in Britain. Presumably there was some service in France for turning one's own photo into a postcard, which was then brought back.
It is a photo of the squadron's unofficial coat of arms, with its motto HAVA NOTHER. I don't know what the letters NGLRCP stand for.
Peter Wilson kept a diary of his war time experiences from November 1917 to July 1918, and after the war it was published privately by the committee set up to keep the old members of the squadron in touch. The secretary, Mr. E. W. Fletcher, wrote in his forward that "the committee were of the opinion that amplification of certain events would be desirable, and a drastic censorship of others an urgent necessity". The slim volume was subsequently published with Peter Wilson's approval.
The inside back cover is signed by various members of the flight:
I can decipher L. H. Brown, Pat Leonard, F. Habgood, E. W. Fletcher, John Hall, W. Urquhart Dykes and Peter Wilson. Also the signature of Watson? known as 'Wattie'.
After the war my father went on a trip to the USA with his friend Ralph G. Crimmins of Boston, an American he had met at Oxford. They sailed on Cunard's RMS Mauretania in June 1920. It seems that Crimmins father, Mr. T. A. Crimmins, must have been connected to the American political establishment because whilst in the Atlantic my father received the following telegram from the American President Woodrow Wilson:-
To R. V. Facey Esq – S.S. Mauretania
President Wilson & Cabinet in full session extend hearty welcome to you to the U.S.A. The U.S.A. Signal Corps hope you will lecture them in re. "Broken under carriages".
My father was not a "flying ace" but it seems he became a minor celebrity in the US and was invited to a fair few functions. The cutting below incorrectly reports his name as "Lieut. Reginald VonFacey", the reporter possibly having been led astray by the German ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen.
Peter Facey, Winchester, England
20111204 originated