Louis Strange - Aerial Combat and Bombing Pioneer

Aerial Combat and Bombing Pioneer

Strange soon adapted his Farman to carry a Lewis machine gun, improvising a mounting to the top of the Observer's nacelle. His first armed encounter with the enemy came on 22 August when six enemy aircraft appeared at 5,000 feet over the airfield at Maubeuge, France. He took off in his Farman aircraft with Lt. L. Penn-Gaskell as gunner in the front cockpit to intercept the patrolling German planes, but with inconclusive results as the laden aircraft would not climb above 3,500 feet (1,100 m).

The next few days saw a general Allied retreat and the Squadron had to move base several times, whilst Strange and his fellow pilots continued their observation and light bombing sorties.

Less than two weeks after arriving in France Strange's inventive brain designed home-made petrol bombs that on 28 August he and his observer dropped by hand from their Henry Farman biplane onto the convoys of German troops and transport north of St. Quentin; the results 'sent us home very well pleased with ourselves'.

In October 1914 Strange invented a safety strap allowing the observer of his Avro 504 to "stand up and fire all round over top of plane and behind". He also designed and fitted a machine gun mounting to the 504, consisting of a crossbar between the central struts over which was slung a rope, allowing the Lewis to be pulled up into a position from which the Observer, seating in the front cockpit, could fire backwards over Strange's head.

On 22 November 1914 it was with this arrangement that Strange claimed his first victory; with Lt F. Small as gunner, he attacked an Aviatik two-seater and forced it down from over Armentières to make a bumpy landing in a ploughed field just behind the British lines.

Strange next turned his talents to developing a bomb chute with Lieut. C. Rabagliati. Attempting to drop 7-pound shrapnel bombs through a steel tube set in the floor of the Avro 504, one bomb jammed in the tube and prompted a forced landing through a field of corn, which luckily ripped the detonator from the jammed bomb.

In early 1915 he was promoted to Captain and posted to No. 6 Squadron as Flight Commander. He earned the Military Cross by carrying out one of the first tactical bombing missions. He modified his BE-2c to carry four 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs on wing racks which could be released by pulling a cable fitted in the cockpit. He dropped these bombs on Courtrai railway station in March 1915, causing 75 casualties and closing the station for three days.

While with No 6 squadron, Strange was a compatriot of Captain Lanoe Hawker. The Squadron became pioneers of many aspects in military aviation at the time, driven largely by the imagination of Strange and the engineering talents of Hawker. Their talents led to various mountings for Lewis machine guns, one of which won Hawker the Victoria Cross, and one that nearly cost Strange his life.

Having equipped his Martinsyde S1 scout with a Lewis gun mounted on the top wing above the cockpit, on 10 May 1915 Strange sought out the enemy to try out the new arrangement and attacked a German Aviatik two-seater. In order to change the empty drum on the Lewis, Strange had to stand up in the cockpit. Immediately the machine flipped on its back, throwing Strange from the cockpit and developing a flat spin downwards. Strange, hanging onto the ammo drum of the Lewis gun, managed to swing back into the cockpit and kick the stick over to right the aircraft 500 feet above the ground.

Strange later related ; I kept on kicking upwards behind me until at last I got one foot and then the other hooked inside the cockpit. Somehow I got the stick between my legs again, and jammed on full aileron and elevator; I do not know exactly what happened then, but the trick was done. The machine came over the right way up, and I fell off the top plane and into my seat with a bump.

He safely returned to base. He was criticised by his CO for 'causing unnecessary damage' to his instrument panel and seat in his efforts to regain the cockpit!

On 21 September 1915 Louis Strange was appointed to form and command No. 23 Squadron RFC at Gosport, Hampshire. He was promoted to Major on 5 November, the day he married his wife, Marjorie. Due to appendicitis Strange handed over command in March 1916. Strange then established No. 1 School of Air Gunnery at Hythe in Kent. He was then promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and formed No. 2 School of Air Gunnery at Turnberry. In April 1917 he became Assistant Commandant at the Central Flying School. On 26 June 1918 Strange was selected to command the newly-formed 80th Wing, RAF. During the next five months he was to be awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.

His DSO citation specifically mentions operations on 30 October 1918, when " he accompanied one of these raids against an aerodrome; watching the work of his machines, he waited until they had finished and then dropped his bombs from one hundred feet altitude on hangars that were undamaged; he then attacked troops and transport in the vicinity of the aerodrome. While thus engaged he saw eight Fokkers flying above him; at once he climbed and attacked them single-handed; having driven one down out of control he was fiercely engaged by the other seven, but he maintained the combat until rescued by a patrol of our scouts."

His Wing of Sopwith Camels, SE-5s, DH-9s and Bristol Fighters launched massed raids on the enemy airfields, reducing the effectiveness of German aerial response. Between 1 July and 11 November the seven Squadrons under Strange's command (including Nos. 88, 92, 103, 2 AFC & 4 AFC) - the latter two of which were Australian - destroyed or drove 'down out of control' some 449 German aircraft, as well as 23 balloons.

In September 1918 Louis' younger brother Gilbert John Strange, a 7-kill ace and Captain in No.40 Squadron, was killed in action.