1918 We will remember them

by Griiff Hosker

  I kept the turn going and, as each Fokker came into my sights, I fired. Wally could not fire at the same time but our oblique attack meant he, too, could fire at each Fokker as we passed.

  I jerked the stick to starboard. To this day I still do not know why but bullets cracked along my port upper wing and the Red Baron screamed by. I took a snap shot. I have no idea if I hit him but I turned my Camel to follow him. If he was in my sights then I was not in his! He twisted and turned as he tried to evade me. He could not out dive me and so he began to climb. The climb on the triplane was tremendous and even Sergeant Lowery’s modifications could not catch him. His Achilles heel kicked in, his fuel ran low, and he began to head east. I started to catch him. I knew that I would have to give up the chase soon but I wanted him finished. Psychologically it would be worth more than a Fokker downed. He was an icon. I fired and hit his tail. He twisted and began to climb. Then he thought better of the waste of fuel and dived a little. As he did I fired again and hit his undercarriage. I was certain that a few more minutes in the air and I would have had him but my fuel gauge screamed that I was running short of fuel. I turned and headed west. A hand came from the side of the cockpit and waved. He was ever the gentleman.

  That was the last time I saw and fought the Red Baron. He died on the twenty first of April shot down by an Australian machine gunner. He was the best pilot I ever fought but our war became much easier the day he died. It seemed fitting that the finest fighter pilot on the Western front was not shot down by a fellow flier but a gunner with a lucky bullet.

  Two of the new pilots did not make it. That was not a surprise but both Ted and Gordy were upset that their new pilots had lasted but one flight. Archie was just delighted that I had had the presence of mind to hide in the clouds. “Well done Bill. We knocked out four of the Circus. I know we lost two pilots but…”

  I looked at Archie. It was too cynical. “I would rather we shot down fewer but that those two lads were still alive.”

  “So would I, laddie, but that isn’t the way of the world. We can replace Harrison and White but the Germans will struggle to replace those four pilots.”

  It is sad that I did not even know that those were their names. The battle drifted to a quiet end. We had no more aerial battles and by the eighth it was all over. We even had our two replacement pilots and Headquarters were cock a hoop about our victory. It did not taste like victory to me.

  We had little respite for, on the ninth, the Germans attacked further north. Seven thousand Portuguese troops were casualties as the Germans punched a hole towards the coast. At one point they were just fifteen miles from the sea. However we were too far away to be involved in the defence of the ports and we were given the task of going on the offensive. Our job was to get over our old stamping ground of Cambrai and cause as much damage as we could to their supply lines. It was back to ground attack.

  I saw the new armourer, Sergeant Raymond White. He was not Percy but he seemed a competent chap. “I need a couple of Mills bombs, sergeant.”

  He raised both eyebrows but his voice was calm, “Mills bombs sir?”

  I sighed, I hated having to explain. Percy would have known why I wanted them and not questioned me. “Yes Sarn’t, we are going to ground attack and I want something to lob over in case I find a defended gun position.”

  “I could fit some bomb racks, sir.”

  “No. It would add weight and affect the flying. I can carry the bombs in my coat.”

  “It isn’t very safe.”

  I stared at him. “I have used Mills Bombs since 1915 and I am still here.”

  “Then you have been lucky, sir.”

  “Look, just get me a couple and that is an order!” I was aware that I had barked at him but he didn’t react. “And I suspect some of the other more senior pilots may want them too.” I smiled, “It is why we are so successful.”

  He sniffed, “Yes sir!”

  I did not react well to change.

  We knew that there was a railway line to the east of Cambrai. We were going to escort ten Airco DH 5 fighter bombers. Although designed as a fighter the strange position of the top wing made it vulnerable to attack from the rear. However it was much faster than the Bristol and had a synchronised Vickers. I think HQ thought we might draw aeroplanes from the area around Messines. We would be bait.

