First War Officer's Swagger Stick with Combats in the Air Report, Attributed to Lieutenant Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler, Royal Air Force

Great Britain; Swagger stick with a wooden shaft incorporating multiple sections and a finely polished finish, sterling silver cap bearing the winged Royal Flying Corps insignia, finished with a brass tip, the cap measuring 21.5 mm in diameter, the tip measuring 13.2 mm in diameter, the swagger stick measuring 632 mm in length overall. Accompanied by an original Combats in the Air report, attributed to Lieutenant Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler, 208 Squadron, dated May 18, 1918, the report laminated in plastic on both sides. Extremely fine. Footnote: Herbert Howard Snowden Fowler was born on December 18, 1896. Lieutenant Fowler was an officer with the Aeroplane and Seaplane branch of the Royal Air Force, flying with 208 Squadron and was stationed on the Western Front in May 1918. The squadron was initially established as part of the Royal Naval Air Service on October 25, 1916 at Dunkirk as No. 8 (Naval) Squadron. In its early days, the unit flew Sopwith Pups, 1½ Strutters and Nieuport Scouts. It was later re-equipped with Sopwith Camels and was assigned to artillery spotting. The squadron returned to the United Kingdom briefly before being sent back to France to face the German offensive. While in France, a significant number of Camels belonging to the squadron were destroyed by the Royal Air Force, in order to prevent the Germans capturing them during their advance. When the Royal Air Force was formed on April 1, 1918, the unit was renumbered to No. 208 Squadron RAF. Lieutenant Fowler was on Offensive Patrol on May 18, 1918, flying a Sopwith Clerget Camel (C.8266) and armed with two Vickers Synchronized Guns, at an altitude between 10,000 and 15,000 feet, when he noticed four enemy aircraft diving on some Camels, at 1150 hours, south of Merville (northeast of Caen). He then focused his attack upon a Pfalz Scout. He ended up downing the Pfalz Scout and filed a Combats in the Air report upon his return to base, describing the encounter in his narrative: "Whilst on an Offensive Patrol I noticed 4 E.A. (enemy aircraft) diving on some Camels, who were diving on some more E.A. below them. I picked out a silver coloured Phlaz Scout (Pfalz Scout) just below me and dived, opening fire at about 100 yards, giving him about 200 rounds. I noticed my tracers entering forward part of E.A.'s fuselage and E.A. turned East and went into a nose dive, apparently out of control. At that moment my goggles were blown up so I couldn't see and I had to pull out of dive and fix them. I looked again for E.A. but could not see him." The report was signed by Lieutenant Bulmer, on behalf of Major C, Draper, D.S.C., Commanding 208 Squadron. During the war, the squadron claimed 298 victories. Twenty-five aces had served in the squadron. Notable among them were Anthony Arnold, Charles Dawson Booker, Robert J. O. Compston, Harold Day, Stanley Goble, Edward Grahame Johnstone, William Lancelot Jordan, Robert A. Little, William E. G. Mann, Richard Munday, Guy William Price, George Simpson, Reginald Soar, Ronald Thornley, and James White. After the war ended, 208 Squadron remained with the occupying forces until August 1919, when it again returned to the United Kingdom for disbandment on November 7, 1919 at Netheravon.