The Osprey SE5a Aces Book states that D278 "A" was his most common airframe on 74 Sqn where he scored 36 victories in less then 9 weeks. Their profile shows a 2 blade prop, no info on the "A" on the upper wing. I have another reference which states it as D276 "A" but I believe that to be in error.
I also had a quick look at my SE5/5a Squadrons Book from Albatros, no answers there either.
These are for his time as A Flight Commander on 74 Sqn, I don't have any info on his aircraft when he was CO 85 Sqn where he died in combat.
Hope this is of some help.
Cheers,
Lance
Hello All
Just to add to the discussion..... I haven't had chance to check through any back copies of Windsock, but I've just taken Franks and Saunders' 2008 work,
Mannock: The Life and Death of Major Edward Mannock VC, DSO, MC, RAF off the bookshelf. In Chapter Nine, 'Commanding 85 Squadron', pages 130-2 include the following passage
"Once he had settled in, Mannock chose SE5a E1295 with a 200 h.p. Wolsey Viper engine. It had been brought from No. 1 Air Issues Depot (AID) on 20 June 1918 and while it had been worked on by the mechanics to bring it up to 85's standard, it had only been test flown thus far and not operationally. Mannock would fly this machine for the whole of his short time with the Squadron. As far as we can tell, no photograph of this machine has ever been seen so its markings are unknown, other than it no doubt had the white hexagon that identified 85 Squadron, on the fuselage sides aft of the roundel... Horn, who had done so much to hold the Squadron together during Bishop's period and while awaiting Mannock's arrival ..... had taken over Bishop's SE5, No C1904, and flew it for the rest of his time on the Squadron. This machine was declared unfit for further service by late September ..... It had been marked with the letter "Z" painted both beneath the cockpit and on the upper starboard wing. One has to wonder if Mannock used the letter 'Z' on his machine too, and that Horn's C1904 was re-marked with the letter 'A', so as to denote the leader of A Flight ..... Letters after R would go to spare machines (at least one squadron used 'S' for its CO) ..."
In the same text there is a copy of a familiar enough photo captioned as showing a line up of 85 Squadron's SE5s just prior to Mannock's arrival as CO. In the foreground is C1904, with the upper wing 'Z' just visible. The prop is visible but my poor old eyes can't quite tell whether it has four blades.
Best wishes
Nigel
