Diary And Letters Of A World War I Fighter Pilot, The

by Christopher Burgess

  DIARY Monday 18th February

  O.P. led by C.O. in morn over to Roulers. No Huns at all. Got room started. Binge in Pop. with Matthews.

  65 Squadron

  19th February 1918

  We are gradually settling down here. Yesterday “C” Flt only did an Off. Pat. – led by the C.O. We went right over to the – - – Road & loafed about over there but there were no Huns at all. I only saw one Hun & we were in Supreme Command of the air. Capt. Symons on early patrol ran across a Hun two-seater at 500 ft. He got beneath his tail & fired about 20 rounds & the Hun did a right-hand Immelman turn & dove slap into the ground & was slain.

  That comic Albatross that landed over here the other day was the latest type of Hun bus, a D.E.5. The pilot said he had come over balloon strafing & had got lost & landed! He subsequently escaped from the P. of W. cage but was recaptured.

  We have a v.bon fireplace in our new ante-room, a kind of brazier in an ingle with seats in the ingle nooks. We have an oil drum stove in our hut & are getting partitions fixed up & are pretty comfy.

  Matthews went home on leave this morning – he & Jack & Balfour & I had dinner in town last night, a v.bon meal – there’s a café called “Skundles”.

  Very cold today, blue sky with a fairly thick mist. We have had a good few crashes landing – the aerodrome is about the size of a postage stamp & about as even as a ploughed field!

  DIARY Tuesday 19th February

  Misty all day. R.P. in morning and O.P. in afternoon. No E.A.

  65 Squadron

  20th February 1918

  Yesterday we went up on patrol but there was a thick haze & we came back. Today the wind has changed to S.W. & there is mist & rain & no flying – bon! I am just getting my new room fixed up & am going down town to buy some things.

  Heard from May today. I don’t know if I will be able to get down to see her but will try.

  I am afraid my letters are very scrappy just now but I am rather in a muddle – they will improve when we settle down!

  DIARY Wednesday 20th February

  Dud and misty all day. Dawn patrol. No E.A. seen at all. Too thick for patrols in afternoon.

  65 Squadron

  21st February 1918

  Sorry not to be able to post this in time today but I have been up on patrol. I did two O.Ps today but there was a howling W. wind & we didn’t go far over – there were very few Huns anyway.

  My hut is practically finished now, we have each got a corner for sleeping in & have left a wee sitting room round the stove in the middle of the hut, this we call the Ante room! I have my bed up against the wall & a couple of shelves 6’ long along the partition, these were made by my riggers, it is awfully cosy & bon!

  After patrol this afternoon I landed at the old ‘drome & had tea with No 1. I was posted as missing here!

  I have an acetylene burner in my room. There is a good gramophone shop in the town; I got some records there yesterday. You know the noise a ginger beer bottle makes when it is opened!!!

  DIARY Thursday 21stFebruary

  Thick mist and rain in afternoon. No flying at all. Down town in afternoon. Got some things – phone records. Got room nicely fixed up.

  65 Squadron

  22nd February 1918

  Yesterday we did 2 Offensive Patrols of 1¾ hrs each. I was pretty tired at the finish! As there was a strong W. wind blowing, the latter O.P. was more P. then O.! Capt. Symons shot down an Albatross yesterday afternoon in company with a Belgian fellow away up North. That makes Symons’ 6th; he ought to be in for the M.C. pretty shortly I think. The Wing O.C., Col. van Rynwel has gone on leave & Cunningham has taken over the Wing pro tem. Capt. Withington, who has just come back from leave, has got the Squadron while the C.O. is away. Jack goes on leave next.

  Today there is a strong S.W. wind with low clouds & rain – ‘dud’ – bon entre! I guess I am going to stay indoors & read most of today as I have a bit of a cold. I have just been looking over my machine so my hands are a bit oily, so please excuse the grubbiness of this letter. The post hasn’t come in yet but I will thank you for the letter I know I will receive.

  A lot of the Scout Squadrons in this Wing are refitting & are in consequence off War Flying pro tem, with the result that we get an awful lot of work to do & are getting a bit fed up with it! Well there is no news at present as we haven’t had much excitement lately.

