New Posting and the birth of the RAF

For three ancestors in the Great War, the 1st April 1918 saw a day of change.

On the 1st April 1918 Frederick Charles Bush, my first cousin three times removed was serving in the Royal navy. He had enlisted in 1915 aged 18 and had been serving on a trawler HMT Wallington protecting the approaches to the Humber estuary until July 1917. After a period of training at the shore depot Pembroke II and a short month-long deployment back on board Waveney St. George, Frederick was posted to HMS Latona.

HMS Latona

HMS Latona was an Apollo class second class Cruiser and was one of 21 cruisers of the class.  Considered to be poor sea going ships and in poor sea conditions their fighting capability would be decreased severely with the waist guns not being able to cope with the conditions to be used successfully.  sometime between 1907  HMS Latona along with her sister ships HMS Apollo, HMS Intrepid, HMS Iphigenia, HMS Andromache, HMS Naiad and HMS Thetis were converted to minelayers.  During the initial years of the war Latona operated  from Dover and Sheerness but in 1915 became a depot ship in the Mediterranean.



The 1st April 1918 also saw the birth of the Royal Air Force, with headquarters located in the former Hotel Cecil, by the amalgamation of the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). As part of this new service, both William J Wraight (Grand Uncle) and Maurice Edwin Bush (1st Cousin 3 times removed) were transferred from the RNAS to the newly formed Royal Air Force.

William Wraight had been serving as an Aviation Carpenters Mate, and Maurice Bush as a Air Mechanic, both were transferred to the same roles the newly formed Royal Air Force.

William’s older brother Solomon had recently joined the United States Army

Taking the Oath of Allegiance

Solomon Charles Wraight, my Great Uncle, had travelled to America in August 1915, landing at New York on 15th August after a ten day crossing from Liverpool on board the White Star Liner SS New York. After being processed through Immigration at Ellis Island he moved onto Philadelphia where he found work with Wilkins & Co. as a carpenter and joiner. 

Solomon Charles Wraight (Circa 1910)

On the 6^th May 1917, almost two years after emigrating from England, Solomon became a naturalised citizen of America.

He was living at 150 K 12^th Street Philadelphia and his petition for naturalisation to become an American citizen was heard at the US District Court for the district of Maryland, his two witnesses were Anthony B. Dougherty and Gabriel J. Wilson. His petition was successful and he took the oath of allegiance at the same time.

The Oath of allegiance as it currently stands

"I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform work of national importance under civilian direction when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; so help me God."

Solomon's younger brother Bill had just joined the Royal Navy Air Service and both like their father (also called Solomon) were carpenters and joiners by trade. At that time Bill was stationed at Eastbourne.

Keeping the aircraft flying

On the 21^st March 1917 William “Bill” John Wraight, my Grand Uncle, joined the Royal Navy Air Service aged 18.

He was born on the 24^th February 1899 in Willesden, London one of seven children born to Solomon and Alice Wraight (nee Uden). William’s older brother Solomon Charles Wraight had emigrated from England in 1915 and was now living in Philadelphia USA. His older sister Alice (born 1897) had died in 1911 aged just 14. He had two younger sisters Elsie (born 1903) and Ivy - my Grandmother (born 1904) and two younger brothers Arthur (born 1907) and Frederick (born 1911).

Wraight Family circa 1910 - William is likely to be the taller boy in the photo

1911 the family were living at 14 Eland Road, Lavender Hill, London. Bill’s father Solomon was working as a builder’s joiner / shop foreman.

By 1917 as well as their father, both Bill and his brother Solomon (in America) also worked as a carpenter & joiners.

Bill was 5 foot 9 inches tall, with brown hair, brown eyes and a medium complexion and enlisted with the Royal Navy as an ACM2 rating – An Aviation Carpenter’s Mate 2nd Class Petty Officer and was based initially at Crystal Palace and Chingford until the 28th April when he was transferred to Eastbourne.

No doubt Bill's carpentry skills were put to good use, building, repairing and re-fitting aircraft, which was proving vital to the modern war effort in 1917.

Bill’s Uncle Albert Benjamin Uden who was serving with the 4^th Field Mounted Engineers of the Canadian Army was also a carpenter by trade.