by Griff Hosker
My flight’s machine guns now beat a deadly tattoo. We brought twelve Lewis guns to the party and the Germans, having lost three aeroplanes and numerical advantage, fled the field. I waved to Gordy and was relieved when he waved back. We formed an umbrella in the skies above their heads as the four damaged aeroplanes limped westward.
When we landed Gordy looked gaunt. “Thanks Bill. We lost Hedges and Griffiths.” Our new pilot had lasted less than a week. “It would have been worse if you had not arrived.”
We trudged up to the adjutant’s office. “What happened?”
“They jumped Griffiths. He was at the southern end of the line. Charlton and Williams went to his aid and they were surrounded. By the time we got there we were just trying to limit the damage. They were too slow to get in the circle.” He shrugged, “Not their fault and those nippy little Germans fighters were inside us. It could have been worse.”
As we entered the office I knew what he meant. Had we not noticed them then they would have all been picked off one by one.
After we had given our reports Randolph said, “I know that you are both upset at losing pilots but it was a small price to pay. We have held the Germans. Today was a victory. We captured Guillemot. That was the object of the exercise.”
“It doesn’t feel that way to me, Randolph.”
“I know Gordy. I know.”
I flashed a cold stare at Randolph. He was cocooned in his office and he did not have to brave the terrors of the front with young pilots barely out of school. We knew what they were going through Randolph did not.
We were lucky in that the next day was so wet and overcast that no flights were possible. It did little for morale, however as the young pilots brooded about their dead comrades. Griffiths was new but Hedges had been here for some time and that disturbed the newcomers who regarded the old ones as invincible. Johnny Charlton had also been wounded which left Gordy with just a flight of three until he recovered.
The weather was not kind to us for the next few days. It enabled Lieutenant Charlton to be returned to limited duty but it was felt unwise to send him over the enemy lines. When the next push started, less than a mile from the village of Guillemot, we were required again. The generals wanted us to spot for the artillery but Archie told them that the cloud cover made that impossible. He was on the telephone for half an hour and when he had finished he slammed the phone down so hard that Senior Flight Sergeant Lowery had to check that it had not been damaged.
“Bloody fools. I told them we can’t spot and so they want us to harass the German artillery. We are flying this afternoon!”
We used Gordy as air cover and Archie flew with them. They had to lurk in the thin cloud just above us. The overcast conditions meant that we were flying lower than we would have liked. We were a big target at low altitude. We saw the Tommies charging towards the little village. They were running from shell hole to shell hole and the German artillery was making life very difficult for them.
I led my flight to find the artillery; that would be our first priority; destroy or harass the gunners and allow the infantry to get into the village. Charlie and Ted would have to deal with the village and the machine guns. As we flew over the village I saw that it was ringed by machine guns. It would be a death trap to the advancing infantry.
We found the German guns a mile or so to the east. They, too, were ringed by machine guns. Lieutenants Giggs and Dunston dived in to drop their bombs. The rest of us flew parallel to them and machine gunned the defending machine guns. Peter had just pulled up when Rupert bought it. He seemed to be hit by a 10cm shell intended for the infantry. It must have struck a bomb on the aeroplane for the whole Gunbus disintegrated. As it fell the fuel tank must have struck some burning material for there was a second explosion which threw all of us into the air.
Peter had guts and he began to descend again to run the gauntlet of the guns and drop his last two bombs. “Hutton, use your grenades when we descend this time.”
There was grim determination in his voice when he said, “Yes sir, it will be a pleasure.” Rupert and his gunner had been a popular pair.
Lieutenant Harrington followed Freddie and Lieutenant Gerard followed me. I was as low as I could without actually landing. I hoped that Gerard was as low. The German machine guns found it hard to depress and Hutton and I cleared the first three posts. When Hutton’s magazine ran out I saw him lob first one and then a second grenade at the artillery emplacements. I emptied my gun at the crew of a Kanone 14 artillery piece. The explosion of the last two bombs and the grenades went off one after another and, as we rose, I saw that half of the batteries had been destroyed and many of the crews of the rest had been killed or wounded.
