Beschreibung:

Papers and photographs of Sub-Lieutenant and subsequently Wing Commander William George Sitwell, DSC, of the Royal Naval Air Service, covering his career, beginning as a sub-lieutenant at sea with the Royal Navy in 1907 up until his service s Wing Commander on the North Western Frontier in 1925, especially his career as a pilot with the RNAS during the Great War (appointed Flight Commander of HMS Empress, Malta, on 20 January 1916, and of South Shields Air Station on 2 April 1917), including a remarkable collection of photographs and his flying log, the archive comprising: (i) Sitwell's 'Pilot's Flying Log Book' kept between beginning training on 13 May 1913 and being sent on leave on 26 March 1919, recording, inter alia, various first flights undertaken in September 1913 (in a seaplane, monoplane etc), with comments on aircraft flown (in April 1913 "First flight on a Sopwith. Sudden side draughts are somewhat disconcerting and the controls not very positive"), a peacetime total of 46 flights; the first flight of the war recorded on 9 August 1914 from Hunstanton ("In search of report of seaplanes"); followed in January 1915 with flights from Hendon in a BE, on 10 February flying from Dover ("Dropped 3, 20lb bombs Zeebrugge... Casualties 21 bullet holes. Landed Dunkerque, engine missing"); in March test-flying various aircraft, including the Sopwith Scout ("unsafe for pupils and condemned... Joyride for Admy official"), a Maurice Farman 146, EAC 189, Sopwith 1062 and 1063, BE 967 and BE 26 (to replace the 47); in May 1915 he is "Over London. Zeppelin hunt. First night flight... Barnes 804 killed"; after being transferred twice, once "as the result of anonymous letter" and "'for punishment'", he joins HMS Empress in the Eastern Mediterranean, in February 1916 being stationed at Ismalia and on "Palestine. Photographic reconnaissance" ("10 miles off to Tul Keram, Samaria... and return to ship. Very interesting. Shot at a little. Observer took several photos but 30 miles inland is not at all amusing"), then transferring for a while to Mudros before continuing to fly on bombing and reconnaissance missions ("Escorted 8381 to Sokia (10m inland) Dropped 4-16lb from 5000! Went up to 7000' to wait and engine stopped. Landed in sea near Scalanuova sand got fired at. Started up in 20" and returned to ship via Samos strait"); that June he flies in a Sopwith Schneider ("Spotting for 'Grafton' supposd to be on guns N of Scalanuova but they suddenly opened up on the town!! They took no notice of my spotting by Vereys lights. Rather an unpleasant trip and a bad sea for the Schneider"); they then returned to Mudros, it being too hot to fly; that August finds him flying over Salamis and Piraeus "To amuse the allied fleets and the Greeks", and then over the Bulgarian lines at Stauros and the Struma front, transferring to the Ark Royal in A Squadron at Thoasos that October ("Bombed Drama aerodrome. Straddled tents but did not hit them"), in November going on anti-submarine patrol ("Submarine patrl. Engine let me down. Made ggod landing on rough sea and then sat 6 hrs being sick and trying to Mend hole in water jacket. Trawler 43 found me near Bulgar Coast & towed me back. Considerable panic ashore as I as away 9 hours, wind and sea decidedly bad"); in April 1917 he is at South Shields, where he serves for the rest of the war, on anti-submarine patrols and test flight, the wing he commanded being disbanded on 25 March 1919 with him being "Dipped to Major presumably as a reward for my services", some 70 pages, cloth, upper cover stamped 'Pilot's Flying Log Book' with 'Name/ Rank/ Regiment of Corps', printed column headings, some wear through use but nevertheless still in good and attractive condition, 8vo, 1913-1919 (ii) File, marked "Personal Copies", of official correspondence relating to RNAS business comprising both incoming correspondence and retained copies of outgoing letters, between 1913 and 1918; plus a field message book kept in 1917 (main