by Griff Hosker
I handed the newspaper back. “But why an article about me sir? Gordy and Ted did the same.”
“Propaganda dear boy, propaganda. This was written after you were vindicated in the court martial. It was seen as a way of attracting volunteers for the RFC. You are right, they could have chosen anyone but I think your story of having served in another unit was the one they were looking for. The General told me that there are hundreds of men in the infantry and the cavalry volunteering for the RFC. If they have fought over here, like you, then they will be better airmen. So you see, you are making a difference and we will be getting volunteers. A new batch is due any day now. By the time your aeroplane is repaired we will have another gunner for you.”
Chapter 11
I went in to see Sergeant Sharp as soon as he was awake. There was a tent of sheets over his damaged leg and he looked pale. He smiled at me when I approached. “I am to be sent home then sir.”
“Yes Charlie. You enjoy the rest.”
“How is the bus sir?”
“Don’t you worry about the aeroplane. She’ll be fine. That cardboard looks to have saved both of us.”
“Yes sir. The doc reckons another inch either way and I would have lost my leg.”
“Is there anything you need?”
“No sir, the other sergeants have sorted my tent out and packed for me. When the new batch of replacements arrive, those invalided out will be sent back in their lorries.”
It never ceased to amaze me how caring soldiers could be for their comrades. They might argue, fall out, even fight but when the chips were down they rallied to help each other.
“Well if there is anything you need then just let me know.”
“I will do, sir, and I will try to get well as soon as I can. Tell the new chap he is just keeping my seat warm for me.”
“Of course!”
I felt a little better when I went to the mess for breakfast. Charlie would not lose his leg and it looked as though he had not lost his nerve either. Captain Marshall had shown the newspaper article to Gordy and Ted. They could not resist mocking me. As I sat down Gordy nudged Ted. “We are honoured today Ted. We have a real hero with us.” He knuckled his forehead and Ted chuckled.
“You can cut that out for a start.”
They jumped to their feet grinning and gave me a backwards left hand salute. “Sir, yes sir!”
The young lieutenants laughed and I shook my head. “I should have known you pair would take the Mickey. I didn’t write the bloody thing!”
Gordy smiled and said, “We know and we couldn’t resist. It is good for the RFC.”
“I told the colonel that the story could have been about any of us.”
“No, it couldn’t. You served in the first battles. Some people at home think that the RFC is full of people like Major Hamilton-Grant. Your story shows them that anyone can become an officer. It is not like the old days.” Gordy was a thinker. If he stayed in the Corps then he could attain a much higher rank.
“Aye well, the replacements arrive today. Will the major be taking a patrol up?”
Ted gestured with his thumb. “He came to see us last night. We are going up a little later than yesterday. He wants the Germans to think that they frightened us off.”
Gordy pointed to Johnny and Freddy who were sat by themselves. “Your flight is stood down. I think he wants you to go out tomorrow but I daresay he will tell you himself. It will probably be for the best. Young Carrick was shaken up and you only have one gunner between the three of you.”
“Well if you are up today, watch out for that turn.”
“I’ll tell you something Bill that takes some nerve to almost stall the aeroplane like that.”
I too, had thought that. We would all have to become better pilots to counter the German threat. We had ruled the skies and dominated the Germans now we feared them and tiptoed around the clouds.
Sergeant Sharp got a good send off. The sergeants who were on patrol had given those who remained a number of gifts for him. There were cigarettes and tins of sweets as well as letters for him to post in England. It was one way to beat the censor. No one would give any information away but I knew that the men did not like the idea of an officer reading their affectionate letters to loved ones. I suspect they also did not like the idea of their English being judged. The replacements looked at the stretchers as they were loaded and I think they wondered what they were getting into. After the lorries had departed I sought out Lieutenant Holt and Lieutenant Carrick as well as Holt’s sergeant.
