Hinchliffe RAF Ace
On the 100th anniversary of the creation of the RAF it seems fitting to take a moment to look at the start of Captain Hinchliffe's flying career. He was there at the start of the Royal Air Force on the 1st April 1918 when, towards the end of the First World War, the Royal Flying Corps was combined with the Royal Naval Air Service. The resulting organisation is the world's oldest independent air force, and at the time it was also the largest.
Captain Hinchliffe joined the Royal Naval Air Service in April 1916 as a temporary probationary flight sub-lieutenant and trained at Redcar, Cranwell and Frieston. He gained his flying licence in September of the same year after proving to be an excellent pilot. He was sent to join the 12(N), an operational training unit based at Petite Synthe in France. He spent a week becoming familiar with the Sopwith Camel, a Sopwith triplane and his local environment. A further posting followed with 10 (N) which later became the 210 Squadron of the Royal Air Naval Service at Dunkirk during the January of 1918.
When the RAF was formed he was in April he was gazetted as a lieutenant, honorary cpatian and in May he was formally promoted to the rank. Whilst with 10 (N) Squadron he flew as deputy flight leader in W M Alexander's C Flight. Alexander later said that in his opinion whist Hinchliffe was a very skilful pilot he also described him as "dangerous." In the final months of the war he made his name as a flying ace and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force Cross. He took part in daring bombing raids and fierce dog fights with German aircraft, scoring six victories before being almost killed in a crash flying a C62 airplane on June 3rd 1918.
There have been a number of accounts over the years about Hinchliffe's crash in which he lost his eye amongst other severe injuries. One version claimed he was injured in a dog fight with the famous German pilot the 'Red Baron.' A credible version from the Cross and Cockade Society sees Hinchliffe taking part in a night patrol to intercept German Gotha aircraft in very dark conditions with no moon and a light mist at ground level. Despite these difficulties he spotted and engaged one of the enemy planes but the gunners in the Gotha had seen him too and he was hit by a bullet that shattered the bridge of his nose and led to the loss of his sight in his left eye. A less derring-do version describes Hinchliffe electing to fly a repaired Sopwith Camel back to base but the left tyre came off during take off and the plane swerved and turned over. The captain was seriously injured, it's likely that his head injuries in this scenario were caused by his head hitting the twin Vickers machine guns in the cockpit. Whatever theory is correct, Hinchliffe suffered terrible injuries including a fractured skull, fracture of both jaws, loss of his left eye and breaks to both his left arm and leg. He wore a distinctive eye patch for the rest of his life though the loss of his eye made no difference to his extraordinary skill as a pilot.
In 1931 aviation expert Charles Dixon said of Captain Hinchliffe that he was "probably the only active and certified pilot in the world who had the use of only one eye. He had always to wear a patch over the other but his disability did not prevent him taking the full responsibility of his position. In fact, his ability proved that he was not partly disabled as a pilot and he was thereby accepted as having the same standard of fitness as a pilot with normal vision."
Captain Hinchliffe joined the Royal Naval Air Service in April 1916 as a temporary probationary flight sub-lieutenant and trained at Redcar, Cranwell and Frieston. He gained his flying licence in September of the same year after proving to be an excellent pilot. He was sent to join the 12(N), an operational training unit based at Petite Synthe in France. He spent a week becoming familiar with the Sopwith Camel, a Sopwith triplane and his local environment. A further posting followed with 10 (N) which later became the 210 Squadron of the Royal Air Naval Service at Dunkirk during the January of 1918.
When the RAF was formed he was in April he was gazetted as a lieutenant, honorary cpatian and in May he was formally promoted to the rank. Whilst with 10 (N) Squadron he flew as deputy flight leader in W M Alexander's C Flight. Alexander later said that in his opinion whist Hinchliffe was a very skilful pilot he also described him as "dangerous." In the final months of the war he made his name as a flying ace and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Force Cross. He took part in daring bombing raids and fierce dog fights with German aircraft, scoring six victories before being almost killed in a crash flying a C62 airplane on June 3rd 1918.
There have been a number of accounts over the years about Hinchliffe's crash in which he lost his eye amongst other severe injuries. One version claimed he was injured in a dog fight with the famous German pilot the 'Red Baron.' A credible version from the Cross and Cockade Society sees Hinchliffe taking part in a night patrol to intercept German Gotha aircraft in very dark conditions with no moon and a light mist at ground level. Despite these difficulties he spotted and engaged one of the enemy planes but the gunners in the Gotha had seen him too and he was hit by a bullet that shattered the bridge of his nose and led to the loss of his sight in his left eye. A less derring-do version describes Hinchliffe electing to fly a repaired Sopwith Camel back to base but the left tyre came off during take off and the plane swerved and turned over. The captain was seriously injured, it's likely that his head injuries in this scenario were caused by his head hitting the twin Vickers machine guns in the cockpit. Whatever theory is correct, Hinchliffe suffered terrible injuries including a fractured skull, fracture of both jaws, loss of his left eye and breaks to both his left arm and leg. He wore a distinctive eye patch for the rest of his life though the loss of his eye made no difference to his extraordinary skill as a pilot.
In 1931 aviation expert Charles Dixon said of Captain Hinchliffe that he was "probably the only active and certified pilot in the world who had the use of only one eye. He had always to wear a patch over the other but his disability did not prevent him taking the full responsibility of his position. In fact, his ability proved that he was not partly disabled as a pilot and he was thereby accepted as having the same standard of fitness as a pilot with normal vision."
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