Louis Strange

Louis Arbon Strange DSO OBE MC DFC (1891–1966) was an early English aviator, World War I and World War II airman.

Early life

Louis Strange was born in Dorset and was educated at St Edward's School^[1] Oxford, joining the school's contingent of the Dorset Yeomanry. Strange spent his childhood at Tarrant Keynstone Mill on the River Stour. His family farmed 600 acres (2.4 km²) at Spettisbury in Dorset.

He had seen military aircraft and the airship Beta flying over Dorset during the summer manoeuvres of 1912 when serving with the Dorsetshire Yeomanry and determined in May 1913 to become a pilot. He joined the Ewen School of flying at Hendon Aerodrome in July and gained his Royal Aero Club certificate, No. 575, on 5 August,^[2] immediately applying for a commission in the Royal Flying Corps (RFC).

Just after obtaining his licence he won his first cross-country race and then won the Hendon March Meeting 17-mile (27 km) race, beating his old instructor into second place. In the latter part of 1913 and early 1914, Strange flew many hours from Hendon, instructing trainee pilots.

On 4 April 1914 he appeared in Flight magazine as one of five pilots who had recently joined the 'Upside Down Club' by performing a 'loop'.

RFC service

His posting to the sixth course of instruction at the RFC's Central Flying School at Upavon Wiltshire came in May, 1914. There he was retrained to fly B.E.2b and B.E.8 military aircraft. On 20 June he took part in a Hendon-Birmingham-Manchester and return air race at the controls of an 80 hp (60 kW) Gnome powered Bleriot monoplane, being first to arrive at Trafford Park Aerodrome (Manchester), where the Lord Mayor of Manchester greeted him. To reach Strange's hand, the man stood on a bracing wire to the landing gear, damaging it. On take-off to return south, the wire snapped, smashing the Bleriot's propellor and the machine was damaged, putting him out of the race.^[3]

Strange was formally commissioned as a second-lieutenant in The Dorsetshire Regiment on 30 July 1914 and, still on his flying course, remained on attachment to the Royal Flying Corps. In August 1914 he was despatched to join his first operational unit, No.5 Squadron RFC, based at Gosport Hants. On 15/16 August - despite severe weather and a damaged longeron - he flew his Farman aircraft via Dover and over the English Channel to Amiens and then to the unit's new base at Maubeuge France, being the last of the Squadron to arrive.

Aerial combat and bombing pioneer

Strange soon adapted his Farman to carry a Lewis machine gun, improvising a mounting to the top of the Observer's nacelle. His first armed encounter with the enemy came on 22 August when six enemy aircraft appeared at 5,000 feet over the airfield at Maubeuge, France. He took off in his Farman aircraft with Lt. L. Penn-Gaskell as gunner in the front cockpit to intercept the patrolling German planes, but with inconclusive results as the laden aircraft would not climb above 3,500 feet (1,100 m).

The next few days saw a general Allied retreat and the Squadron had to move base several times, whilst Strange and his fellow pilots continued their observation and light bombing sorties.

Less than two weeks after arriving in France Strange's inventive brain designed home-made petrol bombs that on 28 August he and his observer dropped by hand from their Henry Farman biplane onto the convoys of German troops and transport north of St. Quentin; the results 'sent us home very well pleased with ourselves'.

In October 1914 Strange invented a safety strap allowing the observer of his Avro 504 to "stand up and fire all round over top of plane and behind". He also designed and fitted a machine gun mounting to the 504, consisting of a crossbar between the central struts over which was slung a rope, allowing the Lewis to be pulled up into a position from which the Observer, seating in the front cockpit, could fire backwards over Strange's head.^[4]

On 22 November 1914 it was with this arrangement that Strange claimed his first victory; with Lt F. Small as gunner, he attacked an Aviatik two-seater and forced it down from over Armentières to make a bumpy landing in a ploughed field just behind the British lines.

Strange next turned his talents to developing a bomb chute with Lieut. C. Rabagliati. Attempting to drop 7-pound shrapnel bombs through a steel tube set in the floor of the Avro 504, one bomb jammed in the tube and prompted a forced landing through a field of corn, which luckily ripped the detonator from the jammed bomb.^[4]

In early 1915 he was promoted to Captain and posted to No. 6 Squadron as Flight Commander. He earned the Military Cross by carrying out one of the first tactical bombing missions. He modified his BE-2c to carry four 20 lb (9.1 kg) bombs on wing racks which could be released by pulling a cable fitted in the cockpit. He dropped these bombs on Courtrai railway station in March 1915, causing 75 casualties and closing the station for three days.