“We are getting our replacements soon.” I saw the nervous look on Freddy’s face. It would take a lot of effort to get him through this trauma. Having nearly lost Sharp I felt that I understood him a little better. “We will have no time to train them for Major Leach has told me that we will be patrolling tomorrow.”
“Tomorrow sir! Isn’t that too soon?” I saw fear on Freddy’s face. He had fallen from his mount twice but he had to get up a third time or he would never get back up at all.
“It might be, Lieutenant Carrick, but the war does not stop because we both lose a gunner. We have to get on with it and do our duty.”
“Sir.” I saw his backbone stiffen. He might make it.
“Sergeant White, you will need to tell the new gunners what to expect. Give them the truth. Show them my aeroplane and Lieutenant Carrick’s they might as well see the dangers and then the three of you can repair the two buses. You will have the rest of the mechanics to help you so use them. The major work on the engines has been done. Now it is down to fabric and wood.”
“Yes sir.”
“Oh and have a look at Sharp’s cardboard. It looked to have helped a little although he did find it a little cramped.”
“I know sir. He told me about it. It sounded daft but I have seen the front of the aeroplane and something must have saved him.”
“Well you cut along to the aeroplanes and we will bring the replacements when they arrive.” I turned to the other two. “The colonel knows we have had a rough time lately. All we have to do tomorrow is to discourage the Aviatiks. At the first sign of the monoplanes we run. Until we have worked out how to stop the Fokker we are wary. No heroics. And remember that turn we saw yesterday. It has been created to attack a Gunbus. It brings the monoplane into the perfect position below and behind us.”
My new gunner was Airman Hutton. He was a tubby little chap with a wide grin. He saluted cheerfully and said, “Airman Hutton. Me mates call me Lumpy!”
I was intrigued. “Why Lumpy?”
He shrugged, “I have no idea sir but the name has stuck!”
He was a likeable chap, “Welcome Airman. This will only be a temporary posting until Sergeant Sharp recovers from his wounds.”
“No problem sir. I just want to do my bit and kick the Hun, sir.” He smiled, “I read about you sir, in the Daily Herald. Can I say it is an honour to serve with you? When I write to me mam and dad they will be over the moon.”
I detected his accent when he said mam and dad. “Are you from the north east then, Airman Hutton?”
“Aye sir, a little pit village close to Durham. I was in the Engineers, tunnelling but after I read about you I fancied a bit of fresh air.”
It is strange the way that fate works. My little brother was in the engineers, tunnelling and this son of a miner was in the RFC. “So you have never flown before?”
“No sir. We were given a course in the Lewis, how to start the engine and so forth but they had no time to get us up.” He grinned, “It looks like good fun, sir!”
Lieutenant Carrick had an older gunner. He snapped to attention smartly, “Airman Jack Laithwaite, sir.”
He looked to have served before. “And did you join the Corps directly or were you in the services before?”
“Like you, sir, I was in the cavalry.” He shook his head, “I didn’t like to see the poor animals slaughtered like they were and I transferred.”
“I know what you mean. What regiment?�
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“The 17th Hussars.”
I smiled, “A proper regiment then not like the Yeomanry in which I served.”
He had a wise old head on his shoulders. “It didn’t seem to make a difference to the machine guns whether you wore a fancy uniform or not, sir.”
“Quite right. Well let me take you to the aeroplanes and we can set you to work. We fly in the morning so I am afraid you will not have much time to adjust to life at the front.”
Lumpy grinned, “Suits me sir. The sooner we are in the air the sooner I can start shooting down these Germans. You know sir, they shelled Hartlepool and killed women and bairns! It’s not right!”
His indignation made me smile. “Right then, Lieutenant Holt, take them to your sergeant eh?”
Left alone with Freddy I said, “I think you have dropped lucky Freddy. Here is a man who has served. I think you will make a good team.”
“I hope so sir, I hope so.” He looked marginally less fearful than he had been. I prayed for an easy patrol.
