Page 8 - RAF Magazine

WORLD WAR I 1914-1918

DEFENDING THE

MOTHER COUNTRY

When Britain went to war with Germany on August 4, 1914, the Royal Air
Force had yet to be formed. Instead there was the Royal Flying Corps (RFC),
which consisted of a Military Wing, a Naval Wing and a Central Flying School.
Before the war a strict colour bar was in place across all of the armed forces
which made it hard for anyone who wasn’t of ‘pure European descent’ to
volunteer. However, as the war broke out the colour bar was lifted and black
soldiers from several of the Caribbean colonies (part of the British Empire)
didn’t think twice about coming out in force to help support ‘the mother
country’. In fact, between 15,200 and 15,600 volunteers enlisted into the
British West Indies Regiment (BWIR) to serve in France, Palestine, Egypt and
Italy against the threat of German colonisation.
Black soldiers from African colonies Nigeria, Malawi, Uganda, Gambia,
Ghana (then Gold Coast), Sierra Leone, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia) and Kenya
also fought bravely to defend the borders of their countries which adjoined
German territories. Unfortunately, the numbers of those who served from
these countries is not known due to a lack of proper record-keeping. These
men showed great courage and zeal fuelled by a mixture of patriotism,
seeking adventure, fi nancial support and a creeping fear of a return to the
dark days of slavery if Germany overthrew Britain.

And it wasn’t just in battle that the African and Caribbean colonies came
through – they were generous in providing fi nancial help to assist Britain in
its war efforts, offering goods including rice and sugar and resources such
as cotton and aluminium. There were also large fi nancial contributions and
loans made, and the monetary donations from the black colonies were used
to fund things such as ‘presentation’ aircraft, with Gold Coast (Ghana) notably
funding 16 such machines alone.

As the war raged on and the number of casualties grew, an unknown
number of black servicemen were enlisted into the Royal Flying Corps (RFC),
the Royal Naval Air Service and, from 1 April, 1918, the newly formed Royal
Air Force, which was a merger of the two.

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