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The latest journal of Cross & Cockade International - Spring 2016, features a water-color painting of two Short Admiralty Type 166 Seaplanes on the cover. The rear cover shows a photograph of Captain Eric John Stephens and his 41 Squadron SE5a along with a photo of Captain Frank Ormond Soden and his captured Fokker D VII of Ltn Adolph Auer (Jasta 40). If you check out the web site link above, you can get additional sample pics of the current issue.

Cross & Cockade International is a non-profit UK based group known as the First World War Aviation Historical Society that publishes their journal four times a year. They also provide a free newsletter (sign up on their website) and occasionally publish WWI themed books like the Sopwith Dolphin monograph I reviewed earlier for IPMS USA. This Journal is the sister of the US Journal, Over The Front.

This issue kicks off with a nice biography of 2Lt Morden Maxwell Mowat, a Canadian in the service of the RFC. Morden wasn’t looked upon fondly by his colleagues, as he quickly found himself stigmatized for his lack of grace. A central part of this article is an excerpt from an unpublished diary of Flt Sgt W.E.G. Crisford that depicts the maintenance required of 11 Squadron’s Vickers FB5 ‘Gunbuses’. Unfortunately, Mowat’s attitude soon got the best of him on May 16, 1916 as he ventured out by himself to attack some LVGs. Mowat’s Bristol Scout drew the attention of Oblt Max Immelmann which ended Mowat’s career.

Peter J. Cowlan delivers a very nice article on the Short Admiralty Type 166 Seaplane that sets the record straight on the Type 166 aircraft of WWI. A section of this 20 page article caught my attention as it addressed the Type 166’s work with the British Navy’s big gun monitors. HMS Roberts, one of four Abercrombie-class 14” gun monitors, discovered one of the negative effects of the concussive blast from its guns was the damage done to the fragile Type 166 Seaplanes. Duncan Curtiss follows with a biography on Richard Fitz Power, who ultimately filed over 130 patents during his lifetime, many of which are still in use today. Paul Leaman chimes in with his latest in his series of Seaplanes with a short article on the FBA D6 flying boat illustrated with five period photographs.

Wings Over Suez by Ray Vann and Mike O’Conner describes the history of the RFC and RAF training units in Egypt from 1916 to 1919. Why Egypt? That’s easy if you know anything about the weather in England. Ostensibly, Great Britain also was interested in protecting the Suez Canal, a vital artery to the British Empire. The authors provide plenty of detail and plenty of photos of pilot educational opportunities (crashes). Ray Vann follows up with the article with a summary of fatalities from 1916 to 1919 with a short bio for each officer or cadet. Mick Davis utilizes his Logbook series to recap the RCF and RAF training units in Egypt, complete with a short history, commanding officers, and representative aircraft.

Topics

• Editorial by Mick Davis
• ‘Such A Topping Chap’: 2Lt Morden Maxwell Mowat by Stewart K. Taylor
• The Short Admiralty Type 166 Seaplane: A Re-Appraisal by Peter J. Cowlan
• Richard Fitz Power: Sailor, Soldier, Observer, Pilot, and Inventor by Duncan Curtiss
• Atlas of German and Foreign Seaplanes: The FBA D6 Flying Boatby Paul Leaman
• Wings Over Suez: The History of RFC/RAF Training in Egypt 1916-1919 by Ray Vann and Mike O’Connor
• RFC & RAF Officer and Cadet Fatalities in Egypt 1916-1919 by Ray Vann
• Logbook: The RFC/RAF Training Units in Egypt by Mick Davis
• Advanced Dressing Station by Peter Wright
• Fabric by Mick Davis
• Bookshelf

Mick Davis’ Fabric is basically a ‘letters to the editor’, providing updates to previous articles in the journal from authors and readers. The Bookshelf section is a review of WWI aviation specific books and magazines with this issue totaling twelve.

Its another great issue from Cross & Cockade and I’m quite impressed with the quality. If you are in to early / WWI aviation, this journal is an incredible source of information that will have you on the edge of your seat for the next issue.

My thanks to Cross & Cockade International and IPMS/USA for the chance to review this great issue.

Highly recommended!