  Cambrai was now well behind the enemy front lines. All those gains of November had been lost and more. A few artillery pieces popped ineffectually at us. When we reached the railway line we let the Airco go in first while we watched for Huns. There were none.

  As we were watching I saw smoke to the east and as soon as the Airco began to machine gun the marshalling yards I led my flight east. It was a train. There were two machine guns at each end and it had ten wagons. The driver had sensibly halted when he had seen the attack and as we approached he put it into reverse. It was a futile gesture as we raced along at over a hundred miles an hour. I took out one Mills bomb. There was little point in wasting bullets on an armoured train. I flew low and then lifted the nose to rise above the train. The machine guns tried to fire at me but I was gone before they could bring their guns to bear. I dropped low when I had passed the train and I dropped my grenade before banking and sweeping around. I saw that the grenade had damaged the track. I flew just feet from the ground and sent my bullets into the two machine gun crews. My flight was raking the train. Suddenly the rear carriage hit the twisted rails and the end wagons slewed off to the side. The engineer tried to brake. I had my second grenade ready and I dropped it into the engine. It must have bounced into the firebox for, as I zoomed away, the whole boiler erupted sending my bus into the air.

  By the time I had recovered and turned the train was a burning shambles of twisted metal. We flew west looking for another target for our guns. We saw nothing worth wasting our bullets on and we headed back to our field. As we came over the German trenches I saw guns behind sandbags. I dropped to fifty feet above the ground and machine gunned it. In my mirror I saw the rest of the flight fire too and when we had resumed our flight the gun and crew had been destroyed. In many ways our action was petty but it would serve to make the Germans look to the area around Cambrai and bolster their defences.

  When we landed there was an air of euphoria. We had managed to do our duty and no one had been hurt. Randolph had been surprised when we had returned to the field that the two bottles of whisky were still there. We opened one to celebrate. Randolph pointed to the map. “That is where the Huns are attacking. The squadrons up there are experiencing what we did.”

  It was not said with any joy. They would be suffering the kind of losses we had suffered. They would be losing young inexperienced pilots and they would be the fodder for the Fokkers.

  Archie smiled as he lit his pipe. I knew that he was happiest when we had no losses. As the oldest man in the squadron he was almost old enough to be the father to some of the young pilots. “Well Randolph what do our lords and masters have planned for us tomorrow?” He frowned as a worry entered his head. “The buggers aren’t sending us back to Cambrai are they? The bloody Germans will be waiting for us.”

  “No sir. It’s the Albert canal. The Airco will drop the bombs on the bridges and any barges and we will deal with anything that comes our way.” He toasted me, “Like Bill’s train.”

  I smiled as I tapped out my pipe. “And I shall be asking the armourer for more Mills Bombs too!”

  “He is right Bill, you would be better off with bomb racks. You could do more damage.”

  I shook my head, “We are a fighter and it would spoil the manoeuvrability of the Camel.”

  “Well far be it for me to argue with an ace but I am having a couple of racks fitted. I’ll do whatever I can to end this war quickly.”

  Eventually half of the squadron chose to have bomb racks. It is like many things it worked at first but none of the pilots who had the bomb racks bothered to have them removed. It proved to be a mistake for they were not as manoeuvrable
but that was in the future. We became a squadron with two roles ground attack pilots and then the others, A and C were the fighters. That evening, after dinner Freddie and Randolph sought me out.

  “You know Bill that A and C have shot down more Germans than the rest of the squadron. If you look at the pilots who flew with you then you are responsible for seventy five percent of all the downed aeroplanes. That is quite a record.”

  “I didn’t know that.”

  Freddie said, hesitantly, “I am thinking of staying in when all this is over sir. What do you think?”

  I remembered my talk with the General. “I wasn’t going to but you never know there may be a role for me.”

  Freddie became quite animated. “That is good news sir. I think it would be a shame if the RAF lost your talents!”

  “Yes but will my talents be of any use in peace time?”

