John A. Barron RN & RNAS
All of John Barron's Great War service in the RNAS was in non rigid Airships, as mentioned above he was a Canadian pioneer in this type of ship. They were a very difficult airship to pilot when in the air & took a considerable amount of skill to handle, especially in rough weather of which Barron would have experienced regularly on anti sub patrols off the coast of the UK.
The C type of airship (which he primarily flew) was designed as an anti sub ship, to search out enemy submarines & either force them under &/or bomb them if they got the chance. The big downside was the surfaced sub could see them coming miles off in good visibility & usually had a good chance of getting under before the crew could release their bomb load onto the sub.
The C type airship is shown below. Photo taken in 1915.
Also shown is a formal portrait of John Barron taken circa 1917. he is wearing the insignia of a Flight Commander RNAS.
As mentioned above he had prior RN service so he still wears his RN cap badge, presumably RN Officers serving in the RNAS had a choice of which cap badge they wore.
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