As we headed back towards Ginchy I saw a British flare soar into the sky. We had a foothold in the village.
Hutton flashed a message to our lines that our infantry had entered the village. There was no signal in reply. “Too far away sir, you’ll have to get closer. It’s these poxy clouds! Sorry.”
“Not your fault.” I left the other flights to continue to machine gun the village and I headed west.
“Here will do sir.”
Hutton began to flash his message. I saw the flash of a mirror in reply and after Hutton had signalled back he said, “They say thank you sir.”
I heard the drone of engines and saw the rest of the squadron heading west. As I glanced at my fuel gauge I saw why.
The day had been one of the worst for some time. We were three pilots down and the atmosphere in the mess was sombre. Bates had tried to jolly me along when I had landed. He knew exactly what I was going through. “You have to convince yourself, sir, that they felt nothing. They will not have pain and they will not grow old. We can remember them as they were. That is how I got through the slaughter in the early part of the war. I liked Lieutenant Giggs. Did you know he was a fine pianist? After the war he hoped to continue his studies.”
I had been amazed that Bates knew that. I didn’t. I knew, too that he was trying to make me feel better but it made me feel worse. Rupert had had a skill and a talent. My only skill seemed to be in shooting down German aeroplanes and I had not done that since the end of August!
We were grounded again by the weather for the next few days. We had been needed for the assault on Flers–Courcelette. But even Wing recongised the dangers of flying in such awful conditions. I would have preferred to be in the air rather than on the ground and brooding. Our replacements had not yet arrived but the thought of training the young men and then blood them too soon depressed all of the senior staff. We did have some interest in the battle however for it was the first time that the British Army used tanks. They were described to us as battleships for the land. They were impervious to machine gun fire and were heavily armoured and armed. Their drawback appeared to be their reliability and their speed. I, for one, thought it a good idea as it would prevent horses being used for the same task.
We managed to get into the air on the 17th September. That was a fateful and fatal day for us. It seemed simple enough when we were briefed. My flight was given the task of spotting for the artillery at Gueudecourt. We were still winning the battle in this sector but it was felt one more assault would tip the balance in our favour.
Ted’s flight was sent to patrol the sector close to Longueval and the other two flights were sent to Bapaume to escort some BE 2 bombers. The brass wanted the communications through the valuable cross roads and supply depot disrupted.
I led my four aeroplanes back to the familiar land around Delville Wood. I felt nervous, which was not like me. The five of us were slightly closer together than was normal. We hoped that by concentrating our fire we could destroy the German defences. The five pilots were, to all intents and purposes, merely delivery men. It was the sergeants who did all the work. All that we had to do was keep the aeroplane in the air and watch out for enemies. We saw none and I breathed a sigh of relief as we headed back to the field.
Ted had already landed and
was waiting for me. “I see you had no problems.”
I shook my head, “And you?”
“Piece of cake. Perhaps it is getting too easy. My flight hasn’t seen a German aeroplane for ages. I hope Gordy and Charlie were as lucky.”
The irregular beat of a damaged Rolls engine told us that it had not been a lucky encounter. When I saw Charlie’s aeroplane limping in almost sideways then I knew there was trouble. The Very flare confirmed it. Ted and I ran to the side of the airfield to help in any way we could. I saw Johnny Holt leading in Lieutenant Dodds but of the other aeroplanes in the flight I saw not a sign.
Charlie bumped his aeroplane down which showed that there was something wrong with both Charlie and his bus. Doc Brennan and his orderlies rushed to the aeroplane which just stood on the main runway. Charlie was wounded and he was helped from the Gunbus. As he was carried away on a stretcher I shouted to the gawking mechanics. “Don’t just stand there! Get this bus off the runway. We have more damaged aeroplanes coming in.”
