CCI Digest 840 Topics covered in this issue include: 1) Re: Mespot by "Tony Grange-Bennett" 2) Re: Mespot by peter.lambert@us.army.mil ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Date: Sun, 9 Mar 2003 11:51:33 -0000 From: "Tony Grange-Bennett" To: Subject: Re: Mespot Message-ID: <000501c2e632$4ee0bde0$65219fd4@oemcomputer> Peter Lambert wrote: >Does anyone know of any war diaries from Maj Massy, >the first Squadron Commander for 30 Squadron in Mesopotamia? Peter, these must certainly exist. On page 9 of "But Not In Anger," Christopher Cole & Roderick Grant include an an extract from the diaries which is proceeded by their comment: "Writing up the (30) squadron official War Diaries on the last day of February 1916 he (Major Seaton D. Massy) expressed his feelings with a frankness and vigour rarely encountered in such documents." On page 12 of the book, there is reference to 'Massy's overall report on the campaign' with the following extract: "For many weeks the weather was persistently bad and greatly hampered the work, producing a state of affairs that is better imagined than described. Suffice to say that never before in my experience have pilots have been called upon to fly machines in less airworthy condition - a condition produced by being exposed day and night to prolonged spells of rain, mud and wind, with a minimum of spare parts for their upkeep." I cannot find a reference to the location of the War Diaries of 30 Squadron or to 'Massy's overall report on the campaign,' but would assume that they are in the PRO at Kew. Regards Tony Grange-Bennett ------------------------------ Date: Sun, 09 Mar 2003 10:28:39 -0600 From: peter.lambert@us.army.mil To: cci@mustang.sr.unh.edu Subject: Re: Mespot Message-ID: <10b8a8a10b7c7d.10b7c7d10b8a8a@us.army.mil> I have a copy of his report from May of 1916 from the PRO...it covers details of the squadron from approx Nov 1915 to May 1916, which is important because it covers the siege of Kut. I was wondering if he had written anything on par with Tennant, who actually got around to publishing a book based around his memoirs. Massy's report though does have a lot of detail, and echoes a lot of concerns which plagued Tennant later in the campaign. I also have R. Gordon's report, the RNAS commander during this timeframe, which is also very interesting. You can sense his frustration at the lack of personnel, machines, spare parts, etc... Thanks! Pete ----- Original Message ----- From: Tony Grange-Bennett Date: Sunday, March 9, 2003 5:50 am Subject: [CCI] Re: Mespot > Peter Lambert wrote: > >Does anyone know of any war diaries from Maj Massy, > >the first Squadron Commander for 30 Squadron in Mesopotamia? > > Peter, these must certainly exist. On page 9 of "But Not In Anger," > Christopher Cole & Roderick Grant include an an extract from the > diaries which is proceeded by their comment: > > "Writing up the (30) squadron official War Diaries on the last day of > February 1916 he (Major Seaton D. Massy) expressed his feelings > with a > frankness and vigour rarely encountered in such documents." > > On page 12 of the book, there is reference to 'Massy's overall report > on the campaign' with the following extract: > > "For many weeks the weather was persistently bad and greatly hampered > the work, producing a state of affairs that is better imagined than > described. Suffice to say that never before in my experience have > pilots have been called upon to fly machines in less airworthy > condition - a condition produced by being exposed day and night to > prolonged spells of rain, mud and wind, with a minimum of spare parts > for their upkeep." > > I cannot find a reference to the location of the War Diaries of 30 > Squadron or to 'Massy's overall report on the campaign,' but would > assume that they are in the PRO at Kew. > > Regards > Tony Grange-Bennett > > ------------------------------ End of CCI Digest 840 *********************