I spent the next hour with Captain Marshall going over the maps. The Captain had been adding information from our reports and we had a detailed map now of the front. We also had an idea of where the German airfields were. That was important as it gave us the likely direction from which they would come. The Aviatik had a longer range and their airfields were further away. The closeness of the Fokker fields meant they could reach us quickly.
After we had finished we both lit our pipes. “You know, Randolph I think we ought to have a go at bombing their airfield. We know it hurt us when they destroyed those aeroplanes on the ground.”
“Isn’t that a risk? Suppose they are waiting?”
“I thought about that. If we attacked after they had patrolled, when they were landing then they would not be fuelled and armed. We could catch them with their trousers down, so to speak.”
“Ah so you would use six aeroplanes to keep them occupied and have six in reserve?”
“That’s about it. If half the squadron took off forty five minutes or so after the first half then the combat should be over. They wouldn’t have to engage closely just get them to use up their fuel and let them chase our lads back here. We would follow and bomb the field just after they had landed.”
He smiled, “From the word ‘we’ I assume that you would lead?”
I grinned back, “My idea.”
“Well I think it is a good one. I will mention to the Colonel and the Major. It would be good to take the initiative. I hate this defensive posture. It does morale no good at all. Speaking of morale, how is Lieutenant Carrick?”
“Tougher than he looks sir. Yesterday was a bad time for him but I think the new gunner will do him the world of good. Just in case I have Johnny keeping an eye on him. He is turning into a good pilot.”
“And that reflects well on you, Bill. You have trained them well.”
“I just copied Lord Burscough’s methods, they seemed to work.”
“It is Colonel Burscough now. He has two squadrons under him.”
“So he has stopped flying?”
“You know the man; do you think he could sit behind a desk? No, he flies but he has a new Nieuport. A nippy little thing by all accounts.”
I was pleased that he had done well for himself. He had been the direct opposite in bearing and character to Major Hamilton-Grant. If every aristocrat was like Major St.John Hamilton-Grant then I think I would become a Socialist!
We watched, at noon, as the squadron limped in. I counted and was relieved to see that there were nine aeroplanes. None had been lost although a couple were trailing smoke and they all had damage to them. I saw the replacements look up from their work as the aeroplanes bumped along the field. Doc Brennan and his orderlies ran from their tent ready to deal with any casualties.
As was to be expected it was the gunners who had been hit. One of the new pilots had lost his gunner while Ted and two others had wounded gunners. I strode to speak with Major Leach. “No losses then sir.”
“No, Bill, but they got away Scot free. The Fokkers were above the Aviatiks when we reached them. The biplanes headed east and the Fokkers attacked us.” He smiled, “We tried that circle that you and the others came up with. It seemed to work. We took the casualties before we made the circle.”
Gordy joined us. He lit a cigarette. “Aye me and Ted have named it the Gay Gordons!”
Archie nodded seriously, “A fine Scottish dance; that’ll do for me.” He turned to me, “Tomorrow, Bill, it’ll be just your flight. I want you to get there early and see if you can frighten them away. Don’t engage the Fokkers.”
“You want them to think that the rest of the squadron is waiting to pounce like we did the other day.”
“Aye, it’s not just the Germans who can be sneaky. Of course, it might not work but we canna go on losing aeroplanes at the rate we are. This autumn has been a disaster for the Royal Flying Corps. Apart from Colonel Burscough and us the other squadrons have been torn apart.”
I nodded and walked over to my aeroplane. I needed to speak with the gunners. They would have a difficult job and for two of them it would all be new. It would be, quite literally, a baptism of fire.
We left before dawn. I had impressed upon the two pilots that we were not to risk fighting the Fokkers. If we could draw them on to our guns then so much the better but our aim was to drive the spotters away. We flew low and at the slowest speed we could. By dawn we were approaching the British lines. We knew from our flights over our lines that they stood to for an hour before dawn in case of an enemy attack. They would now be having their first brew of the day.
