First air patrol over the British retreat

On 25 August 1914, the second day of the retreat from Mons, aircraft of the British Royal Flying Corps carried out patrol duties over the withdrawing troops for the first time. The British chronology of the war records this day as the first use of aircraft for patrolling. That same day British airmen forced a German aircraft to land.

Aircraft in the retreat

The Royal Flying Corps squadrons had flown to France in mid-August (see Royal Flying Corps flies to France) and were based near Maubeuge. After the Battle of Mons they had to fall back with the army, changing airfields almost every day. On 24 August they moved to Le Cateau, and on the afternoon of 25 August to Saint-Quentin. Despite the chaos the airmen carried out reconnaissance, following the movements of General Alexander von Kluck’s German First Army, which was trying to outflank the British Expeditionary Force from the west. Their reports of German columns helped headquarters plan the further retreat.

According to the British chronology, on 25 August aircraft for the first time circled over the withdrawing columns as patrols. They were to watch for threats and to hinder the German reconnaissance machines that were tracking British movements. Protecting one’s own troops from enemy airmen later became one of the basic tasks of fighter aviation.

First victories in the air

In 1914 aircraft were not yet armed. Airmen took revolvers with them, and sometimes carbines. According to the official British history of the war in the air, on 25 August three aircraft of No. 2 Squadron chased a German monoplane and forced it to land. Lieutenants H. D. Harvey-Kelly and W. H. C. Mansfield landed beside it and gave chase on foot, but the German crew escaped into a wood. The British took a few souvenirs from the machine and burned it. That same day, near Le Quesnoy, another German aircraft was forced to land and captured.

Some sources, including biographies of Harvey-Kelly, date his feat to 26 August. It is often regarded as the first British victory in air combat.

Significance

Field Marshal Sir John French, in his dispatch of 7 September, praised the airmen’s work highly. He wrote that they had provided him with the most accurate information and that, fighting in the air, they had destroyed five enemy aircraft. In August 1914 aircraft were still a novelty, and many commanders regarded them with distrust. The retreat from Mons showed, however, that aviation could be the eyes of the army and that command of the air would have to be fought for.