  Randolph began to fill his pipe again. My new mix was proving popular. “I think it is a little premature to think of peace time. I thought that the war wouldn’t last beyond 1916 but since the Russians made peace I can’t see this war ending until the twenties.”

  “That is a depressing thought.”

  “The Germans are less than twenty miles from the sea. If they get to the coast then…”

  I nodded, “Then we shall have to make sure that doesn’t happen.”

  The Albert canal was a useful way to move heavy goods towards the front. Since their gains in the first weeks of the offensive it was even more useful and provided their new gains with a direct supply route.

  We took off before dawn. This was the closest target to Doyle Airfield and we were there as the sun came up. The Airco squadron arrive shortly after we did. While we waited we took the opportunity of shooting up the barges we found. They all sank to the bottom of the canal, effectively blocking it. They could be recovered but when the Airco arrived they bombed the bridges and the locks. The bomb racks had still to be fitted to Archie’s Camels but they were not needed that day,

  We were so close to our home base that we were able to sweep up to Vimy Ridge where the Canadians had lost so many men. It was just south of the new German offensive. I saw that the Germans had a spotter aeroplane up and so, while Archie and the rest of the squadron strafed the artillery I took my flight after the spotter. It was a Halberstadt. The pilot stood no chance in his slow bus and he headed for the ground as soon as we appeared. I let them land and then, as they ran from the aeroplane I dropped a grenade to blow it up. I would not claim it but I was pleased that I did not have to kill a pilot and observer. It didn’t seem sporting.

  We machine gunned the ammunition for the artillery and headed home. Once again we had hurt Fritz and escaped injury. April was beginning well. As we flew back we heard the enormous guns that the Germans were using to shell Paris. The war had suddenly come a lot closer to Britain and to the heart of France.

  Chapter 24

  For once what we were doing was working. A senior staff officer came from Headquarters to brief Archie and Randolph. We just had a patrol over Cambrai that day and we saw little of the enemy. The sector had quietened down. As we landed we saw the staff car heading back to Amiens. Curiosity got the better of us and Ted and I hurried to the office.

  Randolph and Archie were studying a map. “Good, we need you chaps.” Archie pointed the stem of his pipe at the map. “General Haig is rushing every soldier he can muster here, towards Loos and Festubert. It will be a Division cobbled together from British, ANZAC and American forces. Fritz has left his flank exposed. There will be no barrage. Instead they will use us and other squadrons to ground attack. The Airco did a fine job the other day. We also have a couple of squadrons of the D.9. Our job is to keep the Hun off their backs. We leave before dawn so that we can be on station before the bombers and the ground troops go in. Freddie and his flight will be in reserve and will take off an hour after we do so that we always have a flight over the battlefield. We will be in the air all day tomorrow. Randolph will warn the ground crews. I am afraid it will be tea and sandwiches tomorrow.”

  I didn’t mind. If it meant we got the offensive over sooner rather than later then I was happy.

  Bates was ready with a flask as I headed for the bus. “It might be the middle of April sir, but it is still nippy. The soup will come in handy.”

  He was right. As I taxied and I rubbed my knee which always ached in the morning I reflected that his soup might well have been the difference between death and survival when I had crashed. The knee had not got much better nor had it worsened. Sir Michael had been right about the aches but at least I could manage without a stick now. I knew that if I did a lot of walking then I would need it but when I was flying it was unnecessary.

  It was a chilly morning as we headed north. The first part of the German offensive had brought their front line to within five miles of where we were flying. Fortunately they had not moved their squadrons forward yet. Their Fokkers, we had learned, could only stay in the air for an hour and a half. It had saved us thus far. We flew by dead reckoning and spiralled into the air when we reached the rendezvous area. I watched the sky lighten and then redden as dawn broke. I heard the throb of the Airco’s engines as they flew from the west. With an endurance of over four hours they could afford a safer airfield than ours. It would be the bombers who would initiate the attack. Once they had dropped their bombs then the ground troops would go in.