I was leading. I had spent some time explaining to Hutton how the speaking tube functioned. He seemed quite amused by it and kept chuckling, “Well I never. Who would have thought?” He seemed an unflappable and easily amused airman. However he did have good eyes and he spotted the Aviatiks, there were two of them. “Over there sir, about a mile away. The two aeroplanes were silhouetted against the dawn whilst we, coming from the west and low down were almost invisible.
“Arm your weapon!” I cocked my Lewis and, as I began to climb, glanced over my shoulder to see that the other two were following me.
The German spotters came on steadily, blissfully unaware of the Hun-like trap we had set.
“Wait until I give the order before you fire.”
“Righto sir. Will do!”
As we climbed I peered up into the sky. I saw the Fokkers. They were about five hundred feet above the two spotters. We might just be able to drive the two Aviatiks away. Because we had no moving propeller at the front to attract attention we were hard to see. However, when we were two hundred feet away, they saw us and they panicked. The nearest pilot jerked his stick to climb over us.
“Fire!” As Hutton fired so did I and the bullets converged below the cockpit. We must have killed the pilot instantly for the nose dipped and it spiralled down to crash in no-man’s land. With almost a full tank of fuel it was an inferno and the observer would have known nothing about it.
As I banked west I heard the guns of the other two aeroplanes open up. Lumpy leaned back to watch and he shouted. They have him sir! He’s having to land.” Then, in almost the next breath he shouted, “Those one winged aeroplanes you warned us about. They are diving!”
I dared not risk him standing. We had Lieutenant Holt in the rear of the line and Sergeant White would have to protect us all. I saw arms waving beneath us and knew that we had crossed the British lines. I heard the unmistakeable fire of the German guns followed by short burst of Holt’s rear facing Lewis. Then the ground beneath erupted as the Tommies took pot shots. We were flying fifty feet from the ground and they must have thought Christmas had come when the Germans came in so low.
“Hutton, have a look behind. Are the other two all right?”
“Yes sir! Go on bonny lads!” There was a scream which nearly punctured my ear drums. “Gotcha, ya bugger!”
“Hutton!”
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nbsp; “Sorry sir. The lads on the ground have brought down one of them Fokker things.”
That was great news. With luck the machinery which enabled it to fire through the propeller could be salvaged and we might have a clue how to replicate it. We taxied to a halt and it seemed the whole squadron was waiting to greet us. The sun had barely risen above the horizon and we were already home. The Major, Captain and Colonel all waited by the headquarters’ tent but the other officers and sergeant crowded around.
Ted pointedly examined my aeroplane for damage. “You didn’t bother going on patrol then?”
I smiled and allowed Johnny Holt the pleasure. “We destroyed the two spotter aeroplanes and then the men in the trenches shot down a Fokker.”
The atmosphere changed in an instant. Everyone knew the importance of salvaging the aeroplane. Gordy grabbed Johnny, “Right sunshine. You come with me. Flight Sergeant Richardson! Get a lorry! We may have a Fokker to salvage!”
Everything seemed to be happening at once but I was aware that we had two new gunners. I waved them towards me. “You two did very well today, didn’t they Lieutenant Carrick?”
The young lieutenant did not look as nervous and diffident as he had a few days ago. “I think they both did very well sir.”
I pointed at the aeroplanes, “And as there was no damage the two of you can get your heads down. We’ll service them this afternoon.”
Airman Laithwaite said, “If it is all the same to you, sir, I would like to practise standing and firing the rear Lewis. I saw what Sergeant White did and it doesn’t look easy. If I can manage it on the ground I won’t be as afraid when I stand and do it in the air.”
“Whatever you choose, airman.”
Lumpy grinned, “I might as well join him. Tell me, sir, it is always as much fun when we go up?”
“You mean is it like that ever time? Yes but we normally bring back more bullet holes.”
Lumpy rubbed his hands together, “I’m right glad I volunteered!”