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Major Burke was II(AC) Sqn's second Boss; albeit that his predecessor was only in post for 1 week!. He came to the squadron from a regular
soldier's background of having served in the Boer War; being commissioned into the Royal Irish Regiment and
subsequently, due to his interest in aviation, being posted to the Balloon School. It was there
that he was involved in the testing of the BE prototype, a model which due to its frequent crashes became
famous for the number of times an airframe had been repaired and returned to service. Said to be a
better leader of men than a pilot Major Burke took the squadron to Montrose in January 1912 where it remained for
over two years before being sent to France in August 1914. He was promoted 3 months later to command
the 2nd Wing, RFC, handing over the squadron reins to another who had been with the squadron since its formation, Major
Dawes. |
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