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Louis Arbon Strange, (27 July 1891 – 15 November 1966) was an English aviator, who served in both the First and Second World Wars.
He had seen military aircraft and the airship Beta flying over Dorset during the summer manoeuvres of 1912 when serving with the Dorsetshire Yeomanry and determined in May 1913 to become a pilot. He joined the Ewen School of flying at Hendon Aerodrome in July and gained his Royal Aero Club Aviators' Certificate, No. 575, on 5 August. On 8 October 1913 he was commissioned as a second lieutenant (on probation) in the Royal Flying Corps (Special Reserve).
Just after obtaining his licence he won his first cross-country race and then won the Hendon March Meeting race, beating his old instructor into second place. In the latter part of 1913 and early 1914, Strange flew many hours from Hendon, instructing trainee pilots. On 4 April 1914 he appeared in Flight magazine as one of five pilots who had recently joined the "Upside Down Club" by performing a Inside loop.
On 30 July 1914 Strange was formally commissioned for service in the British Army as a second lieutenant in the Dorsetshire Regiment, but remained on attachment to the Royal Flying Corps, in which he was appointed a flying officer the same day. In August 1914 he was despatched to join his first operational unit, No. 5 Squadron RFC, based at Gosport, Hampshire. On 15/16 August – despite severe weather and a damaged longeron – he flew his Farman aircraft via Dover and over the English Channel to Amiens and then to the unit's new base at Maubeuge, France, being the last of the squadron to arrive.
In October 1914 Strange invented a safety strap allowing the observer of his Avro 504 to "stand up and fire all round over top of plane and behind". He also designed and fitted a machine gun mounting to the 504, consisting of a crossbar between the central struts over which was slung a rope, allowing the Lewis to be pulled up into a position from which the observer, seating in the front cockpit, could fire backwards over Strange's head. On 22 November 1914 it was with this arrangement that Strange claimed his first victory; with Lieutenant F. Small as gunner, he attacked an Aviatik two-seater and forced it down from over Armentières to make a bumpy landing in a ploughed field just behind the British lines.
On 25 December 1914 Strange flew to the German-held airfield at Lille and, as a Christmas Day prank, bombed it with footballs. (1992). 9781872031309, Chronicle Communications Ltd. ISBN 9781872031309
Strange next turned his talents to developing a bomb chute with Lieutenant Euan Rabagliati. Attempting to drop 7-pound shrapnel bombs through a steel tube set in the floor of the Avro 504, one bomb jammed in the tube and prompted a forced landing through a field of corn, which luckily ripped the detonator from the jammed bomb.
On 16 February 1915 he was appointed a flight commander with the acting rank of captain, and posted to No. 6 Squadron. On 10 March, the first day of the battle of Neuve Chapelle, Strange carried out one of the first tactical bombing missions of the war. He had modified his B.E.2c to carry four bombs on wing racks which could be released by pulling a cable fitted in the cockpit. He dropped these bombs on Kortrijk railway station, from a height of no more than , causing 75 casualties and closing the station for three days. Subsequently, on 27 March, he was awarded the Military Cross, which he received from the King at Buckingham Palace on 9 December 1915.
While with No. 6 Squadron, Strange was a compatriot of Captain Lanoe Hawker. The squadron became pioneers of many aspects in military aviation at the time, driven largely by the imagination of Strange and the engineering talents of Hawker. Their talents led to various mountings for Lewis machine guns, one of which won Hawker the Victoria Cross, and one that nearly cost Strange his life. Having equipped his Martinsyde S.1 scout with a Lewis gun mounted on the top wing above the cockpit, on 10 May 1915 Strange sought out the enemy to try out the new arrangement and attacked a German Aviatik two-seater. In order to change the empty drum on the Lewis, Strange had to stand up in the cockpit. Immediately the machine flipped on its back, throwing Strange from the cockpit and developing a flat spin downwards. Strange, hanging onto the ammunition drum of the Lewis gun, managed to swing back into the cockpit and kick the stick over to right the aircraft only 500 feet above the ground. Strange later related:
On 21 September 1915 Louis Strange was appointed to form and command No. 23 Squadron RFC at Gosport, Hampshire. As a squadron commander he held the acting-rank of major, to which he was appointed on 5 November, the day he married his wife, Marjorie. Due to appendicitis Strange handed over command in March 1916.
Strange then established No. 1 School of Air Gunnery at Hythe in Kent, with the acting-rank of lieutenant-colonel, and formed No. 2 School of Air Gunnery at Turnberry. On 1 April 1917 he became Assistant Commandant at the Central Flying School, graded as a wing commander and retaining his acting rank. On 26 June 1918 Strange was selected to command the newly formed 80th Wing. During the next five months he was to be awarded both the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Distinguished Service Order.
