{"id":3524,"date":"2018-04-24T15:52:55","date_gmt":"2018-04-24T21:52:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/?page_id=3524"},"modified":"2023-08-09T11:01:49","modified_gmt":"2023-08-09T17:01:49","slug":"harrison-barbour-irwin","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/the-biographies\/harrison-barbour-irwin\/","title":{"rendered":"Harrison Barbour Irwin"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

(Washington, D.C., April 27, 1891 \u2013 Baltimore, June 16, 1964).1<\/a><\/p>\n

Harry Irwin\u2019s father was William Manning Irwin, a graduate of Annapolis and career naval officer.2<\/a>\u00a0His mother, born Elizabeth Barbour, was from a family that had become prominent in Washington, D.C., commercial and social circles.3<\/a>\u00a0Irwin attended Princeton, graduating in 1912. He studied law at Harvard, apparently without taking a degree, and worked for a time in real estate in Brookline, Massachusetts.4<\/a>\u00a0He returned to Washington, D.C., where he was employed by the banking company, Crane Gilpin & Co.5<\/a>\u00a0When Irwin registered for the draft he noted that he had applied to the \u201cAviation Corps,\u201d and at the end of June 1917 he left Washington, D.C., for Ohio to attend ground school.6<\/a>\u00a0 He graduated from the Ohio State University School of Military Aeronautics with the class of September 1, 1917<\/a>.7<\/a><\/p>\n

Along with most of his O.S.U. classmates<\/a>, Irwin chose or was chosen to train in Italy, and he joined the 150 men of the \u201cItalian\u201d or \u201csecond Oxford detachment\u201d who sailed to England on the Carmania<\/i>. They left New York bound for Halifax on September 18, 1917, and set off from Halifax as part of a convoy for the Atlantic crossing on September 21, 1917.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Detail, edited, from a photo of Irwin taken at Oxford by John Chadbourn Rorison. The white band on his R.F.C. cap indicates his cadet status. The full photo is reproduced on p. 34 of Doyle, “War Birds Pictorial.” I have not been able to locate Rorison’s original album and photos. My thanks to the League of WW 1 Aviation Historians for permission to reproduce this.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When the\u00a0Carmania<\/i> docked at Liverpool on October 2, 1917, the detachment learned to their initial consternation that they would not go to Italy, but remain in England and repeat ground school at the Royal Flying Corps\u2019s No. 2 School of Military Aeronautics at Oxford University.\u00a0\u00a0On November 3, 1917, most of the detachment, including Irwin, went to Grantham in Lincolnshire to attend gunnery school at Harrowby Camp. He initially trained with a group that included Joseph Kirkbride Milnor, who kept a\u00a0photo<\/a> of the group.\u00a0\u00a0Fifty of these men departed on November 19, 1917, for flying schools, but Irwin was among the men who remained at Grantham until early December and completed two two-week machine gun courses, the first on the Vickers, the second on the Lewis machine gun.<\/p>\n

On December 3, 1917, the remaining men at Grantham were posted to squadrons for flight training. Irwin, along with Robert Jenkins Griffith, Edward Carter Landon, Robert Thomas Palmer, Pryor Richardson Perkins, Hilary Baker Rex, and Albert Sidney Woolfolk (all of whom, with the exception of Rex, had been in his O.S.U. ground school class), was assigned to No. 50 Squadron, a home defense squadron.8<\/a>\u00a0 \u00a0The squadron\u2019s available aircraft at the turn of the year included the B.E.2e and the A.W. FK.8, both two-seaters used for reconnaissance and bombing, and the B.E.12b, a single-seater night fighter; No. 50 had no dual-control machines that could be used for training when the men arrived.9<\/a>\u00a0 The squadron\u2019s headquarters was at Harrietsham, near Maidstone, in Kent, but its flights were at this time detached to Detling and Bekesbourne.\u00a0 Landon, Palmer, Perkins, and Rex were assigned to B flight at Detling, while Irwin, along with Griffith and Woolfolk, went to C flight at Bekesbourne near Canterbury.9a<\/a> It is evident from Rex\u2019s diary and Palmer\u2019s pilot\u2019s flying log book and one of his letters that they were able to get in some flying at Detling, though they had no formal instruction; it seems likely that the experience of Irwin, Griffith, and Woolfolk at Bekesbourne was similar.<\/p>\n

I have found no information on Irwin\u2019s further training.\u00a0 \u00a0He was among the many men whom Pershing recommended for commissions as \u201cFirst Lieutenants Aviation Reserve non flying\u201d in a cablegram dated April 8, 1918; the cable confirming the appointment is dated May 13, 1918.\u00a0 Irwin was placed on active duty toward the end of the month, presumably having been transferred flying status.10<\/a><\/p>\n

On September 26, 1918, Irwin reported to the U.S. 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron at Maulan, about thirty miles west of Toul. Fellow second Oxford detachment members John Joseph Devery, Jr., Albert Elston Weaver, Paul Vincent Carpenter, and Perley Melbourne Stoughton were already at the 166th<\/sup>; they were followed in October by Fremont Cutler Foss, Linn Daicy Merrill, and Phillips Merrill Payson.11<\/a><\/p>\n