  DIARY Friday 22nd February

  Two O.P.’s to Roulers on first one. Strong w wind. No E.A. seen anywhere near. Split up and fooled around. O.P. in aft in 3’s. More P. than O. No E.A. seen and no archie near us.

  Read and smoked (beaucoup) in evening. Bed at 11.00.

  65 Squadron

  23rd February 1918

  That Hun that came down near us the other day wasn’t hurt at all as the Albatross landed on its wheels & then just turned over on its back, a very common sight on some aerodromes – (not ours though!).

  I know Hugo Dunkerley had an awful lot of moving lately, three times in one week, I fancy!

  Yesterday was ‘dud’ all day with na poo aviation. Today the clouds are at 4000 [ft]. We started on a patrol but came back. I amused a lot of Tommies on a road just behind the Lines by doing about 6 loops straight off the reel! Well no more news pro tem!

  DIARY Saturday 23rd February

  Dud and no patrols all day. Read and smoked. Dinner in Pop. with Jack.

  65 Squadron

  24th February 1918

  Today is overcast with clouds at 5000 ft. We are doing a Reserve Patrol this afternoon, I think & it is rather a bore as there won’t be any Huns up & you just loaf about & do nothing & get “fed up”!

  This morning I went to Church & H.C. [Holy Communion] in the Squadron – quite a nice service. Then after that “The Major” & I flew up to a Belgian aerodrome near the Coast to see a Frederickshaven Gotha which had been captured. It wasn’t shot down but two of the struts bearing the left engine had split & the pilot got wind up & landed! It is a splendid looking machine – not so big as a Handley-Page. It has three Parabellum M.Gs & can fire more or less under its tail. It carries 4 men, 3 NCOs & 1 officer & it has two engines with pusher props.

  DIARY Sunday 24th February

  Too dud for O.P.’s. Did reserve patrol in afternoon. Went up to Belgian aerodrome to see the Gotha.

  Church in morning. Read in evening.

  No 65. France

  25th February 1918

  I hope you have by this time heard from me at my new place, I only missed writing one day, I think. The post goes out at all sorts of comic hours & you never know which post your letter will catch!

  Today we were down for an O.P. only at 11 a.m. but it has been raining & blowing & so we didn’t go up. It is a very blustery day with a howling N.E. wind & a layer of broken clouds. I fancy it will be fine tomorrow but I don’t mind fighting with an East wind, the stronger the better!

  Jack Gilmour goes on leave tomorrow at 7 a.m. – lucky beggar!

  Yesterday I did a reserve patrol from 3 to 4.30 – very reserve – the clouds were at 5500 [ft] & we didn’t cross the Lines. Three Fokker Triplanes, which have made a re-appearance on this front, attacked a R.E.8, but he got away all right. Then some lovely big mountainous clouds came up & I had a great game going into caverns & canyons in them, then I climbed up thro’ the clouds into the dazzling sunshine – it was perfectly lovely up there, a brilliant blue sky, a gorgeous sun & a billowy white floor stretching as far as the eye could reach!

  DIARY Monday 25th February

  Raining in morning and strong wind. No flying. Down town in morning. Dinner in Pop. with Jack. Kissed Zoe! Bon Euh.

  65 R.F.C. France

  26th February 1918

  Lovely clear morning with a N.W. wind blowing. We were out on an O.P. at 11 a.m. I was leading one of the rear lots of three. No Huns at first, then 9 Albatri came up & followed us around on their side of the Lines. I kept them well in view at first but presently I lost them – the next thing I saw was these
3 Blighters about 500 ft above me! Eaton had fallen out of our 3 with a dud engine & I was left with Brown [sic – 2nd Lieutenant D G Brown?], who is pretty fresh at the game & didn’t know they were Huns even! I was sitting in my bus shivering & with wind up, waiting for old man Fritz to dive – but he didn’t! Then he went East & apparently dived on one of our other lots of 3. I saw the Huns above them & saw them kind of half dive on them but I didn’t realize there was really a scrap on or I should have gone over to join it. However we all came back all right & the Huns faded away. I wasn’t feeling in the mood for a dog fight today. The Huns were yellow fellows with scarlet tails; I kept a jolly good eye on them as I wasn’t being dived on unawares again!