Johnny and Lieutenant Dodds had just touched down at the end of the runway. I saw three specks appear in the east. It was Gordy’s flight but they had lost a bus too.
When Johnny landed he taxied and parked his bus. When he climbed down Ted and I went to him. He took off his helmet and goggles. He looked distraught. “What a bloody massacre!”
“Calm down, Johnny, and tell us what happened.”
“We had just bombed the crossroads and we had no problems. We let the eight BE 2s leave and then we turned to follow. Suddenly six Huns dropped from the skies. I had never seen them before. They were smaller than the Fokkers but, sir, they had two machine guns firing through the propeller and they must have been twenty miles an hour faster. We didn’t stand a chance. Bamber, Foster and Rogers were all hit in the first pass from behind. Two of them just bloody blew up! Lieutenant Sharp tried your technique and led us up to them but they hit him and did the Immelmann Turn. If Lieutenant Hewitt hadn’t arrived then we would have all been dead meat.”
The three Gunbuses of D Flight were just rolling down the runway. I saw that Gordy had made it. That was something.
“How many did you hit?”
His voice was very quiet when he said, “None. We never hit one of them sir!”
As Gordy climbed from his aeroplane and walked towards us I knew that our days of ruling the skies were over. We had lost four Gunbuses and never even managed to hit one German aeroplane. The world was changing.
Chapter 19
Archie held a meeting of the pilots from A and D flight with Ted and I present. I could see from his face that he was regretting the fact that he had not accompanied them.
Gordy’s hands were still shaking as he lit his cigarette. “I have never seen the like sir. We could always hold our own with Eindecker. The new Fokkers and Halberstadts were just slightly faster but this is… well you have to see it to believe it. It looks like a slimmer, smaller version of the Fokker. It is harder to hit because it is so fast. The two machine guns just tear thought metal. They managed to catch up with the BE 2s. They shot two down and damaged another two. I am not sure we even hit them once.”
Captain Marshall said, “I will ring Wing and see what they have to say.” He shrugged, “They may have heard of this new menace.”
He left us. Gordy asked, “How is Charlie?”
I had checked with Doc Brennan before coming to the meeting. “The bullet went straight through his arm. That is the advantage of the steel jacketed bullets. Luckily it missed the bone otherwise he might have lost the use of it. We will be without him for a couple of weeks.”
Gordy shook his head as he stubbed out his cigarette and reached for a second one. “Then he is lucky because if we go up against these lads then, one by one, they will get us. Mark my words.”
Archie said, “Surely…”
“Sir, we have no protection at the front. How we managed to avoid losing a gunner today I have no idea. And we are so big and slow that they can fly inside us and use the Immelmann. They can drop beneath our rear and then we are dead meat.”
“Then we will have to use the circle.”
“With respect sir that isn’t going to work against these buggers. They are too fast, small and agile. They can twist and turn inside the circle. We are beaten!” I had never heard Gordy so depressed.
Captain Marshall returned, “It seems that Wing has had reports of this new squadron. It is that ace of theirs, Boelke. He and Immelmann were the two top aces until we bagged Immelmann. The Kaiser pulled him out, gave him his choice of the best pilots and they are based thirty miles from here; Jasta 2.”
A deadly and sombre silence descended upon the meeting. They were the best of the German best flying a superior aeroplane. Gordy was correct; we were in for a world of pain.
Archie smiled, “Right boys, go to dinner and have a good drink. I am grounding the whole squadron tomorrow and I will go with Captain Marshall to Wing. Until we know more we don’t go up.”
None of us were very happy about that. It seemed like cowardice. It made sense but it did not sit right. The meal was like a funeral and we drank just to get drunk. It was the worst night I had ever spent with my friends.
We spent the next day ensuring that all of our buses were repaired and then serviced. We knew that we would have to face this new menace and it was unlikely that we would emerge victorious but we had to ensure that we were as good as we could be.
