Lawrence's Secret Airforce - X Flight
X Flight was designated the task of giving close air support to the desert army formed and commanded by Lawrence of Arabia. It flew from advanced desert landing grounds on reconnaissance, liaison, bombing and ground attack missions. The existence and deeds of the flight were kept secret, so much so that even the RFC Paymaster was unaware of their existence.
George Hynes was an aircraft mechanic and became responsible for keeping the flight’s somewhat elderly aircraft airworthy whilst working in the most difficult desert conditions on hastily constructed landing strips and living and working under canvas in temperatures that froze at night and rose to 100 degrees plus at noon.
His diary gives a clear insight into the conditions endured, the actions that took place and the many almost insurmountable problems that occurred as they followed Lawrence’s steady advance against the numerically superior Turkish Army and Air Force. George personally encountered Lawrence on many occasions and maintained contact with him after the war.
The diary is supported with the Flights weekly operational records, perspectives of the battle scenarios and other background information .
Download in Epub format at https://au1lib.org/book/3332701/5f39...&secret=5f3903
Identification of enemy aircraft is often hopelessly inaccurate, but that was par for the course at the time. Any 2 seater EA (Enemy Aircraft) was likely to be identified as a "Taube" even in 1918. Similarly, single seaters were "Fokkers", years after the last E.III had been retired, and long before D.VIIs were in service (and only around Istanbul). Cross referencing date and location in other works will get the correct data though, and often serial numbers are given for RFC types, allowing exact ID of the otherwise ubiquitous "Nieuport" as an N17 etc.
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