Sydney Sippe
Sydney Sippe | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | 24 April 1889 |
| Died | 17 November 1968 (aged 79) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | Mabel D'Arcy |
| Awards | Legion of Honour, Distinguished Service Order, Croix de Guerre, Officer of the Order of the British Empire, Chevalier of the Order of Leopold (Belgium) |
| Aviation career | |
| Full name | Sydney Vincent Sippe |
| Famous flights | 1914 raid on Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshaven |
| Air force | Royal Naval Air Service |
| Rank | Squadron Commander |
Major Sydney Vincent Sippe DSO, OBE, FRAeS (pronounced SIP-ee) (24 April 1889 – 17 November 1968) was a British pioneer aviator. He designed, built and tested early aeroplanes, and was a distinguished pilot in World War I, flying many missions including some of the first ever bombing raids.
He won honours from several countries, particularly for his part in the 1914 bombing of a German Zeppelin factory. He may have been the first British pilot to take off from (or fly over?) the sea, and may also have designed and built the first aircraft made of steel tubing.
Early life
Sippe's parents were Charles Henry Sippe (1842–1924), a shipping export agent (whose firm C H Sippe & Sons Ltd still exists as at 2011), and Elizabeth Jane Thornton (born 1846). They had moved to Britain from Australia, both families having originally emigrated from Liverpool.
The youngest of nine children, Sydney Sippe was born in 1889 in Brixton, London, where his parents lived at 17 Lambert Road.[1] He was educated at Dulwich College from May 1903 to December 1905.[2]
Name and title
Sippe was named after Sydney, Australia, where both his parents had lived.[3] His first name is often misspelled 'Sidney', even on official documents, and his surname sometimes written with an accent, 'Sippé'. However the form Sydney Vincent Sippe is used both on his birth and death certificates. His surname may be of Germanic (rather than French) origin, from Sippe meaning 'clan'.
After World War I Sippe continued to use the title Major – and was known as 'the Major' – even though the RAF rank was renamed Squadron Leader in 1919. He also went by the nickname Pi (pronounced like 'pie'), and, to his family, Pipi.
Aviation pioneer
After leaving school, in February 1906 Sippe became an engineering apprentice with British Westinghouse in Manchester.[2]
Between late 1909 and 1910, Sippe (aged 20), his brother Arthur and their friend James Jensen (or Jenson) designed and built a monoplane, which may have been the first to be made of steel tubing.[4] However its attempted maiden flight in Addington, Croydon, failed due to insufficient power:[5]
Sydney Sippe was thrown forward with some violence and his nose came into collision with one of the steel tubes. The nose came off worst, and a piece of flesh was removed from the inside of his thigh. That, with sundry bruises, was all. A well-meaning friend rushed up with a flask of whisky, which he thrust into the pilot's mouth, and so Sydney Sippe arrived home to his mother with a broken nose, a bleeding thigh—and slightly intoxicated.[6]
He joined A.V. Roe (later Avro) where he learned to fly at the Brooklands airfield, passing his test in a biplane in January 1912 "in a way which showed that he had thoroughly mastered the art".[7] He immediately became a test and demonstration pilot. Three weeks after his flying test he survived a plane crash near Finchampstead caused by a frozen carburettor; the plane was wrecked, but Sippe escaped unhurt.[8]
In the spring of 1912 he test-flew the Avro hydro-aeroplane at Barrow-in-Furness,[7] in the course of which he may have been the first British pilot to take off from the sea (or perhaps even fly over the sea).[9]
Shortly afterwards he tested a monoplane for Hanriot in France. Engine failure forced him to land in a cornfield; the plane ended up upside down, but undamaged - so he flew it again in the first Aerial Derby,[10] a race round London, competing against various European pilots including Thomas Sopwith. However, further engine trouble forced Sippe out of the race.[11]
Later that year he supervised the construction of planes in Milan for the Bristol Aeroplane Company, and took part in an Italian long-distance flying competition.[7] On his return to the UK he took up flight testing and instruction at Salisbury.
War service
In 1914, at the outbreak of World War I, Sippe immediately joined up and was made a Flight Lieutenant in the Royal Navy Air Service.[2] He took part in the Entente's very first bombing raids on Düsseldorf and Cologne; in the latter, after failing to find his designated target he instead bombed Cologne railway station, causing serious damage.
Friedrichshafen raid
This was followed by a celebrated attack on the Zeppelin sheds and factories at Friedrichshafen, Germany on 21 November 1914, which may have been the first ever long-distance bombing mission.[12] Sippe and two other pilots flew 125 miles each way from Belfort, France, over mountainous terrain and in difficult weather - a risky flight near the limit of their fuel tanks' capacity. The distance was increased by the need to avoid flying over neutral Switzerland.
