MRAF Sir John Slessor action in Sudan

[Bratman91]

On May 23 1916, Lt (later MRAF) John Slessor of 17 Sqn was in action in the Sudan and was wounded in the thigh. He managed to return to base and the offending bullet was recovered. It is mounted on a small wooden base marked with his initials (JCS), place, date and aircraft number. It also bears the initials WFF. Does anyone know what or to whom this refers?

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/pprune.org-vbulletin/2000x1504/2e6c8092_ec0c_4686_9b5e_58341b8f6537_d9fc5ef19331c695ecd46fe 7a9d963b610331922.jpeg

[StopStart]

The Western Frontier Force. Some background reading here: WFF (http://poppycockww1.com/africa/22-may-1916-the-blind-bully/) and here (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senussi_campaign)

[Warmtoast]

Probably the Western Frontier Force (WFF) organised by Sir Reginald Wingate, British commander of the Egyptian Army in 1915 for a British offensive against the Sultanate of Dafur to the west of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

[Whenurhappy]

This might sound a bit macabre, but what is the diameter of the bullet? From what I can see in the photo, it looks quite large - possibly 600/1000" Minie-style round used by rifled muskets and early breachloaders such as the Snider Enfield .577 or similar sized Martini-Enfields (both which were abundance in that region in that time)

If so, it means that Sir John Slessor was hit by a black powder musket round whilst flying a then state of the art aircraft! That would be a rare, possibly unique, event, akin to, say, a Typhoon pilot being taken out by a single SLR round.

[Peter G-W]

Shades of the opening scene to Air America (1990).

[unmanned_droid]

Shades of the opening scene to Air America (1990).


Flight Of The Intruder? Right seater shot with Rifle.

[Warmtoast]

I'd forgotten I'd already done a piece here om PPRuNe way back in 2016 about Slessor's flying in the Sudan, including a contemporary press cutting from The Times about his wounding in Sudan.
It can be read here:
https://www.pprune.org/military-aviation/583026-marshal-raf-sir-john-slessor.html#post9474753

[Bratman91]

This might sound a bit macabre, but what is the diameter of the bullet? From what I can see in the photo, it looks quite large - possibly 600/1000" Minie-style round used by rifled muskets and early breachloaders such as the Snider Enfield .577 or similar sized Martini-Enfields (both which were abundance in that region in that time)

If so, it means that Sir John Slessor was hit by a black powder musket round whilst flying a then state of the art aircraft! That would be a rare, possibly unique, event, akin to, say, a Typhoon pilot being taken out by a single SLR round.

I last saw the bullet about 5 years ago and, from memory, it was around .5 inch diameter. Sir John was bombing a fairly large force of Darfur soldiers and was flying low enough to recognise their leader and blow him and his camel to bits. Actually, it turned out that it wasn’t the leader but Sir John must have been pretty low and I imagine that large numbers of troops were firing at him, so it is not surprising that at least one round hit the aircraft. The bullet was recovered from Sir John’s thigh, which probably indicates a poor propellant like black powder.

[Bratman91]

The Western Frontier Force. Some background reading here: WFF (http://poppycockww1.com/africa/22-may-1916-the-blind-bully/) and here (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senussi_campaign)

Many thanks, that is certainly the answer. Thanks also for the links which my searches had not discovered.

[Bratman91]

Probably the Western Frontier Force (WFF) organised by Sir Reginald Wingate, British commander of the Egyptian Army in 1915 for a British offensive against the Sultanate of Dafur to the west of the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan.

Thank you for the reply - you and others are certainly correct about WFF. My interest in the Darfur event is that, until their recent deaths, the son and daughter-in-law of Sir John were close neighbours and good friends. The bullet was one of a number of artefacts of Sir John. I found your previous (and very informative) post some months ago when researching Sir John’s life and career in order to put together a talk to some aviation history buffs at my local RAFA Branch.

[Whenurhappy]

I last saw the bullet about 5 years ago and, from memory, it was around .5 inch diameter. Sir John was bombing a fairly large force of Darfur soldiers and was flying low enough to recognise their leader and blow him and his camel to bits. Actually, it turned out that it wasn’t the leader but Sir John must have been pretty low and I imagine that large numbers of troops were firing at him, so it is not surprising that at least one round hit the aircraft. The bullet was recovered from Sir John’s thigh, which probably indicates a poor propellant like black powder.
thanks. An interesting story.