This is a letter sent by a friend who mantored me when I was 16 and had left home in Watford to live by the sea! His name is Dave Hill and we are off to Duxford by Microlight at the weekend to see the DH 9
Just back from our trip to Belgium and a visit to Pat and Andrew Web, Pat is Roger Few's daughter and my God Daughter. I showed everyone a copy of Fred's letter written from the POW camp and copy of the Daily Telegraph Western front war map from October 1918. We soon had an expedition planned to visit the area in which Fred made a crash landing.
His aircraft, a DH9, was cut out from his 108 Squadron whilst on a raid over enemy lines,and with the Pilot wounded and unconscious, Fred , the Observer, some how or other made a landing and survived. The mark on the map put the crash site 12 Km ESE of Roeselare ( marked on the map as Roulers) just north of the N399 and about 4 Km SW of Tielt.
We didn't really expect to be super accurate about this but we eventually made it to that area and everyone felt a sense of something special. Fred must have been over that area, no doubt about that. I have attached a couple of photos showing us on site and a local farmhouse that could easily have been around in 1918. Now the one aspect about this story that seemed a little far fetched was a matter of fact passage from Fred's letter which read, '...my Pilot was
wounded in the leg and had fainted and whilst I was busy firing, the machine went into a spin. I pulled her out after 8000 ft. and afterwards crashed rather badly.' Now just think about that for a minute! It's Biggles stuff! But this is Fred talking and he was a pretty serious bloke.
I have flown a Tiger Moth and was taught how to recover from a spin, it's hard opposite rudder and then forward on the stick to regain flying attitude. So how did Fred manage to do all that from his cockpit way back down the fuselage?
wounded in the leg and had fainted and whilst I was busy firing, the machine went into a spin. I pulled her out after 8000 ft. and afterwards crashed rather badly.' Now just think about that for a minute! It's Biggles stuff! But this is Fred talking and he was a pretty serious bloke.
I have flown a Tiger Moth and was taught how to recover from a spin, it's hard opposite rudder and then forward on the stick to regain flying attitude. So how did Fred manage to do all that from his cockpit way back down the fuselage?
I took a detailed look at the DH 4 and noticed the Observer cockpit was indeed way aft BUT the DH 9's Observer cockpit was up close to the pilot. Evidently the DH4's Observer cockpit proved to be a problem, separated by a fuel tank from the Pilot 's cockpit it made the aircraft more vulnerable to enemy fire and it was a problem for Pilot and Observer to communicate.
Geoffrey DeHaviland re-designed the aircraft and the DH9 version was born. So Fred in this aircraft had every possibility of pulling off that remarkable feat. OK he couldn't have got to the rudder control bar but I guess the Joystick sufficed.
The DH4 was still very much in service but Fred's 108 Squadron had the DH9 and that's the reason all those Fred Eveleigh folk are now living a life. That, plus a very determined Observer.
There's more to come. Another letter in the scrap book album is from a Mr Matheson. He wrote to Fred's parents saying how pleased he was that Fred had survived and although a POW was safe and sound. He hoped to hear soon that his son was safe. In the cuttings from The Daily Telegraph a Lt. A.M.Matheson is listed missing along with Fred. Matheson must have
been Fred's Pilot. The address on the letter is intriguing; Meadoville Station Road. Victoria Co. NS. Well that doesn't sound much like a British address, and indeed a quick Google Map inspection shows a Meadoville Station Road 15 Km due west of Pictou, Nova Scotia. But that's not Victoria County, so the plot thickens. Fred's Pilot was Canadian. I haven't got around to it yet but I would like to see if any of Lt. Matheson's relatives are still around.Anyone heading Nova Scotia way?
There's more to come. Another letter in the scrap book album is from a Mr Matheson. He wrote to Fred's parents saying how pleased he was that Fred had survived and although a POW was safe and sound. He hoped to hear soon that his son was safe. In the cuttings from The Daily Telegraph a Lt. A.M.Matheson is listed missing along with Fred. Matheson must have
been Fred's Pilot. The address on the letter is intriguing; Meadoville Station Road. Victoria Co. NS. Well that doesn't sound much like a British address, and indeed a quick Google Map inspection shows a Meadoville Station Road 15 Km due west of Pictou, Nova Scotia. But that's not Victoria County, so the plot thickens. Fred's Pilot was Canadian. I haven't got around to it yet but I would like to see if any of Lt. Matheson's relatives are still around.Anyone heading Nova Scotia way?
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