World War: R. A. F. Against Odds

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Marshal Barratt's other Vice Marshal, "Pip" Playfair, commanding the Advance Striking Force, went into action behind the German lines in France and Belgium. It was a squadron of Playfair's Blenheims which at Sedan fought its way through a screen of Messerschmitts, found the pencil streak of a new pontoon bridge with German sappers still working on it and a line of tanks waiting to cross. Harassed by fighters and anti-aircraft fire, the Blenheims swooped down in line, dropping their bombs in clusters until the bridge went up in smoke and flying timber. Still pursued, the Blenheims sped upriver and destroyed a Meuse bridge crowded with mechanized detachments. The British lost 37 planes, but may have saved the Allied retreat from turning into a rout.

Old Timers. Air Marshal Barratt and his assistant Playfair were both at home in last week's action. Both had fought over the same territory in World War I.

When, after four years of service in the artillery, Lieutenant Barratt wangled a transfer to the Royal Flying Corps in 1914, Great Britain's two-year-old air arm consisted of four squadrons of twelve planes each. Each of the 48 planes had two pilots, which added up to about 100 trained flyers. One of the flying officers of No. 4 squadron was Lieutenant Playfair, who had also been an officer of the Royal Artillery.

Standard equipment for each Royal Flying Corps plane in 1914 was: two revolvers, four pairs of field glasses, a roll of tools, a water bottle, a small stove and a haversack of biscuits, cold meat, chocolate, soup extract. The idea was that the flyers would observe enemy movements and, if forced down, they could subsist until they found their way home or were captured. It was the pilots' own idea to stuff their pockets with hand grenades and tie two or three small bombs around their waists.

First scene of R. F. C. reconnaissance operations was the same battlefield that R. A. F. fought over last week. At the Battle of Mons the flyers scouted (with the aid of maps torn from railway guides) Namur, Louvain, Alost, Courtrai, Tournai, Charleroi. So weird were the reports they brought back (graveyards were reported as bivouacs) that infantry generals paid little attention to them. They were under the additional disadvantage of frequently being fired on by their own men (which was not uncommon last week). But by early 1915 real war in the air had begun.

At the end of the war, Lieutenant Commander Barratt resigned his regular Army commission and joined the Air Ministry Directorate of Training and Organization, which was to plan the greater R. A. F. of the next war. Wing Commander Playfair was made commandant of the Central Flying School at Netheravon. Both were loaded with decorations.

Later Commander Barratt was stationed in Shanghai, at Peshawar, India (where he was born), at the R. A. F. Staff College at Andover. War I's Canadian Ace, Captain Billy Bishop, once said of Barratt: "I know of no one possessing such perfect coordination of mind and muscle. Nothing he really wants to do is beyond him."