Hello, I've recently been able to have a look at my Great Uncle's photo album (his name is Felix Woolard). He was a British pilot during WW1, and in the 1920s, and I'm trying to find out a little more about him. I'm just curious as to how to do so, so if anyone here knows anything about these photos or could enlighten me as to where I could find out more, I'd really appreciate it.
A couple of questions based on my observations so far:
Captured German planes also seem to feature frequently, was utilising enemy planes a common occurrence in the early days of air flight?
There are also a lot of destroyed planes, how risky was flying with the early models? I've heard that as planes were mainly made of canvas and wood and flew lower, crash landings were actually fairly soft, and fatalities were lower, is there any truth to this?
I'm particularly interested in this photo, and what "native studies" might comprise of.
I am not qualified to talk about the World War One photos or the shot down planes in the first album. However, Part 2 has photos of Iraqi towns that are still very much in the news in 2014. Namely, Mosul and Kirkuk. In 1922, Iraq was a League of Nations Mandate, under the authority of Great Britain. Hugh Treachard, in an attempt to keep the Royal Air Force relevant in an era of much smaller defense budgets, told Whitehall that the RAF could police Iraq with two squadrons of DH-4 planes and a small force of cavalry. mounted on armored cars. This would cost considerable less than garrisoning Iraq with several regiments of Army troops.
Here is a comprehensive look at the RAF as the policemen of Iraq in the 1920s.
http://www.airpower.maxwell.af.mil/airchronicles/apj/apj00/win00/corum.htm