Reaching the target area, Sippe crossed Lake Constance in mist while under heavy fire, descending to just ten feet above the water so as to use the mist as cover. Despite their planes being hit, the three pilots succeeded in bombing their targets, seriously damaging the hangars and gas works[13] and at least one Zeppelin. The workers, who were standing outside, fled in panic - the raid having been planned for lunchtime, when workers would not be in the buildings, in order to minimize casualties. One pilot was shot down and captured, but Sippe and the third pilot returned safely.[14][15][16]
The successful raid was announced by Winston Churchill, then First Lord of the Admiralty, who called it "a fine feat of arms".[17] One historian concluded: "The pilots deserve all praise for their admirable navigation... this flight of 250 miles, into gunfire, across enemy country, in the frail little Avro with its humble horse-power, can compare as an achievement with the best of them".[18]
The bullet-damaged tail of Sippe's (or possibly one of the other pilots') plane was later mounted on a plaque as a souvenir.[19]
Honours
Sippe and the other returning pilot received the French Legion of Honour (rarely given to foreigners) immediately after the Friedrichshafen raid, at the request of General Joffre himself.[15] Sippe was awarded the Distinguished Service Order in the 1915 New Year Honours, and the OBE in the 1919 New Year's Honours. He was also awarded the Croix de Guerre,[20] and made a Chevalier of the Belgian Order of Leopold.
Sippe was mentioned in despatches six times during the war.[2]
Cigarette cards
Sippe was featured on at least two cigarette cards: one, with his photograph and short biography, no. 26 in a series of 50 Naval Portraits, was issued by Imperial Tobacco Canada in c.1917. Another, no. 2 in a series of 50 War Incidents issued by Wills's, recounted the Friedrichshafen raid.
Family
In December 1915, Sippe married Mabel Frances D'Arcy;[21] they had two children, Angela and James, and four grandchildren.
Post-war life
After World War I, Sippe resumed work in the engineering and aircraft industries: he was a sales manager for ten years with Short Brothers (now a large aerospace business), then with Crossley Motors, followed by Fairey Aviation Company. He then founded his own business, Field and Forest Supplies, selling products of his own invention.[2]
In 1954 Sippe was featured in a magazine advert for the then-new Avro Vulcan bomber. Headed 'Long Range Bombing... Mission One... November 1914', it recounted his role in the Friedrichshafen raid (made in an Avro 504), describing it as the first ever planned long-distance bombing mission.[12]
At the age of 73 he became a consultant to the 20th Century Joinery and Packing Co Ltd, a company which specialized in packing aircraft parts for transport.
He died of cancer in 1968 in Leatherhead Hospital.[22] Despite Sippe's distinguished war record, it seems no obituary appeared in any major newspapers, as they were not aware of his death at the time.
References
- ^ Sippe's birth certificate
- ^ a b c d e Obituary in Dulwich College magazine, ?1969
- ^ "Hero of the air", Sydney Morning Herald, 4 January 1915
- ^ Grace's Guide: Sydney V. Sippe
- ^ Nick Forder, curator at the Museum of Science and Industry: The Friedrichshaven Raid
- ^ Letters page, Flight Magazine, 16 September 1960, quoting Croydon Advertiser, date unknown (c. August 1960?).
- ^ a b c Flight Magazine, 30 August 1913.
- ^ Aeroplane Magazine, 1 February 1912, p. 110.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, p. 10, 30 November 1914.
- ^ ?Aeroplane Magazine, 6 June 1912
- ^ "Sidelights from the Past", Aeroplane Magazine, 17 July 1942.
- ^ a b Advertisement for Avro Vulcan, Sydney Morning Herald, 29 September 1954 [1](probably also appeared in other publications).
- ^ Hilary St. George Saunders: Per Ardua: The Rise of British Airpower 1911-1939, Oxford University Press, 1944.
- ^ Flight Magazine, 27 November 1914
- ^ a b Flight Magazine, 4 December 1914
- ^ "The raid on Lake Constance", Cairns Post, 28 November 1914
- ^ Kenneth Poolman: Zeppelins over England, publ. Evans Brothers, 1960.
- ^ The War in the Air, Vol. 1, Walter Raleigh, Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1922.[2]
- ^ Cross and Cockade International, vol. 21, no.3, 1990.
- ^ Sydney Morning Herald, 23 June 1917
- ^ Flight Magazine, 17 December 1915.
- ^ Sippe's death certificate.