Aces High: War In The Air Over The Western Front, 1914-18 (Cassell Military Classics)

THE WAR IN THE AIR OVER THE WESTERN FRONT 1914-18

For my elder son. James. who at the age of t\\ Cnl)'-clghl rcars had thlrt)'-Iwo dlffcrent :urcrafl t)PCS 10 hIs pllot's log book.

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CASSELL

The War in th€ Air over the � tern

ALAN CLARK

CASSELL

ront 1914-18

Contents

Prologue

6

Pan One: The Opening Shots Background 1914-15

16

1

28

Airmen TIle life of the pilots ill the first year of the war

Pan Two: The Weapons are Forged Background 1915-16

36

2

Machines The evollllioll of aircraft

44

3

Tactics The developmellt of flyillg sl'ills

60

4

Dealh HO.Tors of aerial wa1are

68

Part Three: The Killing Time Background 1917

80

5

Aces The qualilies that made the greatest airme"

92

6

Circuses The period of Gen"all supremacy

108

7

Squadrons The Allies' reeovflY

122

8

Braves The Escadrille Americaine

136

9

Storks The Frellch Escadrilles

144

Pan Four: The End of the Battles Background 1918

10 Vapour Trails The last mOllths of the

154 WQI'

168

Appendices Comparative chan showing when leading combat

186

aircraft were in operation during the First World War

II

Comparative weights and performance

188

of leading combat aircrafl of the First World War

Left: Captain Albert Ball VC.

D50, Me. twenty years old at the tIme of his death.

Index

190

--

PROLOGUE

Prologue

Picture if you can what it meant for the first time when all the world of aviation was young and fresh and untried, when to rise at all was a glorious adventure, and to find oneself flying swiftly in the air, the realization of a life-long dream. COMTESSE DE LANDLOT

E

the

the engine. Then the instructor would step

young, the dashing, the adventurous,

down and the pupil would be on his own. He

wamed to learn to Or But who would

would open the throllie and make the aircraft

teach them? Each individual who knew some­

'taxi' about on the grass trying (but with little

thing about Oying (and they were not many)

effect for there was

had his own theories about tuilion. Some were

their surfaces) to gel some reaction from the

sound, others criminally dangerous.

controls. At a nod from his instructor, he

verybody who

was anybody,

110

proper airflow over

The most popular technique - the 'French

would increase the throllie opening and the

School' - was like learning to swim, starling at

tail would lifl. The aeroplane would travel at a

the shallow end. First, the would-be pilots

considerable speed and perhaps, for brief

would sit in their aircraft running up the

seconds with the more adventurous, the

engine and looking around the cockpit in

wheels would leave the turf; although in

eager bewilderment at the controls while the

theory it was intended that taking off should

inSlfUCLOr or some expert well-wisher leaned

be saved for the follo\\�ng dar

over their shoulder, blown by the wind, shouting out facts and 'hints' above the roar of

An American pupil at the French School gives a vivid account of his experience:

Major F. l. Gerrard flying a Farman Biplane past General Sir H. l. Smith­ Dorrien at the Perham Down Review, May 1 9 1 3 . The horses are unperturbed.

+

7

Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS) cadet climbing Into the observer's seat of a traimng aircraft for his first flight. Note the pupil's 'sports' attire.

When a student was first learning to

compounded his problems, and gradually as

crow-hop up and down a field, he'd take

he gained altitude, moving into and above the

orr, rise about ten or twenty reet and then

clouds, strange, hidden mysteries emerged.

bring the ship down almost Oat, hardly

The imporLance or wind and air current

peaking at all, by blipping the motor on

revealed themselves. Air pockets, caused by

and oIT. About rour or five reet orr the

sudden fluctuations in atmospheric tempera­

ground, the amateur eagle just let her

tures, seized the aeroplane and carried it

drop ker-wham.

without warning and despite the eITorts or the

The sound was the general eITect or an

pilot via the engine or ailerons. In the depths

earthquake in a hardware store, but the

or the Salisbury Plain training area, a narrow,

miracle was that the ship seemed to

wooded cleft, some nine miles rrom Upavon

surrer no particular ill efrects. A tire here or

aerodrome, came to be known as 'the valley or

a couple or wires there would go, or

death'. Between 1909 and 1 9 1 3 seven aircrart

perhaps a shock-absorber cord, but nothing

crashed there, seized on nne summer evenings

to

render the ship unfit ror

by its peculiar, spiralling air currents and

rurther use.

