The transport of the squadrons, which proceeded by way of Southampton, was largely made up from the motor-cars and commercial vans collected at Regent's Park in London during the first few days of the war. The ammunition and bomb lorry of No. 5 Squadron had belonged to the proprietors of a famous sauce: it was a brilliant scarlet, with the legend painted in gold letters on its side—The World's Appetiser. It could be seen from some height in the air, and it helped the pilots of the squadron, during the retreat from Mons, to identify their own transport.
The names of the officers of the Royal Flying Corps who went to France, the great majority of them by air, deserve record. They were the first organized national force to fly to a war overseas. The following is believed to be a complete list up to the eve of Mons, but it is not infallible. Officers and men were changed up to the last minute, so that the headquarters file, having been prepared in advance, is not authoritative. The squadron war diaries are sometimes sketchy. Even when surviving pilots set down what they remember, the whole war lies between them and those early days, and their memory is often fragmentary. The following list is compiled, as correctly as may be, from the diary of Lieutenant B. H. Barrington-Kennett (a careful and accurate document), the war diaries of Squadrons Nos. 2, 3, 4, and 5, which were kept in some detail, the headquarters' records, and the reminiscences of some of the officers who flew across or who travelled with the transport.
HEADQUARTERS
- Brigadier-General Sir David Henderson, K.C.B., D.S.O.; Commander, Royal Flying Corps.
- Lieutenant-Colonel F. H. Sykes, 15th Hussars; General Staff Officer, 1st Grade.
- Major H. R. M. Brooke-Popham, Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry; Deputy Assistant Quartermaster-General.
- Captain W. G. H. Salmond, Royal Artillery; General Staff Officer, 2nd Grade.
- Lieutenant B. H. Barrington-Kennett, Grenadier Guards; Deputy Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General.
Attached.
- Captain R. H. L. Cordner, Royal Army Medical Corps.
- Captain C. G. Buchanan, Indian Army.
- Lieutenant the Hon. M. Baring, Intelligence Corps.
- 2nd Lieutenant O. G. W. G. Lywood, Norfolk Regiment (Special Reserve); for Wireless duties.
NO. 2 SQUADRON
Squadron Commander.
- Major C. J. Burke, Royal Irish Regiment.