The 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Squadron had gotten off to a confused and confusing start. For a time it was expected to do salvage and repair as an Air Park Squadron, but DH-4s appeared, marking it as a bombardment squadron. Then a new C.O. showed up with the expectation that 166 would be an observation squadron (and the DH-4s promptly went to other squadrons). The men betook themselves to Colombey-les-Belles aerodrome south of Toul around the beginning of September and awaited developments. Towards the middle of the month, it was once again decided that the 166th<\/sup>\u00a0was to be a bombing squadron.12<\/a><\/p>\n

On September 25, 1918, the day before Irwin\u2019s arrival, the squadron had moved about thirty miles west to Maulan aerodrome and joined the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Day Bombardment Group. The Meuse-Argonne offensive, to which squadrons of the 1st<\/sup>\u00a0Day were dedicated, began the next day. The 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero, however, needed time to settle in and do practice sorties before actually taking part in raids and did not participate in a mission until October 18, 1918.<\/p>\n

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Operations order for the 166th’s second mission.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

On October 22, 1918, fourteen teams of pilot and observer were assigned to fly the squadron\u2019s second mission; Irwin, in DH-4 32569, and observer Ralph Owen Waltham made up one of the teams.13<\/a>\u00a0All \u201creturned before reaching objective on account of rain and very dense clouds near the lines.\u201d14<\/a><\/p>\n

There was an eventful mission the next day, October 23, 1918, but Irwin and Waltham (and DH-4 32569) were not among the thirteen participating teams; perhaps some mishap to the plane on the previous day\u2019s flight had left them grounded.15<\/a>\u00a0Irwin does not appear to have flown any further missions for the 166th<\/sup>, although Waltham was assigned to accompany Carpenter on the squadron\u2019s next mission on October 27, 1918, and Foss flew DH-4 32569 on that same mission. Irwin was \u201cdropped from rolls,\u201d i.e., left the squadron, on October 29, 1918.16<\/a><\/p>\n

On November 2, 1918, Irwin joined the U.S. 104th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero, an observation squadron flying Salmson 2 A2s.17<\/a>\u00a0He was thus reassigned from a bomber to an observation squadron and from American to French planes. Particularly because information on Irwin\u2019s training is not available, I cannot assess how difficult these transitions might have been. Irwin was the only member of the second Oxford detachment assigned to the 104th<\/sup> Aero, and one of the few to fly Salmsons.<\/p>\n

The 104th<\/sup>, like the 166th<\/sup>, had a rocky start. Its pilots initially were to have flown DH-4s, but in early August 1918 the decision was made to fly French Salmson 2 A2s instead.18<\/a>\u00a0Arrived at Luxeuil-les-Bains, just forty miles from the Swiss border, on August 8, 1918, the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0reported to the head of V Corps Observation Group and awaited pilots, observers, and planes. The planes, when they trickled in, required a good deal of maintenance, as did the rusty Lewis guns that were supplied for them.19<\/a>\u00a0On September 6, 1918, the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0was ordered to move one hundred miles north-northwest to Souilly. Because of severe weather, only about half the men and planes\u2014despite increasingly peremptory telegraphed orders\u2014were in place at the opening of the St. Mihiel Offensive.20<\/a>\u00a0Nonetheless, working in cooperation with the 99th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero, the other American squadron of V Corps Observation Group, the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0participated in missions on September 12, 1918.21<\/a>\u00a0The remaining men and planes\u2014much the worse for flights and landings in bad weather\u2014arrived at Souilly, and on the 13th<\/sup>\u00a0the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero was able, \u201cwith its own pilots and observers\u201d to perform reconnaissance for V Corps.22<\/a>\u00a0By the end of the day on September 18, 1918, they had flown a total of sixty-one sorties.23<\/a>\u00a0The next day, they began the move, as unobtrusively as possible to avoid alerting the enemy, a few miles west to Foucaucourt-sur-Thabas in preparation for the Meuse-Argonne offensive, in which the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0was active.24<\/a><\/p>\n

Most of the 104th\u2019s pilots and observers were assigned to the squadron in August and September, but Irwin was one of approximately ten who joined at the end of October and the beginning of November 1918.25<\/a>\u00a0The names of four of the late arrivals, not including Irwin, appear in the summary descriptions of the squadron\u2019s activities during the period November 3\u201310, 1918, so it is clear that they were not held back for orientation.26<\/a>\u00a0(In the meantime, around November 4, 1918, the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0moved approximately 10 mile north from Foucaucourt to a field between R\u00e9cicourt and Parois, putting them closer to the front line as the Germans retreated.27<\/a>) I have not been able to locate operations reports for missions flown by the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0which might provide more detail and perhaps document Irwin\u2019s activity.<\/p>\n

