No.9 Kite Balloon Section, R.F.C. March to early June 1916
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Hello everyone,
I am doing some background research into Captain Frank Hubert Smith, who I believe commanded this section during the time period specified, before being RTU’d to his former Territorial Army regiment, reputedly for telling his Company Commander, Major MacNeece (later Air Vice Marshal William Foster MacNeece Foster, CB, CBE, DSO, DFC no less!), exactly what he thought of him and in unflattering terms.
A look through the records listed at the National Archives says that the diary for this unit is available for that time period, but not online, and as I live in New Zealand I’ve no way of getting to it. Does anyone perhaps have a copy of this diary – I know it’s a long shot but thought I’d ask?
Thanks,
Peter
It would just be AIR 1/1529/204/72/1 thro /3 probably, as Shaw was RTU’ed in late May 1916, and file /4 is for June 1916. The other refs you sent are RNAS and he certainly wasn’t with them. Before becoming a KB observer and KB Section Commander, Shaw was a Captain in the West Riding Territorials (from pre-war) and thus Army. Also, his service pre-dates the formation of KB Wings, and he was RTU’ed before any of these were formed.
Another oddity I’ve discovered about Shaw is that his AIR 76 file is listed under the name Francis Harold Shaw and the personal details are incorrect, but the record of transfers etc. are spot on! It seems that some clerk at the time made a monumental howler and added his details to someone else’s record, or duplicated the Shaws as there was an Airman by the name in the RFC as well. My man’s real name was Frank Hubert Shaw, the well-known (at the time) author of sailing and maritime books.
Hi Peter
I’ve reduced the files and they are ready to send.
The CO was FH Shaw rather than FH Smith
I can’t see how to send a pm on this forum, so could you send an email address to me at [email protected] so I can send the imagesA bit late to see this, as I’ve only just renewed my membership and haven’t been on the website for nearly a year, but … if it’s of any use – by way of background information – I did have occasion to view William Foster MacNeece’s WO file at Kew.
It doesn’t cover the incident in which he was *not* shot down by Sholto Douglas but it does refer to a self-inflicted gunshot wound during his time with the army. A few other odds and ends as far as I recall, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he was not the subject of very much praise for his World War I service. (He changed his name by deed poll to Foster, so had the somewhat comical name William Foster MacNeece Foster).
Thanks for this Joe. It’s what I suspected would be the case given other things and opinions I’ve seen of MacNeece. He seems to have been one of those people tolerated at best and loathed otherwise, at least by the men who served under him, although that’s just conjecture on my part based on old opinions written at the time. Shaw certainly had little or no time for him and was RTU’d for finally telling MacNeece exactly what he thought of him, in plain Anglo Saxon evidently.
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