While with No 6 squadron, Strange was a compatriot of Captain Lanoe Hawker. The Squadron became pioneers of many aspects in military aviation at the time, driven largely by the imagination of Strange and the engineering talents of Hawker. Their talents led to various mountings for Lewis machine guns, one of which won Hawker the Victoria Cross, and one that nearly cost Strange his life.

Having equipped his Martinsyde S1 scout with a Lewis gun mounted on the top wing above the cockpit, on 10 May 1915 Strange sought out the enemy to try out the new arrangement and attacked a German Aviatik two-seater. In order to change the empty drum on the Lewis, Strange had to stand up in the cockpit. Immediately the machine flipped on its back, throwing Strange from the cockpit and developing a flat spin downwards. Strange, hanging onto the ammo drum of the Lewis gun, managed to swing back into the cockpit and kick the stick over to right the aircraft 500 feet above the ground.

Strange later related ; I kept on kicking upwards behind me until at last I got one foot and then the other hooked inside the cockpit. Somehow I got the stick between my legs again, and jammed on full aileron and elevator; I do not know exactly what happened then, but the trick was done. The machine came over the right way up, and I fell off the top plane and into my seat with a bump. ^[5]

He safely returned to base. He was criticised by his CO for 'causing unnecessary damage' to his instrument panel and seat in his efforts to regain the cockpit! ^[6]

On 21 September 1915 Louis Strange was appointed to form and command No. 23 Squadron RFC at Gosport, Hampshire. He was promoted to Major on 5 November, the day he married his wife, Marjorie. Due to appendicitis Strange handed over command in March 1916. Strange then established No. 1 School of Air Gunnery at Hythe in Kent. He was then promoted to Lieutenant-Colonel and formed No. 2 School of Air Gunnery at Turnberry. In April 1917 he became Assistant Commandant at the Central Flying School. On 26 June 1918 Strange was selected to command the newly formed 80th Wing, RAF. During the next five months he was to be awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.

His DSO citation specifically mentions operations on 30 October 1918, when " he accompanied one of these raids against an aerodrome; watching the work of his machines, he waited until they had finished and then dropped his bombs from one hundred feet altitude on hangars that were undamaged; he then attacked troops and transport in the vicinity of the aerodrome. While thus engaged he saw eight Fokkers flying above him; at once he climbed and attacked them single-handed; having driven one down out of control he was fiercely engaged by the other seven, but he maintained the combat until rescued by a patrol of our scouts."

His Wing of Sopwith Camels, SE-5s, DH-9s and Bristol Fighters launched massed raids on the enemy airfields, reducing the effectiveness of German aerial response. Between 1 July and 11 November the seven Squadrons under Strange's command (including Nos. 88, 92, 103, 2 AFC & 4 AFC) - the latter two of which were Australian - destroyed or drove 'down out of control' some 449 German aircraft, as well as 23 balloons.

In September 1918 Louis' younger brother Gilbert John Strange, a 7-kill ace and Captain in No.40 Squadron, was killed in action.^[7]

Between the wars

Strange retired from the Service through ill health (sciatica) in 1921. He bought 1,300 acres (5.3 km²) of farmland at Worth Matravers on the Isle of Purbeck, and worked them over the next seven years, helping to restore his health. By the late 1920s he had become a director of the Spartan Aircraft Company. Spartans flew in the high profile King's Cup Races of the early 1930s. During the 1930s, Strange flew many types of civil aircraft and was a director of Simmonds Aircraft Limited and the Whitney Straight Corporation.^[2] He also again competed in UK air races.

RAF service in World War Two

Too old for a Regular Commission, in 1940 Strange returned to service as a 50 year-old Pilot Officer in the RAF Volunteer Reserve. He was posted to No. 24 Squadron, the RAF's only transport and communications services Squadron at that time.

