[Mark]

I’m trying to zero in on a location and approximate date for the following photographs which show a relative of mine, James Gamble, who was a Sergeant Pilot with 11 Sqn RAF in late 1918. They were sourced from the collection of Arthur George Simmons who claimed they were taken at Beaulieu but I have my doubts about the location because Jim had no association with that airfield: his logbook shows one or two training reconnaissance flights but no landings at Beaulieu. There are other features in the images that make me question the association with Beaulieu.

In the first image, below, Jim is on the left and Arthur is on the right. In between them stands a sergeant of the U.S. Army Air Service. His shoulder tab likely shows he belonged to the 17th Aero Squadron, although it’s possible he belonged to one of the 170-series Squadrons, with the last digit lost in the folds of his sleeve. The American is wearing fug boots, perhaps indicating he was an observer or that he was being taken up for a flight with the British squadron:

The second image shows Arthur at left and Jim second from the right on the rear row. I believe it was taken around the same time as the first image because Jim seems to have “borrowed” the American airman’s hat. Again, it was supposedly taken at Beaulieu but the presence of an Observer at far right makes me question the identification of the location (I’m not convinced an Observer would be at a Training Squadron for pilots):

The above image also appears to show several personnel who served with Jim on 11 Sqn. The below group photo comes from Jim’s collection at the RAF Museum, Hendon, and shows the 11 Sqn SNCOs at Spich Aerodrome in July 1919, probably just before the Sqn returned to the UK. I’ve identified several of the faces based on other records, with names in black text under the image. Red text denotes personnel who are either unidentified or whose identity is not 100% confirmed:

Comparing this 11 Sqn group photo with the second “Beaulieu” image, I believe numbers 6, 9, 19 and 20 are represented in the “Beaulieu” image. It would be very odd to have so many airmen gather at Beaulieu who would later serve on the same squadron.

The knotty part of these images is that I can’t tie down a location that works for all the constituent parts. I can place the 11 Sqn personnel and the 17th Aero Squadron in late-1918 because the two units operated from neighbouring airfields…but Arthur Simmons wasn’t there, nor was he at Spich in 1919 (at least based on records I’ve been able to access).

Can the Cross & Cockade experts out there derive any addition clues or insights from these images that might help me place them more accurately?

         

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