BARTON Robert
BARTON Robert
Died 12 January 1916 Age
Buried Laventie Military Cemetery La Gorgue France
Photograph of Robert Barton
BARTON Robert
Service Record
2nd Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps 1st Squadron (before the RAF was formed)
Lived with his father Albert of Red Court. This site was subsequent rebuilt and is now occupied by Keerford View.
The obituary of Robert Barton as taken from the Lancaster Guardian reads:
"Barton Robert Lieutenant Royal Flying Corps killed in action 12 January 1916. Educated at Glenalmond School and in Germany. Employed as a metallurgist in Alabama, USA. Enlisted with the 7th Battalion King's Own Royal Lancaster Regiment and attached to the Royal Flying Corps (RFC). Shot down by Lieutenants Boelcke and Immelman piloting Fokker aircraft. Only son of Mr. and Mrs. Edward Barton of Red Court Carnforth".
Barton was the victim of the Fokker Scourge. In August 1915, the Fokker Eindecker came into service with the German airforce. Fast maneuverable and armed with a belt fed machine gun that could fire straight forward without shooting the propeller off, the Eindecker was arguably the first true fighter plane. Outclassing anything being flown by the British or French, it briefly dominated the skies over the Western Front. Such was its superiority that at one point, the life expectancy of an allied fighter pilot was reduced to 17.5 hours flying time.
Whilst awaiting the development and delivery of new aircraft able to match the Eindecker, the RFC were forced to change its tactics and from January 1916 onwards and reconnaissonce mission would have to be accompanied by three escort planes.
On the morning of 12 January 1916, an RE7 reconnaissonce plane was on escort of Vickers FB 5s took off on a mission. At approximately 8.30 they encountered Boelcke and Immelman and according to German records Boelcke shot down the R.E.7 and Immelmam one of the Vickers. Robert Barton as a member of 1 Squadron was piloting the R.E.7.
There is a final coda to this story as the Lancaster Guardian of 8 July 1916 reports:
"A gold cigarette case which belonged to the late 2LT R.BartonR.F.C. od Carnforth in whose possession it was when he was unfortunately killed in an aeriel combat and fell into the German lines, has been forwarded through the American Ambassador and the War Office to his father Mr. A.E. Barton of Red Court Carnforth. Chivalry in action"
More details can be found on the leaflet from the Carnforth Poppy Trail and the War Memorial in Carnforth.
The RAF museum notes that on 12 January after R. Barton was shot down that Max Immelman and Oswald Boelcke became the first two pilots to receive the highest German ward for bravery, the Pour le Merite. Immelmann was killed on 18 June 1916 after claiming 17 victims. Boelcke died in the October after colliding with another German aircraft.
The data is the editor's interpretation of documents from:
The National Archive
Commonwealth War Graves Commission
Find My Past
For more information click on the following websites
https://www.westernfrontassociation.com/world-war-i-articles/max-immelmann-the-eagle-of-lille/