WADDINGTON WINS! - The Insight Online

56 Squadron’sUnsung HeroMajor Richard Graham Blomfield D.S.O. mustbe considered a truly great un-sung hero of56 Squadron; a man who commanded theSquadron during a key period in its history.From his arrival on theSquadron on February 6, 1917,he was determined to make 56Squadron the finest fightingSquadron in the RFC. Knownas the ‘prince of organisers’he left nothing to chance andchose his flight commanderscarefully. Of note, Blomfield’searly capture of Capt AlbertBall, the RFC’s leading ace, wasa clever move which gave theSquadron a reputation andstanding before it even left forFrance for the first time.Tremendously energetic and keen,he was always to be seen runninghere and there, giving closepersonal attention to every area ofthe Squadron’s work – activity andorganisation personified. He hadall his pilots out for a run beforebreakfast, kept them busy aroundthe sheds all day and turned themloose in town at night. They had tobe tip top aviators and bring downHuns. Nothing else mattered!A large part of his success wasdue to the group of 30 veryexperienced engineers he hadbeen poaching from his previousSquadrons. When the Wingdecided he couldn’t keep thisnumber of experienced men andthat they would supply 30 newtrainees to replace them the Majorhad a cunning plan; some of themen on camp had developed fluand were in quarantine. When the30 new untrained men arrivedthey were billeted with 2 menwith flu, and within four days theytoo had flu and were declaredunfit to deploy, so 56 Squadronretained their trained engineers.Major Blomfield was popular withall ranks of the Squadron. Duringone of the Squadron’s moves inFrance inquiring what the officerswere having for dinner, and beingtold roast beef, Blomfield thenasked, ‘and the men?’ On beingtold that the men were havinga cold dinner as their cookingstoves had not been set up,the Major ordered that all rankswould have a cold dinner untilthe cooking stoves were ready.Blomfield’s office always had a signnailed to the door stating ‘Enterwithout knocking’. A young pilot atVert Gallant who had knocked onthe door before entering the CO’soffice had been told ‘This is not abedroom or a lady’s boudoir; if youhave business here walk straight in’.He had particularly views on howhis pilots should behave. One pilotrecalls arriving on the Squadron tobe asked 3 questions by Blomfield.Are you Married?No.Good. Engaged?No.Very Good. Regular girlfriend?No.Excellent.Perhaps not appropriate behaviourfor a CO today, but at the time,maybe a necessary philosophy.September 11, 1917, Blomfeld,as always trying to drive his menonto greater things circulateda letter to the Squadron givingthe number of Huns broughtdown per Flight as follows:By B Flight 56.By C Flight 56.By A Flight 54.This gives the Squadron a total of166 Huns. We understand that thecrack German Squadron, namelythe Travelling Circus, claims tohave brought down 200 machinesin seven and a half months. ThisSquadron arrived in France on 7thApril and since that date has got166 Huns in five and a half months.This now leaves us 75 days to get34 Huns. Of course during our fiveand a half months we wasted 2weeks over training at Vert Galantand 2 weeks protecting England,but even counting this as actualflying time there should be nodifficulty beating the record.Needless to say the Squadronachieved the requestednumber of kills and werecongratulated personally byMajor General Trenchard ontheir magnificent work.Major Blomfield left the Squadronon promotion after just 8 monthsin command. Whilst only a fleetingmoment in the history of 56Squadron, it is safe to say a trulysignificant and lasting impressionwas left by the Major, and he has tobe considered a 56 Squadron great.Author: Sqn Ldr J Tunnard8 InsightMAGAZINE