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THE RED BARON

This relic is a section of plywood cut out from the leading edge of one of the wings of The Red Baron's Fokker DRl triplane on 22 April 1918 at 3 Squadron's aerodrome at Poulainville near Amiens in France.

It is held by the family of  Lieut.  James (Lee) Smith, DFC, who was placed in charge of the party that brought back the Red Baron's body (together with his crashed aircraft) to 3 Squadron's base after dusk on 21 April 1918.

"PYANCUS" ... a mythical pre-historic character dreamt up, and carved into a walking stick from the broken propeller of an RE8,  by Lieut. James (Lee) Smith, DFC, in 1918.  As he had a limp, due to one leg being shorter than the other after a motorbike accident in 1913, he used the stick as an aid to walking. Pyancus became his aircraft mascot symbol and it was also painted on the fuselage of his RE8 (C2275).  Pyancus also became his nickname within 3 Squadron.

FIRST WORLD WAR TRENCH GRID MAP

Maps like this, mounted on 3 ply, were typically standard cockpit-aids used by RE8 pilots for navigation reconnaissance flights over enemy sectors (e.g. sector ED). This map, whilst it was housed in a side pocket of Lieut.  Smith's RE8, was holed by the photographed steel balls of shrapnel which finished up rolling around the cockpit floor after having also nicked one of his flying boots.

 
Original WW1 Flying Helmet

Poster Art by Norman Clifford.  This poster is displayed in the 'Hobart Air Force Museum' (RAAF Association aviation-history collection maintained by Pete Scully in Hobart).  It shows 3AFC Flight Commander Captain Reg Francis posing on an RE8. The record-breaking RE8, No.A4397, flew a total of 440 hours 35 minutes over the front and made 140 trips, the majority of these with Reg Francis at the controls.  - This was more than any other British aircraft on the Western Front.  (The airframe was preserved for display back in Australia after the Armistice, but sadly was lost in a fire in 1925.)

Reg Francis was awarded the DFC for his huge contribution in the Battle of Hamel, ranging British artillery onto German gun emplacements.  On 4^th of July 1918, he flew for over 8½ hours, and 4 hours on the following day, during which flights he successfully silenced seven hostile Artillery Batteries, besides sending down 32 "zone calls" (area bombardments  called-in by radio on targets of opportunity - enemy troops, guns or transport).

Submitted by the Fitzgerald family, this is what  the newspapers were saying in 1941 about the Squadron's performance in the "Near East" (as it was then called).  Note that any reference to 3 Squadron's number isn't made ... censorship at the time would have prevented any mention of the whereabouts of  any of the forces.   ...Although it wouldn't have taken an enemy spy long to figure out exactly who  "Australia's only air squadron in the Near East..."  was at that particular time!

[In addition to the Association's collection of clippings, there are many similar obscure references to 3SQN's history in the online TROVE newspaper database.]

This R.A.A.F. squadron has shot down more than 60 enemy aircraft, he says.

"If you knew and saw what I did, it would make you weep," he says in a letter sent to the Minister for the Army (Mr. Spender) and passed on to the Minister for Air (Mr. McEwen).  "I for one would not be here today if it had not been for those Australian heroes of the air.  I include them all - from the highest officer down to the most junior member of the ground staff.  They should all be decorated, every one of them.  The squadron's men are working day and night, never complaining, with dust in their eyes, sometimes attacked from the rear and sometimes gravely outnumbered.  Three of the pilots of this squadron have received the D.F.C. These boys are going to save our bacon."

Mr. McEwen said that the Near East squadron had fought magnificently.  Its work would soon be supported by other Australian squadrons recruited from R.A.A.F. Empire air scheme trainees.  The commencement of operations by these new squadrons would be the signal for an air offensive which would test the Luftwaffe more severely than ever before.

Peter Heath Propeller-Fragment Memorial

Western Desert, North Africa. 1940-11.  Two members of No. 3 Squadron, Royal Australian Air Force,
prepare a cross for the grave of SQNLDR P. R. Heath who was shot down in air combat on Nov 19, 1940,
when four of the Squadron's Gladiator aircraft were attacked east of Rabia by eighteen Italian CR-42 fighters. 
[AWM 010895]

Information from "3 Squadron News" from 1950-51:  A fragment of the propeller of the late Squadron Leader Peter Heath was collected by Peter Mordaunt in the Egyptian Western Desert.  In 1951 it was presented to S/Ldr. Heath's son, Peter.  The fragment was polished , mounted in wood and had a suitably-inscribed silver plate attached.

If anyone can provide a photograph of this memento, please *contact  us.

This small leather-composite case, manufactured by Manok and Renkert Ltd. in Sydney and painted with the letters “R.A.A.F.” in gold (and still showing traces of red Libyan dust) served as ‘the office’ for 3 Squadron during its mobile operations in the Egyptian Western Desert, Libya and Syria in 1940/41.  Donated to 3 Squadron Association from the estate of former 3SQN Supply Officer (later Air Commodore), “Mac” Macinnis.