IThe science or airrrame

dashed to pieces in the trees. You can visit the

inspection, being at the lime, rudimentary I

place today, unaltered since that time and

happened

curiously redolent or its victims' aura. Graduall)' the pupil would progress. The

And, then, in still air there was another

aeroplane would be in the air ror longer and

phenomenon. The most rrightening or all, and

longer period at a time, and slowly, by trial

one which ror the first two years or the war

and error, the pilot would discover how the

only a rew brave men had mastered, was that

plane responded. Mechanical waywardness

or constraining the airman's inclination to

and

'stunt' his plane. When a pilot went to make a

the

rrailty

or

the

airrrame

itselr

PR O LOGU E + turn and banked the aircraft over, it would

hard to remember exactly what lhey had done.

lose speed very rapidly. As the airnow over lhe

The 'spin' was the mOSl dreaded plight that

wing surfaces declined - or indeed vanished

could befall an airman - when the aeroplane

altogelher - the cOl1lrols became lighter and

was no longer technically aerodynamic but

the aircraft's response diminished, speed fell

was a large gyrating kite of metal, wood and

off very rapidly and a slall followed. Then the

canvas, doomed to hit the eanh with the force

whole feeling of night changed: the noise

of gravity because il was heavier lhan air, the

died away, the sound of wind in the strulS and

element in which it had so insolel1lly tried

rigging remained but lOok on a new and

LO move.

sinister quality. Over the side of his cockpil

As there was no cure it was necessary

lhe pilot could see the fields, lanes, copses and

simply lO eschew the lhoughl. For lhree

Slreams, all the happy panorama of the eanh

lhousand years the only manner in which

going round, and round, and round. Opening

humans had been able to move independently

the throttle, making the engine scream,

and al a grealer speed lhan their own legs

pushing the stick this way or that was to no

would carry lhem was on horseback. The

avail. Some pilols, very few, discovered quile

railway engine ('lhe iron horse') had given

accidentally

correct

lhem a confined mobility, and lhen had come

technique, and lived. BUl even lhey found it

the motor-car, which also allowed them

in

their

panic

the

9

The wreckage of a Bleriot Monoplane at Rheims in 1909. Note the (undamaged) engine casting - far too heavy for the flimsy airframe.

10 + A C E 5

H IGH

independence. Analogies and comparisons

minds to it (which was seldom), they thought

with chivalry and the horse had been applied

only in terms of 'observation'; for which

lO the mOlOr-car at every stage of its develop­

requirement, any deviation from straight and

ment. If anything, the aeroplane - with its

level flight was lO be deplored.

strange and variable personality, its response

Yel it is in the naLUre of man to press into

lO the rider's hands and its temperament -

the unknown. The very fact that certain

seemed more analogous lO the horse than its

manoeuvres were forbidden or fatal lured

earthbound

both

pilots into allempting them. The first man

depended on the internal combustion engine.

to fly inverted and survive was a (pOSSibly

predecessor;

although

inlOxicated)

Russian

nobleman,

Count

Chalakoff. Word spread of his feat among the aero clubs that had mushroomed throughout Europe, and keen and extravagant competi­ tion followed among those who \vished to claim the same achievement. Flying exhibitions became the smartest thing. Many of the wealthy sportsmen who had spent the previous three or four years avidly follO\ving the great inter-city auto­ mobile races and trying their thunderous Benz and Napier cars down the dusty and deserted

ROllles Natiollales of France, now turned avidly lO this new medium. Weekly, it seemed, new feats and experiments were reponed. Every step forward was a 'record', a target for those who followed to aim at. Air displays and races became popular social occasions in the pre-war years. Here. fashionable spectators are attending the Rhelms exhibition.

No cavalryman would allow his horse to lie

In Britain, the link with automobile racing

down and roll while he was in the saddle; a

was emphasized by the proximity of the Royal

lOuch of the whip (pushing the noise down)

Aero Club (who grallled would-be avialOrs

would cure an incipielll stall. Equally, it was a

their certificates of proficiency) to the great

sign of the grossest incompetence - which

banked track at Brooklands, Surrey. The

might have fatal results - if the 'horse' should

young bloods, who fought their l l -Iitre Benz

take the bit between its teeth and gallop,

and Peugeot mOlOrs down the Railways

heedless of its rider, in a long and steepening

Straight and across the Byfleet Banking, would

dive. Steady disCiplined flight was the ideal.

gather at the Blue Anchor pub and exchange

'Stunting' was regarded as dangerous and

stories with this strange, new, yet enviable

unnecessary

breed - the avialOrs.

obody was quite clear about the real

Somewhat

reluctantly,

the

army

purpose of flight - certainly it was not speedy

establishment began to lay plans for a flying

travel, for an express train, or even a

component, which came into existence as the

good Rolls-Royce lOurer, was conSiderably

Royal

faster. When the military men devoted their

absorbing

Flying Corps the

on

previous

13

April

Air

191 2,

Ballalion.

