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I think y'all are gonna like this; it's from Joseph Phelan's HEROES AND AEROPLANES OF THE GREAT WAR 1914-1918:
"On 27 August 1914, the [Naval Air Unit] went to Ostend under Squadron Commander... Charles Rumney Samson... The force remained at Ostend for a few days only, then was ordered to return to England. Because of a haze over the Channel, they landed at Dunkirk instead of flying hime, and were subsequently ordered to remain there and operate against the Zeppelins. They didn't see any Zeppelins, but while they were there, they wrote a fantastic chapter in the history of the Royal Naval Air Service with their forays in armored cars. Using automobiles that had been armored by boiler plate at the Dunkirk shipyards, the pilots, armed with rifles and one Maxim gun, drove out to reconnoitre as far as Cassel Bruges. On some occasions they were escorted by one of their number in an aeroplane who swooped low and fired Very lights to signal the presence of enemy troops. Once "Samson's Aeroplane Party" fought a pitched battle in the streets of Douai, holding off German troops who were occupying the town, providing a distraction which enabled 2,500 French troops to escape an encirclement.
"On 12 September the aeroplane party was put out of action by a squall which smashed the aeroplanes, sending them cartwheeling across the beach where they had been staked down.
"With new aeroplanes and a new name--No. 3 Naval Squadron--Samson took his flying-infantry-armored car-sailors to the Dardanelles to join the Gallipoli expedition in March 1915."
TALLY HO !
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