 It was at Dover that on February 27th this year, Lieut. H. Rosher was killed. The disaster happened on a Sunday morning, just before the sinking of the
“Maloja” in the channel outside Dover, and many readers will remember seeing the accident. Lieut. Rosher had been flying over the town and just as he was about to come down a most violent hailstorm occurred, and it was whilst descending through this that the accident occurred, which was visible from most parts of Dover, and was witnessed by a great many people. Lieut. Rosher now lies in Charlton Cemetery. He joined the
R.N.A.S. on the outbreak of war, being at the time a student at the Wye Agricultural College and after short service at Fort Grange Gosport and at Newcastle-on-Tyne, he arrived at Dover after an adventurous flight from Gosport on December 29th 1914.
His coming to Dover was on account of the air raids of December 1914,
when after bombs had been dropped from a Taube close to the Admiralty
Pier on December 21st “Old Rumpler,” as Lieut.
Rosher describes him, dropped a bomb on Dover on Christmas Eve. As a
result the writer says, “but for that we should in all probability
have been on the other side by now” For some considerable time he
remained in Dover carrying out patrols on the Avro machine which
Squadron Commander S. V. Sippe D.S.O. flew when Friedrichshafen, the
home of the Zeppelins was raided.
His
first raid took place from Dover in February 1915. The account, which
appears for the first time, is very interesting. He went straight to
Zeebrugge after reaching the French coast, and then ran into thick cloud
and got lost, returning eventually to Dunkirk, where he found all the
others back except one. The aviators slept on the “Empress” at
Dunkirk and the next day made the raid. From the description it appears
that the explosion of either guns or the shells is heard by the aviators
in their machines, a point that many people are in doubt about. He
loosed off his bombs over Zeebrugge and got clear.
After his experience he remarks, “After all, Dover isn’t such a bad
place, I’m thinking. This raid was under command of Wing Commander
Samson when Mr. Grahame White fell into the sea of Nieuport. On February
13th Lieut. Rosher went to France and took part in a raid on
Ostend, getting over the town in a bank of clouds. He came back to Dover
and afterwards went out to France again, and in March he took in another
raid in Ostend, when he was not even fired on. In March he also made a
big raid on the Hoboken shipyards & he was successful with Squadron
Commander Courtney in dropping bombs on five submarines buildings there.
The account is most vivid – He says – “I passed over the yards at
about 1,000 feet only, and loosed all my bombs over the place. The whole
of the way down I was under fire, two anti-aircraft guns in the yard,
guns from the forts on either side, rifle fire mitrailleuge or machine
guns, and most vivid of all great bunches (15-20) of what looked like
green rockets but I think they were flaming bullets.” All he got
however was a bullet hole through the tail of his machine and a piece of
shrapnel buried in the main spar of one wing. He was especially
mentioned by the Admiralty for this. He afterwards describes how, whilst
flying over Dunkirk, his engine gave out, and to save himself and his
observer he came down into the docks, having a narrow squeak of being
caught up in the machinery under water.
In April 1915 the Friedrichshafen Avro was sent home, and he had
adventures on a Morane, including a smash-up – the usual ending with
this dangerous machine. On
April 29th, he describes the bombardment of Dunkirk with the
long-range guns, one shell falling 500 yards from the villa in which he
was staying, and from which they were watching the bombardment from the
roof. Then in May he came home to take a B.E. 2C to Dunkirk and the
troubles he had with the engine of this machine certainly are no
corroboration of the way these machines were eulogised recently.
His
journey to Dover was nearly like Morant’s journey to London. At
Dunkirk he was mainly engaged in chasing the Taubes that raided that
town but he says that he gave it up, as he could not get near them. Then
in June he chased a Zeppelin across the Channel and had difficulty in
returning. The same night he was sent to bomb the airship shed near
Ghent. When he got there he found a Zeppelin high up over him, and this
Zeppelin came for him, and Lieut. Rosher had to “skip.” He tried to
get above it, but was not successful and had to return dropping his
bombs in the sea. The next night he had another moonlight air-raid but
could not find his objective, so he drooped his bombs on Blankenburghe
on the way back.
Then
he went up and helped at La Bassee with the military wing. He
subsequently returned to Dunkirk and on July 31st the
aerodrome was bombed and he had three bombs fall within a hundred yards
of himself. He returned to Dover in August, but was back at Dunkirk at
the end of the month, and he took part in what he describes as a comic
raid, with sixty machines on the Forest of Houthalst. After taking part
in the bombardment of Ostend and Zeebrugge last August and September, he
came back to Dover, where he remained until his death in February 1916.
At the end of December 1915 he “looped the loop” on a B.E.2C.
Lieut. Rosher had a trip to Dunkirk in February, but returned to Dover,
where he was in charge of war flights on air patrols. His last letter
was from the Hotel Burlington (from which all his Dover letters were
addressed) on February 24th just before his death. During the
latter months of his stay at Dover he was second in command of his
station and frequently in charge.
|
