FlightGlobal.com
Home
Premium
Archive
Video
Images
Forum
Atlas
Blogs
Jobs
Shop
RSS
Email Newsletters
You are in:
Home
Aviation History
1918
1918 - 0655.PDF
JUNE 13, 1918. - A FULL DAY. Ill BEING SOME MORE ORDINARY INCIDENTS IN THE ORDINARY LIVES OF r ORDINARY (AND SOME EXTRAORDINARY) PILOTS OF No. X SQUADRON. TO-DAY has been a great day for the squadron. The Major has been away in hospital, so that I have been running the squadron, consequently not definitely tying myself up to fly on any special show. The morning had been " dud," but about mid-day the clouds cleared off, and the weather settled down clear and sunny for the rest of the day. I had arranged to fly down to see the CO. of another squadron, whom I knew, but before I went, I " rushed off " six Camels to meet two artillery machines at 8,000 feet over a given spot, to escort them on a photographing work about four miles east of the lines on the La B Canal. I had engine trouble at No. — squadron, which prevented me getting back home till two-thirty. As I stopped my engine in front of my shed one of my pilots held up eight of his ten fingers, and, while he nodded his head hard, a large grin suffused his face. If one pilot lands, and while he has been up some other pilot has got one or more Huns, it is always a sign to the pilot who is taxying in that so many Huns (according to the number of fingers held up) have been knocked down while he has been up, when he sees a grinning face, a nodding head, and one or more fingers held up to him. In this case I thought someone was having a joke with me in their own quiet way, and it sent me all " naa-poo " when I heard the tail of the fight from W , the leader of the escort. He had met the three photographing machines at the rendezvous, the whole formation steering for the lines directly afterwards. The photography machines crossed at about 8,500, while he led his other five above and behind at about 9,500. W had had a look out for Huns before he crossed the lines, but as far as he could see the sky was clear. The photography machines had just started the work, when about ten Huns hove in sight coming from the east, and above. Three of the Huns dived straight at the photo- graphic machines, followed closely by all six Camels, which were in their turn followed by the remainder of the Hun formation. A general melee ensued between the Camels and the Huns, while the photographic machines were able to finish their work, get their photos, safely back to the lines, which was all important for them, and have a grand view of the fight. As one of their pilots said afterwards, " It was dangerous to be in the air because of falling Huns." W— shot down one Hun out of control, which •was attack- ing a photographic machine, and this Hun was seen to crash. He then got on the tail of another Albatros scout and fired a short burst into it at point-blank range. The Hun and his machine just disintegrated in mid-air in a cloud of white smoke, and an explosion, which everyone could hear above the roar of their engines. Each of the other five pilots shot down a Hun, all of which were crashed, and confirmed either by the anti-aircraft batteries, or the photographic machines. Some of these Huns went down side-slipping from side to side on their backs, others spun to earth, one fell in flames, while one wing came off another. L shot one down which he could not watch crash, so, to ensure that it had, he came down to two hundred feet, " contour chased " round the spot, till he espied the wreckage lying in a heap on the ground, then " contour chased " back over the trenches. These Huns all appeared to be inexperienced pilots with the exception of the red-nosed leader, who, however, was the one shot down and blown up in mid-air by W—. Of those ten or so Huns six were completely destroyed, while two more were shot down out of control, and nearly certain to have crashed. Our total damage was half a dozen bullet holes distributed among our six machines. The average Hun appears not to be keen on fighting, although there are, of course, exceptions, and, in my humble opinion, the Hun scout pilot of this time last year was in a different class to the average of this year. They now seem to aim at quantity not quality. As an instance of my state- ment, I will quote the following two cases. O was a new pilot with no war experience. On his first job he lost his patrol, and for some time cruised up and down the trenches trying to find them. At last he saw six machines about four miles over the lines, which he thought must be his lost patrol. He cruised over into the middle of them quite happily, until he suddenly heard the rat-tat-tat of a machine-gun behind him. He swung round, and at the same moment realised he had run into the middle of six Hun scouts. O was a sensible lad and kept his head. He knew it was hopeless to run for it, so he charged right at the nearest Hun, firing both his guns. The Hun turned over, spun down and was seen to crash by out A.A. batteries. He twisted and turned in the middle of the other five till he got down to 3,000 feet, when he put his machine into a spin, spun right down to 200 feet and " contour chased " back between the trees, followed by the five Huns above him as far as the trenches, the Huns not daring, however, to come down as low as he did, but keeping a respectful 500 feet above him. The other incident was one of many adventures T had before he went " West." T was one of our flight com- manders, a very gallant fellow and a great Hun strafer. Whenever he had no job on in the morning he would take his camel up to about seventeen thousand feet and wait for an unsuspecting Hun to come over our lines on a reconnaissance. On the particular day I am writing about, T was doing his usual game, when he saw six Hun scouts dive on two of our artillery machines our side of the lines in the L salient. Without a moment's hesitation he dived straight into the middle of them. It was hopeless for him to try to sit on the tail of one Hun, as he would at once be leapt on by all the others. He wriggled, twisted, turned, and dodged, firing his guns when he could, and several times being in imminent danger of colliding with Huns. Meanwhile not only was the fight drifting east over the trenches, but another six Huns had joined in. The two artillery machines got safely away, but T was still in the middle of what had now risen to a dozen Huns. There must have been so many that they got in each other's way, and baulked each other for shooting, for it was a miracle T got away. If he had once hesitated for a moment, or tried to run away, he would have been lost. The Huns must have seen they were up against a tough proposition, for T • flew wonderfully at any time, and must have flown super- humanly on this occasion, for gradually he saw fewer and fewer Huns, until suddenly he found he had fought till there were no more Huns in the sky near him. He had no more ammunition, and he was four miles east of the lines. He flew back over the lines, made a priceless landing, and stepped out of his machine very nearly as calmly as when he went up. H.B, The Rent of the Agricultural Hall. THE War Losses Commission heard on June 6th a claim made by the company which owns the Agricultural Hall for ^I9.S89 as a year's compensation, and reserved its decision. Since it was taken over 13 months ago the R.F.C. have occupied the hall, and the company bases its claim on the letting value of the building. A surveyor appearing as a witness for the Government thought the hall as a whole unlettable for factory purposes at the amount claimed, and counsel for the Crown estimated a rent of £4,400 or ^5,450. The Wilbur Wright Lecture. IT is now announced that Sir William Weir, Secretary of'State for the Royal Air Force, will take the chair on the occasion of the Sixth Wilbur Wright Memorial Lecture on June 25th. The meeting place is to be the Central Hall, Westminster, and 'Dr. (W. P. Durand, Chairman of the U.S. National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, has chosen for his subject " Some Outstanding Problems in Aeronautics." Tickets can be obtained from the Aeronautical Society, 7, Albemarle Street, W. i. •-.--... ,,** -;j^r tjj-: .*- From Birmingham to South Africa. ' - ? IN response to a request by Lord Desborough (the president of the Imperial Air Fleet Committee), the Lord Mayor of Birmingham (Alderman Brooks) has undertaken to raise a fund for the purpose of presenting an aeroplane to the Dominion of South Africa for service at the front. Contribu- tions towards the £2,200 should be sent to the Lord Mayor at the Council House, and among the first contributions promised include £105 each from the Birmingham Small Arms Co., Electric Ordnance and Accessories Co., and Wolseley Motor Co.; and £52 10s. from Austin Motor Works. 653
Sign up to
Flight Digital Magazine
Flight Print Magazine
Airline Business Magazine
E-newsletters
RSS
Events
