Independent Force

[IanA]

When considering the war in the air, I have been aware that one aspect of it has, for me, been completely shrouded in mystery: the Independent Air Force. I was aware that such a force existed and that it was set up late in the war but I had a very hazy idea of how big it was and the impact it had on the war effort. I was delighted therefore to see ‘Independent Force’ by Keith Rennles in a second-hand bookshop and surprised that such an important book had not been reviewed here. This is an attempt to remedy that situation.

The I.A.F. was formed as late as June, 1918, and was never a large force: the night bomber contingent consisted of five squadrons while the daylight section was even smaller with just four squadrons – the D.H.4s of 55 squadron and the D.H.9s of 99, 104, and 110 squadrons. Rennles book is a day by day account of the attacks made by the daylight bomber squadrons: their constant struggle with their machines which necessitated two extra machines taking off in the knowledge that the full flight would rarely reach their operational height; the apparent stupidity of sending these unreliable craft on missions deep into Germany to bomb towns they would never reach; the constant battle with poor weather, sickness, and an enemy far from beaten. It is primarily, I suppose, a reference book as each mission is finely detailed with a full crew list, aeroplane numbers when available, primary and secondary targets, casualties and awards. Rennles has drawn on a wide variety of sources to compile this history and details of bombing successes, for example, have been drawn from combat reports, aerial photographs, accounts from Germans and French who experienced the bombing and reports from a commission set up after the war to report on bomb damage. Also included is much biographical information on many of the pilots and observers and citations of awards, mainly of the Distinguished Flying Cross.

It will stand very well as a reference book but I read it from cover to cover and it brought out, in stark detail, the harrowing ordeal faced by these airmen. Five operational months of being sent against heavily defended targets at or beyond the endurance of your machine: where a formation of six bombers might be faced with thirty German scouts; where pilots fainted over their control columns; where bombs ‘hung up’ and had to be gingerly taken back to the airfield – this demanded courage of a high order. The book also gave me some new insights into air fighting. I learned that a tight formation of five or six bombers presented a fearsome adversary to the German Kest units or Jastas. It took a very determined and skilful attack to break up the formation and, often, quite a large formation of enemy fighters would shadow the bombers at a respectful distance, not attacking even when bombs were being dropped, often on their own airfields. Offensive operations were maintained by the I.A.F. right up to 10th November, 1918 and it is poignant to see twenty-three year old Captain Duncan Ronald Gordon (‘Jock’) Mackay shot down while leading his flight of D.H.4s from 55 squadron in an attack on the railway sidings at Ehrang on that very final day. He died of wounds the day after – 11.11.18.

An interesting footnote is the service record of a certain 2nd Lt. W.E. Johns who was a pilot with 55 squadron flying a D.H.4 and was shot down by a Fokker DVII on 16th September, 1918.

I consider this book to be a very fine effort by Rennles and it certainly does a great service to a force which was seen by many as a waste of resources and an irrelevance. Post war analysis may go some way to validate that rather negative view but the brave men who crossed the lines daily, with no fighter ‘cover’, knowing that they were expected and that their routes were, to a degree, predictable deserve such a memorial and this book deserves a wider publicity.

‘Independent Force’ by Keith Rennles (Grub Street, 2002)

ISBN 1 902304 90 X