On 21 May 1940 Strange arrived in Merville in Northern France as 24 Squadron's Aerodrome Control Officer. The airfield had been evacuated by the RAF fighter squadron stationed there and 24 Squadron were tasked with saving what planes and equipment they could. Two fighters were patched up and flown back to England. All remaining Hurricanes had been cannibalised, leaving one in flying condition. With no pilot available, Strange took off in an aircraft type he had never flown before, and with most of the instruments missing. Anti-aircraft fire forced Strange up to 8,000 feet (2,400 m) and the lone fighter was then attacked by several Bf-109s. Surprised by the sound of machine-gun fire, Strange dived the Hurricane to tree-top height and successfully escaped. On 11 June 1940, Louis Strange was awarded a bar to the Distinguished Flying Cross.

On 21 June 1940, Squadron Leader Strange was appointed commanding officer of the newly created Central Landing School (CLS) at RAF Ringway near Manchester. This unit was charged with the initiation, development and organisation of the UK's sole parachute training facility, and which later pioneered the parachute training curriculum of the Allied airborne forces.^[8] The unit was later redesignated No.1 Parachute Training School RAF (PTS). Using the techniques developed under Strange, the PTS trained over 60,000 Allied personnel and paratroopers at Ringway between 1940 and 1946.^[9]

On 5 May 1941, the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit (MSFU) was established at RAF Speke near Liverpool, and Strange was appointed as commanding officer. The MSFU was charged with the development of the 'CAM Ship' for the catapult-launching of Hawker Hurricanes for convoy defence. A catapult for training volunteer pilots was erected at the airfield. With insufficient aircraft carriers available, there was the so-called 'Air Gap' within which merchant shipping was out of reach of land-based aircraft on both sides of the Atlantic. As the predatory Focke-Wulf Fw 200 'Condors' could therefore operate with impunity, fighters launched by catapult from merchant ships were felt to be a potentially effective response. About 50 Hurricane Is were modified by General Aircraft for catapult launch and 35 merchantmen were configured to carry catapults, with the first Atlantic crossings in April 1941. The Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen (CAM) and their so-called 'Hurricats' soon proved their worth: Seven Condors were destroyed through 1941-43, while the deterrent effect was even more important.

In September 1941 he was posted as Commanding Officer, RAF Valley, although illness prevented him from fulfilling the post. From August 1942 until the end of the year he served with Group HQ at Uxbridge. Three months as Commanding Officer, RAF Hawkinge followed before a transfer to No. 12 Group HQ as a supplementary Squadron Leader.

In December 1943 Strange was then posted to 46 Group as Wing Commander, Operations. There he assisted in the planning for Operation Overlord, landing in Normandy himself on 15 June. He had six airstrips under his control in the expanding beachhead as this time.

He was also responsible for the control and administration of a series of Temporary Staging Posts (TSP) supporting the Allied campaign. During the advance that followed the break-out from Normandy, Strange personally 'liberated' Château Lillois, 24 years after he had been the first to announce the departure of the Germans from there in 1918. In October 1944 Strange served with the HQ, 1st Allied Airborne Army.

He was also at SHAEF Forward Headquarters in Reims on 6–7 May 1945 to witness negotiations to the German surrender on all fronts.

He eventually reached the level of Wing Commander and retiring from the service in June 1945. For his wartime contribution Strange was awarded the Order of the British Empire and the American Bronze Star.

Postwar civil aviation

He returned to farming but continued his links with civil aviation. He bought an Auster Taylorcraft Plus D light aircraft and flew it in the 1950 Daily Express Challenge Air Trophy at the age of 59, being the oldest of the 76 competitors. He continued to fly regularly and died peacefully in his sleep in 1966, aged 75.

In recognition of the high esteem in which he was held in the RAF and his important contribution to military aviation, the Squadron Briefing Room in the new No 23 Squadron Headquarters building, which was officially opened by the AOC in C Strike Command on 2 April 1997, has been named "The Strange Room".

References

Bibliography

• Strange, Louis A, Recollections of an airman, John Hamilton Ltd, London, 1933. Facsimile reprint by Greenhill Books, Simon Leventhal Ltd, London, 1989, ISBN 1-85367-043-X
• Hearn, Peter Flying Rebel : the story of Louis Strange, HMSO, London, 1994, ISBN 0-11-290500-5
• Scholefield, R.A., Manchester's Early Airfields, Lancashire & Cheshire Antiquarian Society, Manchester, 2004, ISSN 0950-4699
• Scholefield, R.A., Manchester Airport, Sutton Publishing, Stroud, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-1954-X