ROYAL FLYING CORPS MEN FOUND IN “NO MANS LAND” During the 1st WW the addition of aircraft in the fight against the enemy was a great success. The aerial photographer had the job of leaning over the side of the plane with a bulky camera to take snaps of enemy trenches and the extent to which they held their lines. All invaluable information for the British and Allied forces. Two such men were 2nd Lt Leonard W. Middleton (pilot) and 2nd Lt Frederick J. McCullough (observer). Middleton was a young man from Sandershead in England and enlisted in the Royal Engineers Pioneer Corps in 1914. As a corporal he posted to the 1st Cavalry Division as a dispatch rider and as such saw action at Messines, Loos, Ypres, Ancre and the Somme, earning him the 1914 medal. After a few more transfers he became an observer in the RFC and in July 1917 he was instructed in the art of flying, and later gained his wings. The young pilot was assigned to artillery observation duties on 8th November 1917 with Frederick McCullough as his observer in plane RE 8 A4664 when it was struck by fire from 154th Siege Battery RGA and immediately burst into flames. At the time it was reported their bodies had been lost and no trace found. However sometime later on the 23rd November 1917 a plane with two bodies were discovered near a shell hole in “No Mans Land” by Lt Cameron of the Royal North Lancashire Regiment and a cheque book and diary identified one of the bodies as Leonard Middleton and the other was that of Frederick McCullough. 2nd Lt Frederick McCullough was the son of F.W and Sara McCullough of Longford Villa, Antrim Road, Belfast, and studied engineering at Queens University and was a member of the Officer Training Corps. In November 1915 he was appointed Petty Office in the Royal Naval Air Service (Russian Armoured Car Division) and served in Russia under Commander Locker-Lampson. He then spent some time with Brigade H.Qs staff in France before transferring to 53rd Squadron Royal Flying Corps as an observer. Both men were originally buried at Hollebeke Churchyard but re-interred in Voormezeele Enclosure Number 3, Flanders, Belgium.
Posted on: Sat, 22 Nov 2014 10:23:45 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015