  Jack Gilmour went on leave today. This aerodrome is about 1 mile from the aerodrome to which we went when we first came out, before we went down to the one we shared with No 1. It is coming up “dud” now & promises “dud” for tomorrow! The reason we changed ‘dromes was because the Squadron which was originally here is re-fitting with another type of “bus” which could not be landed on this aerodrome as it is too small, so we just changed places – see?

  DIARY Tuesday 26th February

  Jack went on leave 7.30. Fine day O.P. at 11 a.m. 9 Albs. came and sat above us but did not attack me. Attacked Symons.

  Walked down town with Major Howe after tea. Read and wrote letters in evening.

  65 R.F.C. France

  27th February 1918

  I am writing this afternoon in the “ante room” of our hut in front of a fine warm stove. Today was too dud for O.P. & so we did Reserve patrols instead. I wasn’t on a show so I went out on a roving Commission but saw no Huns. I had rather an amusing time! There was a fairly thick layer of clouds all over but there was one gap in them over our lines, then a sort of bridge of clouds about a mile broad, then a gap over part of Hun land. I climbed through our gap & flew along the bridge of clouds & looked down through the other gap into Hun land to see if I could spot an odd two-seater which wanted shooting down! Being hidden by the clouds I could thus go across the Lines without any Archie at all!

  Tomorrow I am on the Dawn patrol which consists in two machines flying along the Lines in “the wee sma hours” after dawn looking for the odd Hun two-seater strafing the Infantry in our Trenches. Rather an amusing job but it means getting up at 5.45! We are also standing by to strafe Hun Art. Obs. machines & bombing-parties of Gothas which may choose to stroll over the lines intent upon laying their eggs on our lines & billets.

  Trollope [Captain J.L. Trollope] flew up here today & saw me; he was at Croydon you know & has got several Huns since he came out. His Squadron 43 is further South & there are apparently beaucoup Hun two-seaters down there. They are not very common up here, in fact the Hun hasn’t got many buses up here at all just at present. I am on just the same Front as I was at the last place & we do exactly the same job, we have only changed our aerodrome, that’s all! A Hun pilot was taken prisoner the other day & he said that the “Camel” & the S.P.A.D. were far better machines than the Albatross, which cheers me up a bit. I don’t think the “Albatrii” like getting into a dog fight with “Camels” as they aren’t half as good at manoeuvring as we are.

  The post goes out at 9 a.m. each day so my letters are never sent off till the day after I write them. Afraid I can’t manage any before 9 a.m. I am generally in bed till 9.30 when not on early patrol. Slacker!!

  DIARY Wednesday 27th February

  On Wireless. Dawn patrol with Eaton. Pretty dud. Shot up floor and got one bullet thr‘o aileron. No calls thr’o all day. Dusk patrol. 5 albs: on the lines.

  65 R.F.C. France

  28th February 1918

  After such a long yesterday, I find I haven’t much to say today. I did the “odd” dawn patrol this morning with Eaton. No Huns at all, so I shot up the trenches till they started to machine gun me from the ground & put a bullet through one of my planes, then I padded the hoof & hove off. I did no patrols through the day as there were no Hun two-seaters doing Art. Obs. I also did a Dusk Patrol from 4.30 to 5.30. Apparently 5 Albatrii came & sat over the Lines at 12.00 p.m. but I didn’t see them. It was a lovely evening & all the clouds which had been about all day had gone. There wasn’t a “bump” in the air at all & so I came home just above the tree tops. All the district just behind the Lines was streaked with the trails of blue smoke coming from bivouac fires & blown out by the gentle wind – it was an awfully pretty sight. The only thing that spoilt it was that here & there Hun Archie shells had left a patch of black smoke exactly like a smudge on a piece of paper.

  A Belgian pilot landed here this morning on a priceless French machine – the exact converse of a “Camel”, i.e. it had a flat bottom plane & dihedral on the top plane. It did some good stunts when he took off – apparently it has got a splendid climb & is very manoeuvrable – I wish we had them!

  Well it’s dinner time & so I will knock off.

