Francis Howard Bickerton - World War I

World War I

On 11 September 1914, Bickerton enlisted with the 16th (Public Schools) Battalion of the Middlesex Regiment. He soon applied for an officer's commission, however, and in April 1915, he joined the 7th (Service) Battalion of the Royal Sussex Regiment as a platoon commander in D Company under Captain G.H. Impey. The Battalion crossed to France on 31 May 1915 and a few days later took up a position near Armentieres on the River Leys. It was here, on 28 June, that the Battalion lost its first officer, Captain John Bussell, Bickerton's brother-in-law, being shot through the head during an inspection of the trenches. The Battalion then played a minor role in the Battle of Loos during September with most of its casualties being suffered by D Company.

In May 1916, Bickerton volunteered to serve as an aerial gunner and observer with the Royal Flying Corps. Posted to 10 Squadron near Bethune, Bickerton served on BE2cs, acting as observer for an Australian pilot named Ewart Garland. This period formed the basis for the novel Wings of the Morning written by Patrick Garland, the theatre director and son of Ewart Garland. Throughout July 1916, 10 Squadron supported ground troops during the Battle of the Somme and on 31 July, Bickerton received his first wound of the war, a piece of shrapnel piercing his flying jacket and wounding him in the shoulder. On 16 August, he was injured again, far more seriously. With flying made impossible by low cloud cover, Bickerton and other officers experimented with a home-made anti-aircraft gun. During the experiments, the gun exploded, practically severing both of Bickerton's thumbs and tearing open his right cheek.

From August 1916 to February 1917, Bickerton recuperated in England. He then attended the No 1 School of Military Aeronautics at Reading and the Central Flying School at Upavon in Wiltshire, where he trained as a pilot. After a brief spell as a temporary instructor at Upavon, he joined 70 Squadron at Estree Blanche on 21 July 1917. 70 Squadron was the first to be equipped with the notoriously difficult but hugely successful British fighter, the Sopwith Camel. In the following weeks, Bickerton and his colleagues saw constant action and Bickerton claimed two victories: an Albatros D on 22 August over Houthulst Forest and a Fokker triplane on 10 September over Roulers. It was also during this period (3 September) that Bickerton became one of the first men to use the Sopwith Camel as a night-fighter. Finally, on 20 September, during an attack on three barrage balloons, he was again seriously wounded by a bullet which passed through his thigh and amputated the little finger of his left hand. As a result, Bickerton was again invalided home.

Bickerton's final injuries of the war were suffered in May 1918, when he was serving as a test pilot at the Aeroplane Experimental Station at Martlesham Heath in Suffolk. On 18 May, he was testing bomb-aiming equipment in a Vicker's Vimy bomber. When the aeroplane suffered simultaneous failure in both its engines, forcing Bickerton to attempt a crash-landing. The resulting smash destroyed the aeroplane and left Bickerton with concussion and broken fingers.