Harvey-Kelley's aircraft, August 12, 1914.

[pheonix]

Evening All,

 

I have a small question to ask of those of you who have access to any accurate information on the serial number of the BE 2a flown by Lt. H. Harvey-Kelley of No 2 Squadron on the morning of 12 August 1914. He was with his squadron when it crossed the Channel to France, and was the first to land at Amiens. He was therefore the first British service pilot to land an aircraft outside Britain in wartime. According to T. Funderburk in his The Fighters (1965) the serial number was 347, and I have seen this repeated on many occasions in several places: indeed I have long thought that this was the case.

 

However I acquired a copy of J. M. Bruce's Britain's First Warplanes (1987) and he wrote the following about BE 2a no. 347:

 

"Although in A flight of No 2 Squadron on 31 July [1914], it did not go to France: the next day it was under repair at the R[oyal] A[ircraft] F[actory]. It saw some training service with No 1 Reserve Aeroplane Squadron at Farnborough and by January 1915 was at the C[entral] F[lying] S[chool]."

 

I am certain that the late J. M. Bruce had his facts right because he had access to the records of the RFC, and it is most unlikely that he made a mistake. Which leaves the question: what was the serial number of Harvey-Kelley's BE 2a on 12 August 1914? Does anyone know?

 

Any light that can be shed on this problem would be much appreciated, if only so that we can be certain of the true identity of this historically unique machine.

 

P

 

 

[larumivi1951]

Some more to this story:

Rudolph

[pheonix]

Thanks for that information. All of the sources that I have consulted say that Harvey Kelley was the first to land so 471 would probably have been the first aircraft.