PROLOGUE + 11

Significantly it was accorded only the status of

Royal Flying Corps had first to qualify for the

a corps (comprising a Military Wing, a Taval

Royal Aero Club pilot cenificate by taking a

Wing and a Cemral Flying School) , thus

civilian course at their own expense (no easy

ensuring that those charged with both il5

task on a subaltern's pay and leave schedule).

administration and its [actical deplo)rment

Senior regimental officers discouraged their

would be kept in a properly subordinate

favourites from applying for a transfer, and

position and rank. Indeed, it is likely that the

there was an unspoken implication that those

army was prompted by its nalUral rivalry with

who tried for the RFC were unconventional -

the Admiralty, who at the instigation of

a serious offence in the military code - or, still

Winston Churchill and others had been quick

worse, 'unsatisfactory',

off the mark in establishing the

aval Air

After the ballies of the Marne and the

Service, which had been placed under the

Aisne, where the airmen had proved their

autonomy of the Admiralty on 23 June 1914

wonh but their 'wastage' rate had increased

and competed for funds from the Treasury.

alarmingly, the army undenook to train

Unlil the outbreak of war candidates for the

volunteers to Oy ab iTTiLio. But, still, the second

.­ .......

Poster for a flying exhibition at Rheims in 1909.

12 + A C E S

H IGH

question in the interview could fail the candidate. The first (LO which there could be only one answer) was ,;Vhy do you want a transfer?' The second was 'Can you ride?' Military instruction was, if anything, less comprehensible than in the old civilian schools. The chosen mount was the Maurice Farman Biplane with a Renault engine known as a 'Shorthorn'. The Shorthorn had certain basic design defects, but knowledge of aero­ dynamics was still in its infancy and the instructors were too busy or too ignorant to analyse or report on those defects. By trial and error it had been found that some manoeuvres induced disaster, but it was assumed that the fault lay in the manoeuvre not in the aeroplane. The unfortunate result was that a large number of pilots were 'passed out' with an inbred re istance to attempting certain kinds of aerobatics, regardless of what their subsequent aircraft might be. The Shorthorn, at least, had the advantage of dual-controls, but verbal instruction in the air was impossible. The pupil rested his hands and feet gently on joystick and rudder bars and learned to 'feel' the impulses of his instructor's movement. Some instructors were intelligent and sympathetic; but as more and more instructors crashed to their death following a pupil's blunder, others came quickly to resent over-confidence or 'ham­ handedness' and would nurture their pupils to the solo stage by the simple expedient of seldom relaxing their own grip upon the controls. One recruit gave a \�vid de cription of his first night: The nacelle was half-way up the interplane struts. A shallow side panel hinged down to simplify the g)�nnastic feat of entering it. When seated I lifted the panel and An early attempt to mount a gun on a flying machine.

PROLOGUE

secured it with ordinary door bolts. I was

thought he had done enough he paused

in the nose, well ahead or the wings. The

and called to the pilot: 'Contact, sir.'

instructor sat behind, perched between the upper and lower wings' rront edges. Wooden bearers, running art rrom the

Mter the sWitching

on

announcing

pilot had his

the

and

then

mechanic

nacelle's structure, supponed pan or the

hopefully and lustily heaved the propeller

engine between the wings and pan behind

a quaner-turn round, while the pilot

them where the pusher propeller could

twirled a hand staner magneto to boost the

revolve. A mechanic stood within the

spark at the plugs. Usually the Renault

booms and the wires behind the propeller.

rattled into lire aher one or twO heaves and

I t was his unenviable task to help to stan

the mechanic could emerge rrom his cage.

the engine rrom his encaged position.

This air-cooled VB's pistons had ample

Before doing anything he [jrst assured

clearances. One could always hear them

himselr by question and answer that the

slapping against the cylinder walls, loudest

pilot's ignition was switched orr and the

when the engine was cold. With no device

gasoline turned on. Then he primed the

to compensate ror cylinder expansion and

engine rrom the carburettor. He did this

contraction, its valves and tappets chattered

by manually rotating the two-blade wood

incessant ly. Its propeller revolved on an

propeller as ir he were himselr a staner

extension or the crankshart at haIr engine­

motor.

speed and the reduction gear was noisy.

It was hard work.

When he

13

responded by

ignition

'Contact',

+

Henri Farman, one of the greatest of the french aVIation designers, photographed at the controls of one of his planes at the Rheims exhibition.

14 + A C E 5

H I G H

Maurice Farman Btplane before the war.

