10th Apr, 2024 10:30 GMT/BST
Books, Maps & Manuscripts
69
WWI Pilot’s Flying Log Book.
Strettell Miller (Flight Lieutenant W. H.), Royal Naval Air Service.
A flying log commencing with a course at White City on the 24th March, 1916. Actual flying commences at R.N. Air Station, Chingford on the 2nd June 1916 with circuits up to 3000ft.
The log records date and time, wind direction, machine number, passenger, time in air, height and course. In August, after 11 hours, 39 minutes of flying time, Strettell Miller moved on to Cranwell and in November, after increasing his flying time to over 47 hours, he moved via Paris to R.N.A.S. Vendome in northern France. During his time here most of the remarks are ‘instruction’ or ‘testing’ and include his first flight in a Bristol Scout. The instruction flights are with passengers, and given the flight hours, it is assumed that Strettell Miller was instructing rather than instructed. In June 1917, after almost 226 flight hours, he moved back to R.N.A.S. Chingford for more instructing and testing. In February 1918, he moved to No. 2 Wing, Eastern-Mediterranean Squadron where he flew Sopwith Pups and Camels, using a Camera Gun for reconnaissance missions. On April 1st 1918, (with 463 flying hours) he joined No 62 Wing of the newly formed RAF (British Aegean Group), flying Sopwith Camels and the Airco DH6. After photo-reconnaissance, bombing practice (including attacking a dummy submarine), formation flying, etc., bombing raids were commenced. In April he bombed Gallipoli Town and in May flew ‘To bomb Hun aerodrome at Drama. Several hits. Attacked two H.A. but they dived away showing no flight’ as well as searching the Theso-Bulgar coast ‘for hostile boats and supposed submarine base’. The final entry is for a Sopwith Camel flight on the 23rd May (written April) ‘20 Hun Seaplanes at Nagara, Dardanelles. F.St ?Whinbush? shot down off Straits’.
Printed columns and titles, manuscript entries on approx 107 pages. Quarter morocco binding with worn gilt-lettered cloth.
[Flight Lieutenant William Hogarth Strettell Miller, b.1893, gazetted Lieutenant (RNVS) 17 August, 1915].
Sold for £480
Estimated at £200 - £300
Auction: Books, Maps & Manuscripts, 10th Apr, 2024
The sale includes a sketchbook of drawings of Southern China attributed to George Chinnery. English artist George Chinnery (1774-1852) left an extraordinary record of everyday life in Southern China in the early to mid-19th century, which has become an important source of historical information on the region.
Further highlights include an interesting archive of letters and ephemera relating to the composer and bandmaster Charles Coote (1809-1880), personal pianist to William Cavendish, the 6th Duke of Devonshire, and bandmaster and composer for stage productions put on by Charles Dickens. There is also several collections of 19th century photographs including an outstanding album with many views of Eton College and the River Thames at Windsor, Trinity College Cambridge, Switzerland, Gibraltar and Malta as well as an important photographic record of the Challenger Expedition, generally considered to be the foundation of oceanography.
Single owner collections include a large quantity of books on Polar Exploration and early Whaling. We are also pleased to offer a selection of books from the library of Fred Gettings, prolific author and expert on astrology, symbolism and arcane lore. The library includes many early editions of Nostradamus with several manuscript works on the famous French astrologer.
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Tuesday 9th April 10am-5pm and morning of sale from 8am
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