Robert Alexander Duff, T4/083084 Royal Flying Corp was son of Mr Duncan Duff, farmer, and Mary Ann Douglas Duff, Woodend, Logierait, Ballinluig. Before his attachment to 22 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps, Robert had joined the 8th Royal Highlanders in 1908. The following year his battalion changed to become the 8th Royal Highland Cyclist’s which later became merged with the 6th Black Watch (Perthshire’s Own). Shortly after WW1 commenced, he joined the Scottish Horse and because of an accident was given a discharge. He again enlisted for the third time and was a driver for over two years in the 3rd Army, Auxiliary Horse Transport Company, part of the Army Service Corps.
Robert was a well-known rifle shot in the Atholl area, being equally expert with the service miniature rifle and fowling piece, the winner of many prominent prizes during his time with the 8 Royal Highland Cyclists and Mid-Atholl Rifle Club.
On Wednesday 30 January 1918, Royal Flying Corp Bristol Fighter F2b C4832 took off at 10.35am from the airfield at Auchel, Hauts-de-France, France. The pilot was New Zealander 2nd Lieutenant Godfrey Gleeson Johnstone, age 22 and the Observer was Air Mechanic 3rd Class Robert Alexander Duff, age 25.
Their mission was listed as an offensive patrol. They were seen to fall in flames about 12.45pm during an aerial engagement. The pilot, 2nd Lieutenant Johnstone was killed, and Air Mechanic 3rd Class Duff died from his injuries later that day.
Oberleutnant Harald Auffarth (Auffahrt), of the Royal Prussian Jagdstaffel (Jasta) 29 flying from Militärflugplatz Bellincamps claimed the shooting down of the Bristol Fighter C4832 near Neuve Chapelle, about 25kms northeast of Auchel.
Just eight days before, RFC 22 Squadron, part of the 10th Army Wing, 1st Brigade had transferred to the aerodrome at Auchel (they moved on again on 2 February 1918). Robert Duff had been attached to the Royal Flying Corp for only two months, it is probable that his time flying on active service with RFC 22 Squadron lasted only eight days, possibly this was his first and only mission.
Mr Duncan Duff, his father in the Perthshire Advertiser, 27 March 1918 said “that his son and a Flight Officer had volunteered for duty, during which they engaged an enemy plane, which was successfully downed. But it was surmised that in the deadly combat both the officer and Observer Robert Duff were wounded seriously, and their aircraft damaged.”
The inscription on Robert’s grave at Merville Communal Cemetery Extension reads ‘Reared beside the Tummel and the Tay – He lived simply and died bravely’.
NOTES:
Merville is a town 15 kilometres north of Béthune and 20 kilometres south-east of Armentières. Auchel Aérodrome Britannique was 12 km à l’ouest de (West of) Béthune, in the Département, Pas-de-Calais.
Corporal Hope Duff, the elder brother of Robert, prior to his enlistment with the Cameron Highlanders in May 1915, was a gamekeeper in the employment of The MacIntosh of Mackintosh at Moy Hall, Inverness-shire. Lance Corporal Duff was first wounded at Delville Wood in July 1916 and was back in the fighting line by November 1916.He was with the Machine Gun Corps when he was awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal for conspicuous bravery and devotion to duty during the great German offensive of April 1917. Many forebearers of Hope and Robert served in the army. Private Hope Duff of the Black Watch after who he was named was said to be the first to fall at the battle of Tel el Kebir in 1882 during the Anglo-Egyptian War.
Bristol Fighter F2b C4832 was a presentation aircraft donated on 6 November 1917 with funds raised by Udaipur No.1, India.
The Bristol Fighter was known as the “Brisfit”, or “Biff” was developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Frank Sowter Barnwell along with his brother Harold, established the Grampian Motors & Engineering Company at Causewayhead, Striling in 1907. On 30 January 1911 they won a prize for the first flight of over a mile in Scotland at Causewayhead, just outside Stirling University and under the Wallace Monument.
Harald Auffarth scored his first victory with Jagdstaffel 18 on 16 September 1917. By the end of that month, he had become an ace. He then transferred to Jagdstaffel 29 and was appointed Staffelführer (commanding officer) in November 1917. By the end of the war, he had scored 29 victories. Auffarth’s personal aircraft colour scheme was of yellow nose and green fuselage with a stylized eight-pointed comet on the side. Auffarth served as an Oberstleutnant (Lieutenant Colonel) during WW2 and died 12 October 1946.
On 5 October 1918, Harald Auffarth shot down an Airco DH.9 piloted by Clayton Knight who although hurt survived and was made a prisoner of war in a German clinic. Auffarth was also downed during this encounter. Clayton Knight OBE (30 March 1891 – 17 July 1969) was an author, aviation artist and illustrator, one of the founders of the Clayton Knight Committee (along with Billy Bishop) and best known as the illustrator of the comic strip Ace Drummond published in 135 newspapers. The comic strip and movie serial Ace Drummond was scripted by Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, the most decorated US flying ace during WW1.
Harald Auffarth was awarded: Knight’s Cross with Swords of the Royal House Order of Hohenzollern, Iron Cross 1st and 2nd Class, Hanseatic Cross and Silver Wound Badge. On 3 September 1918 when his victory count reached 20, he was recommended for the Pour le Merite (The Blue Max).. It was not approved before the abdication of Kaiser Wilhelm II.
The Army Service Corps, the ASC was jokingly referred to as Ally Sloper’s Cavalry. Alexander “Ally” Sloper was the eponymous fictional character of the British comic strip Ally Sloper. First appearing in 1867, he is considered one of the earliest comic strip characters and he is regarded as the first recurring character in comics. Sloper has also been cited as an influence on W. C. Fields and Charlie Chaplin’s “little tramp” character.
During the First World War, the Army Service Corps (ASC) operated the transport systems that delivered ammunition, food, and equipment to the Front Line. At its peak, the ASC numbered 10,547 officers and 315,334 men.
Oblt. Harald Auffarth of Jasta 29 in front of a Pfalz D.VIII with one piece, four-bladed Wotan propeller. Auffarth flew as an observer with Feldflieger-Abteilung 27 and Flieger-Abteilung (A) 266 before becoming a fighter pilot.
Pfalz D.VIII 193/18 of Jasta 29 with one piece, four-bladed Wotan propeller and another D.VIII in the background, late 1918. Fifth from left is Oblt. Harald Auffarth.