  There were three squadrons of bombers. Two were the D9 and one was the D5. They went in waves. It was light enough to see that the Germans had captured territory and trenches but they had yet to improve the defences. The bombers were far more accurate than artillery. Each successive wave could see what the previous ones had achieved and they sought new targets. Even from our altitude we could see the machine gun companies being shredded by the bombers. When they had completed their work it was the turn of Archie, Gordy and Ted to dive and use their Vickers to keep down the heads of the Germans. Although we were kept aloft watching for Germans I glanced at the ground from time to time and saw the waves of brown uniforms walking purposefully north. Thanks to the bombers and to the Camels there were no machine guns to turn them into mincemeat.

  Archie and the rest of the squadron headed south to refuel and rearm while we kept watch for German aeroplanes. It was hand to hand fighting below us but the allied forces had the advantage that the Germans had suffered an aerial bombardment and were weakened because of it. The whole intent of the attack was to weaken the flanks of the Germans and make them halt their advance. It looked like it was working.

  The Fokkers arrived just fifteen minutes after the departure of Archie. They were the triplane along with a few of the older Fokkers. I waggled my wings and led my six aeroplanes down to attack them. The triplanes climbed to engage us. They would have to leave the party sooner than their comrades. We were stacked and I intended to make one pass over the triplanes and then engage the older buses. I pulled my triggers and banked to port at the same time. My bullets hit the wings and struts of the leading Fokker. Wally behind me was luckier. As I turned I saw that he had hit the pilot and the triplane tumbled to the ground.

  As I fired at the next Fokker I felt bullets hit my fuselage. You learned to ignore them. I hit the tail of the Fokker which banked away, to starboard. I continued my bank and saw, below me, the three older Fokkers as they began to fire at the advancing allied soldiers. We were able to fly more than twenty miles an hour faster than they were and our altitude meant we were even quicker. We reached them before they had expended more than a dozen bullets. As we swooped we each fired in turn. My banking manoeuvre meant that I crossed all three of them. I kept firing knowing that they would have to endure the fire of six Camels.

  When I passed the last, I began to climb. In my mirror I saw that all three had been badly hit. None would reach home. Jack Fall had also been hit. I saw smoke coming from his engine and he was surrounded by triplanes. I led the other four to attack the Fokkers from underneath. As we fired I saw, to
the south, Freddie and his flight as they came on station. The Fokkers stood no chance. Freddie was the hammer and we were the anvil. When three had fallen from the sky the remaining seven fled east pursued by a vengeful Freddie.

  We headed south. I signalled for Wally to lead and I flew next to Jack. His bus coughed and spluttered but it kept going and when we saw the field ahead I knew that he would make it.

  That first day we took off four times. Our numbers became depleted as the day wore on. It was not due to losses from enemy fire but the wear and tear of air time. The umbrella of Camels stayed aloft until dusk and the Germans were pushed back. Their offensive had stalled.

  By the end of April we felt that we had halted the German advance. We were, for the first time in a long time, stood down. Leave was granted, at least for some of the younger men. Gordy was a little resentful but I explained that many of the younger pilots had yet to have a leave. We were left with a skeleton squadron. We would only be needed if the Germans began another attack. Many of the ground crews were also given leave and the rest spent their time finishing the repairs to Doyle Airfield.

  We also received mail. The German Offensive had upset the postal service and I had a whole day’s worth of reading. It was a pleasant May morning and I sat outside my quarters. There was news in all of them but one had the most important piece of news.

  Hyde Park

  April 5th 1918,

  Dearest Husband,

  I hope that you are well. The newspapers are full of the news that the Germans have broken through! As I have not had a telegram and you haven’t turned up injured at the hospital I assume that you are, at least, alive. I hope your knee is not giving you too much pain.

  I have some wonderful news, at least I believe it is wonderful, we are going to have a baby in the autumn. You are to be a father. I know that you will be as happy as I am.