KITS 06/2022

B9287, No. 78 (HD) Squadron, Sutton´s Farm, United Kingdom, spring 1918

Produced by Boulton & Paul as a standard Camel

F.1 according to an order placed on August 2, 1917.

Aircraft in this series were mostly equipped with

the LeRhône 9J 110 hp engine, but some were given

the Clerget 9B 130 hp, which seems to be this case.

B9287 was subsequently converted to F. 1/3 Comic

and entered service with No. 78 Squadron operating

from Sutton's Farm airfield. Like some other aircraft

of this unit (e.g., Capt. Luxmoore’s one) it received

a light blue livery, but also white stripes. It is not

known from the available photographs whether the

undersurfaces were also painted in such a way, we

tend to leave them in the canvas color. However,

painting them blue, white or both cannot be ruled

out. The middle part of the fuselage, the back behind

the cockpit and the upper surface of the lower wing

up to the third rib were painted in a uniform dark colour, probably red, another possibility could be black.

The purpose of painting the part of the lower wing

with this color remains unclear. The cockades on the

wings had a slightly darkened white field at least on

the upper wing. The color used remains unclear, might be green or light blue. With this bright coloring,

the B9287 was probably used for training flights only;

for combat use the aircraft received a green paint

job later. However, this probably did not occur until

the plane was handed over to No. 44 (HD) Sqn. There,

Lt. Taylor crashed it on take-off in May. The pilot was

seriously injured and the aircraft was written off.

B2402 No. 44 (HD) Squadron, B flight, Hainault Farm, United Kingdom, January 1918

Originally a Camel F.1 from the Ruston Proctor factory,

it was soon converted to the F.1/3 Comic and served

with No. 44 (HD) Squadron, formed on July 24, 1917

at Hainault Farm airfield as a unit dedicated for the

defence of London. B2402 was flown by Capt. George

Henry Hackwill, who had two kills to his credit from

his time with No. 22 Sqn where he was flying FE2b.

After a period as an instructor, he was assigned to No.

44 (HD) Sqn as a Flight Commander. On the night of

28–29 January, he shot down Gotha G.V serial number

938/16 near Wickford (Essex) in conjunction with Lt.

Charles Chaplin Banks (him flying B3827). Hackwill,

who was from Langtree, Devon, later flew conventional Camels in France as a Flight Commander with

No. 54 Squadron. There, he increased his number of

victories to nine and received the Military Cross. His

aircraft had heavily modified cockades on the fuselage. The blue field was completely overpainted, the

red centre had an enlarged diameter and darkened

but still visible white field. The upper cockades were

probably modified in the same way. The form of the

cockades on the wings is a reconstruction based on

other known machines. The metal part of the nose

was slightly darkened with patches of green paint.

No. 44 (HD) Squadron, C flight, Hainault Farm, United Kingdom, October 1918

Comic of unknown serial number served with No. 44

Squadron, specifically with its C flight. Originally,

No. 44 (HD) Squadron aircraft were sporting white

number markings, but these were repainted after

assignment to night fighter units. Also, the insignias

June 2022

were modified. This aircraft was given a non-standard small cockade on the rudder while instead of

fuselage cockades, an emblem was painted on both

sides in the form of a knight’s head in a helmet with

a crest. A total of 13 Camel Comics served with

No. 44 (HD) Squadron (B2402, B2517, B3815, B3816,

B3827, B3852, B4614, B5192, B5206, B5411, B5412,

B9287, C6712). The drawing of the knight was the emblem of C Swarm.

INFO Eduard

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