Back in Washington, D.C., Irwin\u2019s family had been through a harrowing time. \u201cH. B. Irwin\u201d appeared on a casualty list published in early October 1918; by one account he was noted to have been killed August 20, 1918. Discrepancies left room for hope: Irwin\u2019s mother had received a telegram from him dated September 1, 1918, and the casualty list connected \u201cH. B. Irwin\u201d with the navy. At some point in mid-October the welcome news came that the casualty report had been in error.28<\/a><\/p>\n

Irwin was able to return to the U.S. comparatively early; he left Bordeaux on the S.S.\u00a0Siboney<\/i>\u00a0on December 25, 1918, and arrived at Hoboken on January 3, 1919.29<\/a>\u00a0After the war Irwin went to work for the Cunard shipping line, initially in New York, and then in Baltimore.<\/p>\n

mrsmcq April 24, 2018<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

Notes<\/h3>\n

(For complete bibliographic entries, please consult the list of\u00a0works and web pages cited<\/a>.)<\/p>\n

\n

1<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0For Irwin\u2019s place and date of birth, see Ancestry.com,\u00a0U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, 1917\u20131918<\/i>, record for Harry Barbour Irwin. For his place and date of death, see \u201cMemorials\u201d [1964, January].\u00a0 The photo is a detail from a photo of his ground school class (Squadron 8<\/a>) at Ohio State University.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

2<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See the article on William Manning Irwin in\u00a0Class of \u201971, United States Naval Academy, Annapolis, Md.<\/i>\u00a0(unpaginated).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

3<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See documents available at Ancestry.com.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

4<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0On Irwin at Princeton and in Brookline, see \u201cMemorials\u201d [1964, January].<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

5<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Irwin\u2019s draft registration, cited above.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

6<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See brief notice in \u201cSociety\u201d (The Evening Star<\/i>).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

7<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u201cGround School Graduations [for September 1, 1917].\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

8<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See Foss\u2019s list of \u201cCadets of Italian Detachment Posted Dec 3rd<\/sup>\u201d in Foss, Papers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On the planes used at 50, see Philpott,\u00a0The Birth of the Royal Air Force<\/i>, p. 408.\u00a0 On there being no training planes, see Rex, World War I Diary, entry for December 16, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

9a<\/strong><\/a> Rex, World War I Diary, entry for December 5, 1917.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

10<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0See cablegrams 874-S and 1303-R, and McAndrew, \u201cSpecial Orders No. 147\u201d and \u201cSpecial Orders No. 205.\u201d\u00a0 See here<\/a> for information on the \u201cnon-flying\u201d status.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

11<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hicks, \u201cHistory of Operations of the 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 87 (this page is a roster of officers).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

12<\/strong><\/a> \u00a0\u201cThe Squadron has an Eventful History.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

13<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hicks, \u201cHistory of Operations of the 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 91.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

14<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Rath, \u201cFirst Day Bombardment Group, Account of Operations,\u201d p. 131.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

15<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 132.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

16<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Hicks, \u201cHistory of Operations of the 166th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron,\u201d p. 87.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

17<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Sutton, \u201cThe 104th<\/sup> Aero Squadron (Corps Observation),\u201d p. 21.\u00a0 Gilchrist, in his roster of officers on p. 134 of his The 104th Aero Squadron<\/em>, has Irwin with the 104th from September 21 to December 31, 1918, but the start date is almost certainly an error.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

18<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 4.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

19<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., pp. 4\u20135.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

20<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., pp. 6\u20137.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

21<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

22<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 7.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

23<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 16.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

24<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0On the move, see Sutton, \u201cThe 104th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron (Corps Observation),\u201d p. 10; Sloan,\u00a0Wings of Honor<\/i>, p. 321, provides a different account. On the 104th<\/sup>\u00a0and the Meuse-Argonne offensive, see Sutton, pp. 11 ff.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

25<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Sutton, \u201cThe 104th<\/sup>\u00a0Aero Squadron (Corps Observation),\u201d pp. 20\u201323 (squadron roster).<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

26<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0Ibid<\/i>., p. 39.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

27<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See reference to move in Mortimer M. Lawrence\u2019s letter of November 5, 1918, and commentary, posted at \u201cArchives for: November 2009, 05\u201d at Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affair,\u00a0Eyes of the Army<\/i>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

28<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See \u201cWashingtonian in Casualty List\u201d and \u201cMourned as Dead, is Alive and Well.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\n

29<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0\u00a0See War Department, Office of the Quartermaster General, Army Transport Service,\u00a0Lists of Incoming Passengers, 1917 – 1938<\/i>, Passenger list of military personnel returning to the United States, p. 47.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Washington, D.C., April 27, 1891 \u2013 Baltimore, June 16, 1964).1 Harry Irwin\u2019s father was William Manning Irwin, a graduate of Annapolis and career naval officer.2\u00a0His mother, born Elizabeth Barbour, was from a family that had become prominent in Washington, D.C., commercial and social circles.3\u00a0Irwin attended Princeton, graduating in 1912. He studied law at Harvard, apparently … Continue reading “Harrison Barbour Irwin”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3531,"parent":30,"menu_order":63,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-3524","page","type-page","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3524"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8379,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3524\/revisions\/8379"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/30"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/parr-hooper.cmsmcq.com\/2OD\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}