His wing of , S.E.5s, DH.9s and Bristol Fighters launched massed raids on the enemy airfields, reducing the effectiveness of German aerial response. Between 1 July and 11 November the seven squadrons under Strange's command (including Nos. 88, 92, 103, 2 AFC & 4 AFC) – the latter two of which were from the Australian Flying Corps – destroyed or drove 'down out of control' some 449 German aircraft, as well as 23 balloons.
On 24 September 1918 Louis' younger brother Gilbert John Strange, a 7-victory ace and a captain in No. 40 Squadron, was killed in action. (1990). 9780948817199, Grub Street. ISBN 9780948817199
Strange retired from the service through ill health (sciatica) on 24 February 1921. He bought of farmland at Worth Matravers on the Isle of Purbeck, and worked them over the next seven years, helping to restore his health. Strange operated a dairy farm with his brother Jack Ronald Stuart Strange, but the partnership was dissolved by mutual consent on 15 October 1928 with Jack Strange taking over the business.
By the late 1920s Strange had become a director and chief pilot of Simmonds Aircraft Limited and remained a director when it became the Spartan Aircraft Company. He was also a director of the Whitney Straight Corporation.
Strange flew company aircraft in several competitions, including the Simmonds Spartan G-AAGN in the 1929 King's Cup Air Race, and the Simmonds Spartan G-AAMG in a handicap race from Woodley to Hanworth and back, at the Reading Air Fete in June 1930, coming 2nd with an average speed of .
On 21 June 1940, Squadron Leader Strange was appointed commanding officer of the newly created Central Landing School (CLS) at RAF Ringway near Manchester. This unit was charged with the initiation, development and organisation of the UK's sole parachute training facility, and which later pioneered the parachute training curriculum of the Allied airborne forces. The unit was later redesignated No.1 Parachute Training School RAF (PTS). Using the techniques developed under Strange, the PTS trained over 60,000 Allied personnel and paratroopers at Ringway between 1940 and 1946.
On 5 May 1941, the Merchant Ship Fighter Unit (MSFU) was established at RAF Speke near Liverpool, and Strange was appointed as commanding officer. The MSFU was charged with the development of the CAM ship for the catapult-launching of Hurricanes for convoy defence. A catapult for training volunteer pilots was erected at the airfield. With insufficient available, there was the so-called "Mid-Atlantic gap" within which merchant shipping was out of reach of land-based aircraft on both sides of the Atlantic. As the predatory Focke-Wulf Fw 200 Condors could therefore operate with impunity, fighters launched by catapult from merchant ships were felt to be a potentially effective response. About 50 Hurricane Mk.Is were modified by General Aircraft for catapult launch and 35 merchantmen were configured to carry catapults, with the first Atlantic crossings in April 1941. The Catapult Aircraft Merchantmen (CAM) and their so-called "Hurricats" soon proved their worth: Seven Condors were destroyed through 1941–43, while the deterrent effect was even more important.
In September 1941 he was posted as Commanding Officer, RAF Valley, although illness prevented him from fulfilling the post. From August 1942 until the end of the year he served with Group HQ at Uxbridge. Three months as Commanding Officer at RAF Hawkinge followed before a transfer to No. 12 Group HQ as a supplementary squadron leader.
In December 1943 Strange was posted to No. 46 Group as Wing Commander, Operations. There he assisted in the planning for Operation Overlord, landing in Normandy himself on 15 June. He had six airstrips under his control in the expanding beachhead as this time. He was also responsible for the control and administration of a series of Temporary Staging Posts (TSP) supporting the Allied campaign. During the advance that followed the break-out from Normandy, Strange personally 'liberated' Château Lillois, 24 years after he had been the first to announce the departure of the Germans from there in 1918. In October 1944 Strange served with the HQ, 1st Allied Airborne Army. He was also at SHAEF Forward Headquarters in Reims on 6–7 May 1945 to witness negotiations to the German surrender on all fronts.
Strange eventually retired from the service in June 1945. For his wartime contribution Strange was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire on 1 January 1945, and was awarded the American Bronze Star Medal in early 1946.
In recognition of the high esteem in which he was held in the RAF and his important contribution to military aviation, the Squadron Briefing Room in the new No. 23 Squadron Headquarters building, which was officially opened by the AOC-in-C Strike Command on 2 April 1997, was named "The Strange Room".
His daughter, Susan Strange, was an eminent British scholar in international relations.
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