XIII Squadron History - The Early Years
XIII Squadron was formed at Gosport on 10 January 1915 from a nucleus of 8 Squadron and was commanded by Captain (later Major) P L W Herbert. The Squadron was later supplemented with an additional flight from 22 Squadron. After minimal training, with particular emphasis on bombing and aerial photography, the Squadron was declared fit to proceed to the Western Front in France, the average experience of the pilots being approximately 90 hours flying time.

The Squadron deployed to France in October 1915 as a Corps reconnaissance unit equipped with BE2cs, first to St. Omer on 19 October and then to Vert Galand on 21 October. The main role of the Squadron was artillery observation and photographic reconnaissance, which remained the unit's main tasks throughout the war. The first patrol was flown on 22 October and the first successful photographs of enemy positions were taken on 23 October. It was also on this day that the Squadron suffered its first casualties when Lieutenant Marks and 2nd Lieutenant Lawrence were shot down behind enemy lines. On 29 October 1915 a great step forward in Army cooperation was made when the Squadron flew the first of a long series of air-ground wireless trials.

The Squadron claimed its first kill on 26 October 1915 when a German two seat aircraft was brought down. Originally the Squadron aircraft were unarmed but a Squadron modification gave the BE2c 2 Lewis machine guns operated by the Observer. XIII Squadron went on to pioneer bombing in formation the next month when, during a raid on Achiet-le-Grand in November, nine of the Squadron's aircraft bombed German anti-aircraft defences. This raid caused confusion to the enemy and massed raids soon became standard practice.

1916 began with a change of command when Major A C E Marsh took over the Squadron. The Squadron observed for the Army's artillery during the Spring and at the Somme in July 1916. It was also during this month that the Squadron flew the first ever night bombing raid. On 16 July one aircraft out of four that were launched found and dropped 6 twenty pound and 2 incendiary bombs on Biache St-Vaast. The remainder of 1916 was spent in bombing raids and working with the Army, mainly on artillery observation.

In June 1917 the Squadron participated in the Messines Battle, the third Battle of Ypres (Passchendaele) in July and Cambrai in November. In June 1917 the BE2e was replaced with 18 RE8s that were received from 59 Squadron. During January 1918 the Squadron carried out experimental night artillery observation with fair results and night recce became a standard operating practice. During the Great War XIII Squadron suffered 15 Killed In Action, 35 Wounded In Action, 34 Missing In Action Presumed Dead, 13 Prisoners Of War and 5 accidental deaths. The Squadron claimed 15 enemy aircraft kills and lost 43 aircraft. XIII Squadron was disbanded at Sedgeford in Norfolk on 31 December 1919.

Equipped with Bristol F2b Fighters, XIII Squadron reformed at Kenley, Surrey on 1 April 1924 when the Kenley Signals Cooperation Flight was renamed XIII (Army Cooperation) Squadron. During the Inter-War years XIII Squadron played a large part in the development of cooperation between air and land forces, subsequently flying Atlases from August 1927 and Audaxes from May 1932. In May 1937 the Squadron received Hectors and these were later replaced by Lysanders in January 1939.

An early pilot with XIII Squadron was Albert Ball, the later famous air ace, who had initially joined the 277th Battalion of the Sherwood Foresters when war broke out, and was gazetted as a 2nd Lieutenant in October 1914. His enthusiasm for flying began after a visit to Hendon, and he was later posted to the Royal Flying Corps on 29 January 1916. He joined XIII Squadron in France 15 February 1916, flying the BE2c and his duties were normally reconnaissance and artillery spotting. The first single-seat fighter that he flew was one of our Bristol Scouts. Ball remained on the Squadron for a few months and was then posted to XI Squadron on 7 May 1916.

The Squadron Commander at the time, Major A.C.E. Marsh, was not impressed with Ball at first and warned him that he could be sent back to England for further training. However, before this gloomy prospect came to pass, Ball managed to fly on operations and was piloting one of 6 BE2cs on a "recce" flight, when 3 Fokkers and some other German aircraft attacked them. One of the Squadron aircraft fell behind and was shot down despite the help afforded from the rest of the formation. Ball's aircraft began to run roughly and was forced to land. He spent the night with his aircraft, and by the next morning had succeeded in curing the trouble. He took off, ran into a snowstorm, and was again forced down for short while, eventually reaching the aerodrome at Les Hameau at 0800 the following morning. Ball's tenacity impressed Marsh and his stay in France was assured.

Ball's first fight with an enemy aircraft came on 8 March 1916 during an artillery spotting sortie between Vimy and Givenchy. His uncannily accurate eyesight in the air had been remarked upon in the Squadron, and that day he spotted a German aircraft at 5000ft and some miles away. He dived to the attack and his observer, Lieutenant S. A. Villiers, was soon able to open fire. He prosecuted his attack until a drum and a half of ammunition had been fired before disengaging due to the proximity of another German aircraft.

Although Ball carried out his reconnaissance role dutifully, he felt that shooting down other aircraft was a more important objective and would regularly seek permission to make longer flights in the hope of finding enemy aircraft. He was not particularly happy about the BE2c, which had not been designed as a fighter. He continually asked Major Marsh for permission to fly the squadron's Bristol Bullet single seat Scout. His single-seat exploits were short-lived as another XIII Squadron pilot wrote it off! A replacement arrived, but when Ball flew the new aircraft over enemy lines and test-fired his guns he found that they were not synchronized and he almost severed his propeller!

Ball was eventually promoted to captain, and gained a VC, DSO and 2 bars, MC, CC, L de H, and Russian Order of St George, being credited with 44 kills. He was last seen on the evening of 7 May 1917 diving into dense cloud in combat with a German single-seat fighter near Lens, exactly one year after leaving XIII Squadron.