Ironically the four replacement pilots and buses arrived during the afternoon. There was no question that we would be sending them up. If experienced pilots like Charlie and Gordy were finding it hard then the new boys would last minutes. In the mess, that evening, I could see the confusion on their faces. They had heard so much about our squadron and yet there was an atmosphere of doom and gloom.
The four of them sat together. I called Freddie over. “Go and have a word with the new boys for me Freddie. Explain what went on yesterday. They won’t be flying operations until the end of the week.”
Freddy looked relieved. “And that is a good thing sir. We have seen too many young pilots go west far too soon.”
“So Bill, what do we do about these new fighters?”
I turned to Ted, “Why ask me?”
He shrugged, “You are the top pilot and you always have ideas about this sort of thing.” He nodded towards Gordy who was staring into his glass. “We haven’t faced them yet but from what Gordy said we have no chance.”
“That’s not true. People said that about the Eindeckers.” I grabbed a handful of cutlery. I laid them out so that they progressively rose into the air. “From what Gordy said they were very hard and hard to see.” Gordy heard his name and turned to look at what I was doing. “They dive down at a steep angle and go for the gunner and the pilot. Then they swoop underneath to rake the stern.” I demonstrated with a fork.
Gordy gave an ironic laugh, “And how do we counter that?”
“Line astern with the last aeroplane in the flight lower than the previous one and so on. That way when they try to swoop down they will have to run the gauntlet of all the gunners firing at them. The lowest aeroplane will have to have their gunner on the rear Lewis.”
Ted nodded, “That might help us to cut our losses but it still doesn’t shoot down the buggers!”
“Don’t be so sure. The Buckingham tracer makes shooting more accurate. The gunners will see how close they are. If these new fighters are diving then they can’t use their guns. Our lads could wait until the last minute to fire.”
Gordy smiled, “Well it is a plan, at least, but I am not confident.”
Ted shook his head, “He is getting worse than me. He hasn’t even told you his good news yet have you Gordy?”
Good news was always welcome. “What good news?”
He visibly brightened. He had forgotten. “You are right Ted. Mary has arranged the wedding. December the 2nd at St. Mary’s church Tottenham. Your young lady, Beatrice will be there.”
“
That is great news and is something to look forward to.”
“Aye, if we survive the next month. I have never prayed for November before but I am now.”
Bates was particularly attentive the next morning. “The chaps were telling me about these new aeroplanes sir and the dreadful losses you suffered.” He shook his head. “You take care, sir.”
“I will but it is not as bad as the trenches. There is always a chance of getting back or even crash landing. I have been damaged and crashed before now and walked away. You always have to have hope. There is no point in giving up.”
“If you say so sir.”
“I will tell you something Bates. I nearly gave up once before when my whole regiment ceased to exist. Almost everyone I knew was killed or wounded. I found hope in the RFC. I found a calling in the air. I can’t believe that I was chosen like this just to die needlessly. Just believe.”
He smiled, “I will sir. You have such a positive life force that I believe you.”
That belief almost evaporated when I attended the briefing. Captain Marshall looked visibly upset. That was not like him. “I have some bad news to impart. Major Brack died yesterday. He and his whole flight were shot down by this new German fighter.” There were audible gasps from the older pilots. Major Brack had been a popular and charismatic leader; more than that he was a good pilot. “We now have a name for this menace. It is an Albatros D111. You may well meet them today.”
Archie stood. “I know it will be difficult for us today. We are depleted in numbers. We can, realistically, only muster three flights today. I will lead the remnants of A Flight with D Flight. Bill you and Ted will patrol with your flights separately.” He went to the map. We have three areas to cover. We will be spotting for the artillery again. I will have this sector over Ginchy. It is the one where the new Jasta is most likely to be.” I saw Gordy wince. I knew that Archie would lead from the front and not put others dangers he should be facing. “Ted, you will cover Delville Wood. Bill, your flight will be to the north east of Delville Wood towards Warlencourt. Your sergeants have your call signs. More than ever gentlemen, we need to watch for the Hun in the sun.”