Charles Rumney Samson - World War I

World War I

When World War I broke out, Samson took the Eastchurch RNAS Squadron to France, where it supported Allied ground forces along the French and Belgian frontiers. In the late summer of 1914, with too few aircraft at his disposal, Samson instead had his men patrol the French and Belgian countryside in the privately-owned cars some of them had taken to war. The first patrol comprised two cars, nine men, and one machine gun. Inspired by the success of the Belgians' experience of armoured cars, Samson had two RNAS cars, a Mercedes and a Rolls-Royce, armoured. These vehicles had only partial protection, with a single machine gun firing backwards, and were the first British armoured vehicles to see action. Within a month most of Samson's cars had been armed and some armoured. These were joined by further cars which had been armoured in Britain with hardened steel plates at Royal Navy workshops. The force was also equipped with some trucks which had been armoured and equipped with loopholes so that the Royal Marines carried in them could fire their rifles in safety. This was the start of the RNAS Armoured Car Section.

Aggressive patrolling by Samson's improvised force in the area between Dunkirk and Antwerp did much to prevent German cavalry divisions from carrying out effective reconnaissance, and with the help of Belgian Post Office employees who used the intact telephone system to report German movements, he was able to probe deeply into German occupied territory. Closer to Dunkirk, Samson's force assisted Allied units in contact with the Germans, and at other times made use of their mobility and machine guns to exploit open flanks, cover retreats, and race German forces to important areas.

Samson's aircraft also bombed the Zeppelin sheds at Düsseldorf and Cologne, and by the end of 1914, when mobile warfare on the Western Front ended and trench warfare took its place, his squadron had been awarded four Distinguished Service Orders, among them his own, and he was given a special promotion and the rank of Commander. He spent the next few months bombing gun positions, submarine depots, and seaplane sheds on the Belgian coast.

In March 1915 Samson was sent to the Dardanelles with No 3 Squadron (later No 3 Wing); it was based on the island of Tenedos and, together with seaplanes from HMS Ark Royal, initially provided the only Allied air cover. On arrival, it was found that out of 30 aircraft that had been sent in crates, only 5 were serviceable (BE2s and a Nieuport 10). His squadron pioneered the use of radio in directing the fire of battleships and photo-reconnaissance. Samson flew many missions himself and on 25 April at the Landing at Cape Helles, he reported that "the sea was absolutely red with blood to 50 yards out" at Sed-el-Barr ("V Beach"). On 27 May, Samson attacked the German submarine U-21 which had just sunk HMS Majestic; when he ran out of bombs he resorted to firing his rifle at it. In June, a temporary airstrip was constructed at Cape Hellas; Samson became well known for waving cheerily to the Allied troops in the trenches below. On one occasion, he bombed a Turkish staff car but only succeeded in breaking the windscreen; one of the occupants was Mustafa Kemal, the charismatic Turkish commander and later founder of the Turkish Republic. In August, Samson's wing was moved to a new airfield at Imbros where it was joined by No 2 Wing under the overall command of Colonel Frederick Sykes. who had been given the naval rank of Wing Captain with three years' seniority. Sykes had previously written a critical report of the Gallipoli air operations, which had caused Samson to lobby against Sykes; however, Samson loyally served under Sykes until he was recalled to London in November.

On 14 May 1916, Samson was given command of HMS Ben-my-Chree, a former Isle of Man passenger steamer which had been converted into a seaplane carrier. Based at Port Said, he patrolled the coasts of Palestine and Syria, sending his aircraft on reconnaissance missions and bombing Turkish positions, often flying himself on operations. On 2 June, Samson took his ship through the Suez Canal to Aden where he personally led a six day bombing campaign. After silencing Turkish guns at Perim, Ben My Chree headed to Jidda where on 15 June, her aircraft operated in support of an attack by Arab forces led by Faisal, son of Hussein bin Ali, Sharif of Mecca; Samson lost the heel of his boot as well as various pieces of his seaplane to ground fire. The Turks surrendered the next day. Further operations off the coast of Palestine followed; on 26 July, Samson and his observer Lt Wedgewood Benn destroyed a train carrying 1,600 troops with a 16 lb bomb. In almost continuous action through the rest of 1916, Samson received a signal from the Admiralty asking why Ben-my-Chree had used so much ammunition; he replied "that there was unfortunately a war on". In January 1917 he sailed to Castellorizo to carry out joint operations with the French, and in the harbour there the Ben My Chree was sunk on 11 January by Turkish gunfire. A subsequent Court-martial acquitted Samson and the crew of all responsibility and commended them for their behaviour. His two escort ships, already equipped to carry a few seaplanes, were fitted out for independent air operations, and from Aden and later Colombo, he patrolled the Indian Ocean for enemy commerce raiders.

From November 1917 until the end of the War, Samson was in command of an aircraft group at Great Yarmouth responsible for anti-submarine and anti-Zeppelin operations over the North Sea, during which time his group shot down five Zeppelins. In order to bring fighter aircraft into action near the enemy coasts, he devised lighters which could be towed behind naval vessels and used as take-off platforms by fighter aircraft. This system later led to the destruction of a Zeppelin by one of Samson's team.

In October 1918 the group became 73 Wing of the new 4 Group based at Felixstowe, as part of the Royal Air Force. Samson became commanding officer of this group, and in August 1919 gave up his naval commission and received instead a permanent commission in the RAF with the rank of Group Captain.