  DIARY Thursday 28th February

  Pretty dud. No Patrols. Down to No 1 in afternoon. Very cold.

  Read in evening. Belgian Hanriot over.

  65 R.F.C. France

  1st March 1918

  No further news of any interest. A wild day today – a strong East wind with rain & low clouds & generally “dud”! We may be going to the seaside for a course of aerial gunnery but it isn’t settled yet.

  This morning I dug up part of my potato patch! All the Squadrons are growing potatoes & I believe that after June they are to be self supporting as regards vegetables! Hope I am home by that time!

  Balfour is O.C. “C” Flight while Jack is on leave, a very good O.C. he. I am Deputy leader!

  We had a gas alarm last night but nothing came of it. There was also a small minor show down on the Front. Quite successful I believe. No more news!

  DIARY Friday 1st March

  Strong East wind and no flying.

  Read and smoked all day.

  65 Squadron R.F.C.

  2nd March 1918

  Today has been much colder, a howling N.E. wind blowing, also snow & rain – very “dud”!

  Hugo D. is at present on a night bombing Squadron on F.E.2Bs. Quite a good job I understand as “Archie” is the only thing that worries them.

  Our new quarters are more comfy than the old ones I think. The C.O. sleeps at the Wing while he is acting O.C.

  The weather promises “dud” for tomorrow, too. I did nothing at all today except read & smoke & play Bridge (with my usual luck!).

  DIARY Saturday 2nd March

  Howling E wind. No flying at all. One E.A. doing Alt. Obs: we left him to crash landing which he probably did!

  Dinner in town with Withers [Captain T.E. Withington]. Very heavy barrage on at about 9.45 pm. Hun raids. See Daily Light for today.

  65 Squadron R.F.C.

  3rd March 1918

  Thanks so much for today’s letter – also heard from May, she is wondering why I haven’t been over to see her!

  I went to Service in the Camp this morning & had a very nice service & a fine sermon.

  Still very “dud”, the wind has dropped & there is a mist with a drizzling rain. I bought you rather a nice lace table centre at a shop in the Town, which used to be one of the lace shops in Ypres. I think the people were driven out; it is home-made – or supposed to be! I had been in Town walking in & back, I needed the exercise badly too as all I appear to do here at present is eat, smoke & read! I am very fit & happy & hope you are keeping free from headaches, Dad.

  Well, I don’t think there is any more news, so will knock off.

  DIARY Sunday 3rd March

  To Church in morning. Dud for flying. Down town with Eaton in afternoon. Got hair cut and bought [?] and hankies. Tea at Skindles. Northwood and others to dinner and 2 R.N.A.S from No 1 naval staying here. Slept poorly.

  65 Squadron R.F.C. France

  4th March 1918

  Another “dud” day & the feelings of the Squadron have overflowed & everyone has gone mad. This morning, a party of us
digging potatoes turned into a bombing party & proceeded to hurl clods of earth at each other! This afternoon we organized a rat hunt with Verey Lights – we saw no rats but we got through several pounds worth of Verey Lights! A large formation of homing crows passed over us & so we “archied” them with Verey Lights, completely breaking up their formation & driving many of them off East! This afternoon we amused ourselves putting Verey Lights down the chimneys of the huts, with any luck the things go off in the stove & fill the hut with smoke. Unfortunately someone put one down our chimney!

  It has now started raining & so operations have been cancelled. We were thinking of raiding 70 Squadron but as the last squadron that were here did it & “70” counter attacked & absolutely wrecked their Mess – we decided not to!

  Five new pilots are arriving today, as the complement of the Squadron is going to be 24 instead of 18 in future.

  I had a short flip today to test my engine which has been returned & greatly improved.

  Well I think that is all of interest for today so I will knock off.

  DIARY Monday 4th March

  Dud all day. Nothing doing

  65 Squadron R.F.C.

  5th March 1918

  It was fairly clear today & I & 5 others went down to A.S.D. [Aircraft Supply Depot] to collect 6 Camels – as six new pilots arrived yesterday to make up the new complement. With this increased number of pilots it will mean that we can always have a full Squadron for patrols, whereas before there were always two pilots on leave. Williams goes on leave tomorrow & Capt. Symons on his second leave next week, I think.