AIRCRAFT COLOURS AND MARKINGS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR ERA

No.3 Wing RNAS


No.3 Wing, Royal Naval Air Service, was initially formed in the Aegean from No.3 Squadron RNAS on 21 June 1915 under W.Cdr Samson. Later, they were transferred to Imbros where they were absorbed into No.2 Wing and disbanded on 18 January 1916. In February 1916, a new No.3 Wing was formed at Detling under Sqdn.Cdr. Marix, with the intention of raiding the factories in the Essen and Dusseldorf regions of Germany from England. However, due to the distance to the proposed targets from Detling being infeasible, the resources of this unit were available for service elsewhere, to which end Captain W.L. Elder went to France for talks in May 1916. From these talks it was decided to form a Franco-British bombing force, with the British component being based at Luxeuil-les-Bains, over 60 miles to the south of Nancy. The first detachment of one officer and 125 men left for France on 16 June 1916 to begin construction of the future base at Luxeuil.
Originally No.3 Wing was to be made up of Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutters and Short bombers, however the Short was found to be unsuitable and was replaced by the Breguet V. The Breguet was also to have a short period of service with 3 Wing and only one operation was flown with them. All the rest were flown using the Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter - Later two Handley Page 0/100s were attached and flew some night raids.
The debut of the wing to combat flying began at 4.34 a.m. on 30 July 1916, when nine aircraft of a combined French and British force took off to bomb the benzine stores and barracks at Mulheim. The French contribution consisted of four Farmans, one Sopwith and one Nieuport. The British sent two Sopwith bombers flown by F/L C. B. Dalison and FSL J.A. Glen, and one Sopwith fighter flown by FSL Potter with Sub.Lt. C. Downes as observer.
Between October 1916 and May 1917, No.3 Wing flew another 17 raids against targets in Germany before being broken up to provide manpower to the newly formed Scout Squadrons of the RNAS. Their aircraft were then handed over to the French. These raids were:
No.1 Mulheim - 30 July 1916
No.2 Oberndorf - 12 October 1916
No.3 Hagendingen - 23 October 1916
No.4 Volklingen - 10 November 1916
No.5 Volklingen - 11 November 1916
No.6 St. Ingbert - 12 November 1916
No.7 Dillingen - 24 November 1916
No.8 Dillingen - 27 December 1916
No.9 Burbach - 23 January 1917
No.10 Brebach - 25 February 1917
No.11 Brebach - 4 March 1917
No.12 Morchingen - 16 March 1917
No.13 Moulins-les-Metz - 16/17 March 1917
No.14 Burbach - 22 March 1917
No.15 Arnaville - 5/6 April 1917
No.16 Hagendingen - 13/14 April 1917
No.17 Chambley - 13/14 April 1917
No.18 Freiburg - 14 April 1917
Their aircraft carried red or blue geometric shapes within a white square on the fuselage side and repeated on the taliplane. Individual flight numbers were also carried on the fuselage
For a more complete history of No.3 Wing I recommend my article on them in Over The Front 13/4 entitled "More Than Could Be Reasonably Anticipated: The Story of No. Wing RNAS"

 


Nieuport 10 3172
Flt/Lt R. Bell-Davies
December 1915
Source: FMP VC Book


Short Bomber 9307
-
August 1916
Source: OTF 13/4

 


Short Bomber 9310
-
August 1916
Source: OTF 13/4


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9660
FSL CHB Butterworth
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Breguet V 9179
-
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4

 


Breguet V 9196
-
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5107
-
January 1917
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5106
-
January 1917
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9730
-
January 1917
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9669
Fl/Lt GG MacLennan
Late 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9722
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5098
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9738
-
November 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9739
FSLRedpath / AM Dell
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter
-
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5091
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9407
FSL R Collishaw/AM Portsmouth
October 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9733
FSL NM Macgregor
Oct-Dec 1916
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5088
FSL J E Sharman
Early 1917
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

 


Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9742
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5094
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter 9657
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter N5116
-
-
Source: OTF 13/4
updated 2013