It is now preserved in the display cabinet in the entrance to 3SQN HQ.

The Messerschmitt gun-sight still in its case.

This is an authentic Me109 gun-sight, complete with all attachments, which Kittyhawk pilot FLTLT Tom Russell was able to quickly secure after 3 Squadron occupied the landing ground at El Daba Egypt.  The gun-sight is housed within a neatly-fabricated case and it is stamped REVI C/12DV (Vorrat).  Its production date was 1/5/1942.  It had never been fitted to an Me109 ... obviously a spare part.  Nevertheless, under external power, it works perfectly well and demonstrates how the Luftwaffe's Me109's aligned their "lead computing" gun-sights onto our own aircraft. 

  After the Allied break-out at El Alamein, Tom wrote: "...by the 6th of November 1942 the Luftwaffe was forced to evacuate LG106 El Daba.  3 Squadron flew there on the 7th.  The German retreat had been so hasty that we found heaps of unopened mail, food parcels etc.  I searched through the buildings (too eager to be sacred of booby-traps!) and found the gunsight..."

[Held in 3 Squadron Collection, Williamtown.]

"LET'S GO!"

Squadron Leader Bobby Gibbes autographed this Christmas and New Year Greeting Card from the end of 1942 (the start of the final victorious advance in Africa), featuring a map of the North African and Levant Coastline, superimposed on a photograph of a line-up of Kittyhawk aircraft. [From the collection of "Mac"  Macinnis.]

"Tarp and Razor Blades" by Frank Harding.

A 9-karat gold ring last worn by 3SQN Kittyhawk pilot Murdo "Doc" McLEOD in 1943.  The ring was given to Doc by his fiancé Kay prior to his embarking for the Middle East.  It then travelled with Doc in 3SQN’s advance to Tunis in the North Africa campaign, and on to Malta and Sicily.  Doc was wearing this ring when he was shot down and captured by the Germans in Sicily and evacuated to France. Very sadly, Doc was then wounded in an American bombing raid in August 1943 and died three weeks later in hospital in Avignon, France.  Given all the evil that was going on in the world at that time, it is quite astounding that the Germans then sent the ring back back via the Swiss Red Cross to Doc's mother in Perth!

For more details about Doc and the bizarre sequence of events that followed his death, see our feature
"The Four Funerals of Doc McLeod".

Kittyhawk II Cockpit Clock

This clock was  recovered from the wreckage of Arthur Dawkins' Kittyhawk II FS493, which was “destroyed” in the famous “friendly fire” incident when USAAF P-47 Thunderbolts (in error) strafed  3 SQN’s Kittyhawk Mk.II aircraft at Cutella on 29 April 1944.

The scene at Cutella Airfield, Italy, 29 April 1944. 

AIRCRAFT CRASH INVESTIGATION

Instrument and engine fragments from the crashed Kittyhawk of Ray FARIA. 
(Shot down and fatally wounded by German flak while dive-bombing a bridge in Northern Italy on 25 September 1944.)
Items recovered by aviation archaeologist Enzo LANCONELLI.

This plaque was laid at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra on the 14th of April 2000, to commemorate the proud history and sacrifices of 3 Squadron in WW1 and WW2.

The contents of the Williamtown TIME-CAPSULE which preserved mementos of the Squadron's past. 

It was ceremonially interred at Williamtown, on 18 December 1992 and was opened at the Squadron's 100th Birthday celebration in 2016.

Serving Squadron members were privileged to glimpse (and taste!) some reminders of the 1992 Squadron's treasures. 

Arthur Pardey's "cliftied" 1945 Austrian flag, with insignia sewn onto it.  Brian Griffin, a relative of Brian Thompson (ex-3 Squadron  pilot) has identified each German insignia for us...  Click here to see the descriptions.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS 1943!

Felt Pennant produced by 3 Squadron Association for Members prior to 1951, showing the Squadron's "Kittybomber 3" logo (a Kittyhawk bird carrying a bomb, superimposed on the number "3" and the 8th Army Shield). 
The logo was created by Norm FRENCH, a talented ground-crew member, and used in Italy during World War II, especially on Brian Eaton's aircraft when he was Squadron Leader.
[This sample from the aviation history collection maintained by Pete SCULLY in Hobart Tasmania.]

The fantastic rack of medals of Air Vice Marshal Brian EATON, one of the outstanding WW2  C.O.s of 3 Squadron.  Auctioned in 2010 for more than $70K. 

The 3 Squadron Badge, engraved in slate, set into the floor at RAF Chapel, St Clement Danes in London, 26/3/09.

Click for the full story:  Dedication of the RAAF Squadron Memorial Plaques by Vicki Crighton. - A moving pilgrimage and a permanent memento. 
[The idea that this bombed-out church should become a memorial to the British and Commonwealth Air Force squadrons of WW2 originated with Henry Wrigley, a former WW1 pilot with 3AFC and the RAAF's most senior officer in Britain in WW2.]

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