17 Squadron aircraft🤬🤬🤬

[BillF67]

So I decided I would try for all aircraft types operated by 17/17(F) Squadron since its formation. Currently building a Bristol Bulldog cos it came with the right markings. I was using the Wiki Squadron entry for the list required - 29 in all. So far so good. Getting them all in 1/72 and with correct markings is another matter but I’m getting there, I think.

UNTIL!!! I was looking at RFC Serials lists and more a/c types “appear” to have been allocated to 17 Sqn than on that list. OK, some seem to only have been there a few months but there is a principle here😇. For example, Wiki doesn’t mention Farman Shorthorn (delivered 25/5/15), Bleriot 2 monoplane (4/10/15), Caudron Glll (1/7/15) and so on - from what I can see, a total of 11 extra types. 
I’m not sure if this is a question or a spleen vent but am I misreading “17 Sqn” in these early records or is Wiki way out (I’m well aware of its limitations).

[Graham Boak]

Wiki is a good guide (nowadays) but not the final word on anything.  There may well be qualifications to be made here - aircraft like the Shorthorn and Bleriot 2 (11?) would seem to be totally unsuitable for combat work in late 1915, so are they present on the unit as training aircraft or squadron hacks?  Along the same lines, my studying 607 Sq led to discovering quite a range of such types: Avro 504, Tiger Moth, Tutor, Magister, Master, and lots of Harvards.  have you included such types in your full list of 17 Sq aircraft?

[BillF67]

I have the Avro 504 and the Harvard. Also the Miles Martinet and Airspeed Oxford. I, like you, assumed that some of these really early types - DH1, SE4, Morane-Saulnier Parasol and a few others were simply for training after formation as the Squadron decamped to Egypt in December 1915 with, mainly, BE2c’s. I think, if I can pick up one of these training types as a representative I’ll be happy. I’ve seen a few of the types from a Czech company but they’re resin and I’ve never done resin😱

[Graham Boak]

The SE.4 seems a real oddball in that mix, especially for a unit going to be on Be.2s.

 

Resin kits vary a lot in my experience, and I haven't tried WW1 types.  There used to be a lot of WW1 vacforms, as the lightness of the material seemed appropriate to the subjects.  However, if you've never tried one then give it a go - but pick one likely to be easier, perhaps the Parasol?  Shorthorns, DH1s and Caudron G.IIIs seem a little ambitious for the material, but you can get some very good stuff nowadays, especially from the 3D printed world.

[BillF67]

Thanks, Graham. Further looking into it, There were only 4 SE4a’s built of which 3 went operational. Of these, one, SE4a Serial 5611 was transferred to Farnborough but then to 17Sqn (incorrectly recorded I think)as an SE4. It was then written off SOC from 17Sqn as an SE4a. This, I assume, is the aircraft referred to in several sources as destroyed in a fatal crash.

[pheonix]

If it was a DH 1 that was issued to the squadron it would have been a trainer, but if a DH 1A was used in Egypt it would have been used as an escort for BE 2c's and other reconnaissance machines. As far as I am aware there is no kit of the DH 1A except as a vacuform. If you are interested I made a conversion from an Airfix DH 4 - https://forum.ww1aircraftmodels.com/index.php?topic=3261.0

 

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