- Author
- Issacs, Keith, AFC, ARAeS, Group Captain, RAAF (Retd)
- Subjects
- Naval Aviation
- Tags
- None noted.
- RAN Ships
- HMAS Sydney I
- Publication
- June 1974 edition of the Naval Historical Review (all rights reserved)
Little flew in several of the squadron’s Triplanes but his own aircraft was Triplane N.5493, which carried the name ‘Blimp’, and had the pilot’s seat moved forward to improve manoeuvrability and speed. Flying this aircraft Little shot down 15 enemy aircraft between 8th April and 27th July, including five in the latter month. His tally continued to mount rapidly, and decoration followed decoration. Little was eventually posted back to England for a rest period about the same time as the Triplane was being replaced in the squadron; apparently he flew Camel N.6378 before he left the unit. In April 1918 Little returned to the front to join No. 203 Squadron, Royal Air Force (previously No. 3 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service) where he met his death flying a Camel, as described in the Gotha G V narrative. But there is no doubt that he was one of the greatest Triplane exponents of the war. The London Times of 24th July 1918 revealed in an obituary that ‘Captain Robert Alexander Little . . . held the record among pilots of the late RNAS for enemy machines destroyed.’
‘A . . . brilliant Triplane pilot,’ wrote John Killen in A History of Marine Aviation 1911-68, ‘was Roderic Stanley Dallas.’ Dallas was born on 29th July 1892 at Mount Stanley in Queensland and, like Little, he joined the Royal Naval Air Service as a Flight Sub- Lieutenant. He spent most of 1915 training, and at the end of the year was posted to fly Nieuport scouts and two-seaters with No. 1 Wing. There he picked up the name ‘Brequet’ from Major Bell, as described in Reveille, May 1935. (Bell was another Australian who served with Royal Naval Air Service Nos. 1 and 3 Squadrons and later commanded No. 210 Squadron, Royal Air Force – previously No. 10 Squadron, Royal Naval Air Service – in 1918. It is believed that Bell also flew Triplanes for a short period.) Dallas stayed with No. 1 Wing after it became No. 1 (Naval) Squadron, and on 4th June 1917 took over command. His squadron became the first operational unit to be equipped with Sopwith Triplanes, and 16 were delivered by 15th February 1917. Dallas took the first Triplane into action on 1st February when he attacked and forced down an Aviatik while flying N.5436. On 17th February he shot down a second Aviatik in similar circumstances. On another occasion Dallas was in company with Flight Sub- Lieutenant T. C. Culling when their two Triplanes met an enemy formation of 14 DFW C V two-seaters and Albatros singleseat scouts.
The German pilots were flying towards the lines at 16,000 feet on a mission that appeared to be of some importance (wrote the British Official Historian), but they were frustrated by the Sopwiths which fought the Germans for 45 minutes, kept their formation split up, shot three of them down (one fell in flames and one crashed), and left the remainder only when the German pilots had retreated, individually and at a low height, far to the eastward. The Triplanes had the superior speed and climbing powers, and the two pilots were enabled to keep up a continuous series of attacks. They each chose an enemy aeroplane, made a short dive, put in a rapid burst of fire, regained height on a climbing turn, and then repeated their diving attacks.
Details of Dallas’ victories are not accurately recorded (it is known that on occasions he did not submit combat claims for aircraft he forced down) but his score and decorations accumulated while he was flying the Triplane. Dallas flew a number of the squadron’s machines including N.5436, N.5491 and the prototype N.500. Although he went on to command other squadrons and fly other aircraft – No. 201 Squadron with Camels, and No. 40 Squadron with S.E.5as – Dallas had a particular liking for the Triplane. On 19th June 1918 Major Dallas, DSO, DSC and Bar, and Croix de Guerre, with at least 39 enemy aircraft to his credit, was himself shot down and killed in an S.E.5a near Lievin while fighting three Fokker Dr I triplanes. ‘Dallas,’ wrote Lieutenant-Colonel E. A. Ewart, ‘was one of the finest flying men I have ever met and put up some amazing performances . . . that made his name famous throughout the airmen . . . to whom he was affectionately called ‘The Admiral’.’