War Souvenir
"Teil der Tragfläche des am 22. Aug. 1915 bei Marquillies herabgeschossenen franz. Äroplans mit 2 engl. Offizieren." - ‘Part of the wing of the French aircraft that was shot down near Marquillies on 22 August 1915 with 2 British officers on board.’
This is a piece of very fine cloth, about 2,5 x 16,5 cm, lacquered on one side.
Contrary to the soldier's belief, it was not a French aircraft, but a British B.E. 2c. (Maybe he got confused by the blue, white, and red RFC markings that look very much like the French Tricolore.) This B.E. 2c, manned by 2nd Lt Charles Gallie and Lt William Middleton Wallace of 2 Squadron RFC, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire near Sainghin-en-Weppes and Marquillies on 22 August 1915. The plane was on a photographic reconnaissance mission.
airwar19141918.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/22-august-1915-ga...
William "Willie" Middleton Wallace is still remembered as a promising rugby player. "He played fullback for Cambridge University RFC and was capped for Scotland in 1913–14": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Middleton_Wallace
I received this fascinating piece of history together with three unrelated photos. I only found two low quality photos of the wreck on the internet:
media.invisioncic.com/r224821/monthly_12_2011/post-30624-...
ig.lvdn.rosselcdn.net//i/0/0.0466/1x0.90681/d-20141122-36...
If anyone knows of a better photo, please let me know.
War Souvenir
"Teil der Tragfläche des am 22. Aug. 1915 bei Marquillies herabgeschossenen franz. Äroplans mit 2 engl. Offizieren." - ‘Part of the wing of the French aircraft that was shot down near Marquillies on 22 August 1915 with 2 British officers on board.’
This is a piece of very fine cloth, about 2,5 x 16,5 cm, lacquered on one side.
Contrary to the soldier's belief, it was not a French aircraft, but a British B.E. 2c. (Maybe he got confused by the blue, white, and red RFC markings that look very much like the French Tricolore.) This B.E. 2c, manned by 2nd Lt Charles Gallie and Lt William Middleton Wallace of 2 Squadron RFC, was shot down by anti-aircraft fire near Sainghin-en-Weppes and Marquillies on 22 August 1915. The plane was on a photographic reconnaissance mission.
airwar19141918.wordpress.com/2015/08/22/22-august-1915-ga...
William "Willie" Middleton Wallace is still remembered as a promising rugby player. "He played fullback for Cambridge University RFC and was capped for Scotland in 1913–14": en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Middleton_Wallace
I received this fascinating piece of history together with three unrelated photos. I only found two low quality photos of the wreck on the internet:
media.invisioncic.com/r224821/monthly_12_2011/post-30624-...
ig.lvdn.rosselcdn.net//i/0/0.0466/1x0.90681/d-20141122-36...
If anyone knows of a better photo, please let me know.