The fuel lank, bel ween lhe rear seal and

keep lhe aeroplane in the air; second, to

lhe engine, was in a nasly place should a

observe and report back what he had seen. The

crash occur. The hOl engine could break

aeroplane was a 'fiying horse' and lrealed by

away rrom its mounting, rupture the

most of lhe officers on lhe Slaff Wilh some

gasoline lank, ignile ilS contents, and lhe

contempt ror the vcry reason that it was

burning mass mighl fall on lhe aircrew.

unanned and also because il could not be prop­

Fortunately for their peace of mind, few, if

erly drilled or 'dressed'. There was also a certain

any, pilots or pupils lhoughl about the

resentment among the more orthodox and

several features of the Shorthorn thal

conservalive (always lhe majority in any amlY)

lowered ilS safety level below par. Enough

LO lhis noisy, dirty machine, which frightened

that they were nying! For what more

real horses when it came too close and which

should lhey ask'

was already showing the power or attracting a somewhal 'undesirable' t)'pe of officer as pilot.

The distinction between military and civilian

Certainly lhe 'aviaLOrs' had much in lheir

fiying was ignored - if its exislence was

make-up to irritate the conventional military

admiLLed at all. Even lhe great German

mind. Young, full of zest, queslioning, wilh a

General Slaff, a body less hostile to new ideas

less lhan reverent allilude lO pomp and

lhan ilS English and French couIllerparts,

discipline, lhey shared one common characler­

had reported in September of 1 9 1 4 lhat:

iSlic (which is ofLen regarded wilh suspicion by

'Experience has shown lhat a real combal in

lhe mililary hierarchy, who prefer discipline) -

the air such as journalists and romancers have

an unqueslioned physical courage.

described, should be considered a myth. The duty of lhe aviaLOr is to see, nOl LO fight.'

For lhe first few mOIllhs of lhe war lhe rival aviaLOrs would greel each olher, on lhe

Of lhe lOlal of lhirty-seven aeroplanes lhat

rare occasions when they mel, with a wave or

went to France as lhe advance guard of lhe

lhe hand or perhaps some liLLIe piece of

Royal Flying Corps nine days afler lhe declara­

display lO illuslrale lheir prowess, a fiick of

tion or the war, none carried armament as part

lhe wings or a difficull half-roll. The bond lhal

of its specificalion. The pilOl'S firsl lask was LO

lhey shared - of being heavier than air and yel

PRO LOG U

moving rreely in it by virtue or their own skills

the hapless German. Unable to comprehend

- was stronger than the hostility that they

what was going on, the unrortunate German.

were expected to display as soldiers or nations

pilot put his Taube down in the nearest Held.

at war. But then, even ir the hostility was to

Harvey-Kelly and his brother orncers immedi­

remain dormant for a few more weeks or

ately landed themselves, to see the Gennan

months, a kind or sporting rivalry began to

running headlong to the shelter or a nearby

gather momentum. And, as is the case where

wood. The unarmed Englishmen rollowed

sport and national prestige run in harness, it

him in and prowled about in the undergrowth

25

for a few minutes without success, then

o. 2

returned to the Held where they put a match

Squadron or the Royal Flying Corps Sighted a

to the Taube and took off, having recorded the

Single German in a Taube observing the

Hrst aerial victory or the war.

became

increasingly embittered.

August, three aeroplanes rrom the

On

French lines or battle. Lieutenant H. D .

How innocent and playrul this episode

Harvey-Kelly, the flight leader, dived on the

seems when one looks back on it across the

enemy and closed right up on his tail. The

headstones or all those graves that were to

German

sudden

rollowl A rising crescendo ror the next rour

proximity or this English madman \vith his

years or all those pilots who were to die \vith

threshing propeller rour reet rrom the Taube,

blasphemy on their lips; that were burned,

dived to get away rrom him. Harvey-Kelly

smashed, mutilated, or driven to insanity in

remained glued to the adversary's rudder. The

a combat that was to become increaSingly

other two pilots or the flight caught on and

ruthless and degraded with every month

joined in the game, one flying on either side or

tha t passed.

pilot,

alarmed

by

the

E +

15

Lieutenant Harvey-Kelly on his way to France in August 1 914. He was forced to land short of his destination on his first anempt.

PART ONE:

THE OPENING SHOTS BACKGROUND 1914-15 When the First World War started in August 1914, each of the major powers involved possessed an air force of sorts. Without exception, each was to be shown that the precepts on which they had built a force of aeroplanes had been not so much wrong as misguided. The most powerful air force was that of Germany, followed closely by France - Great Britain's meagre force was a considerable way down the list.

E

ach of these three powers, who were

very small, and the carriage or anything more

to contest the mastery or the air over

than the crew was a severe impediment to the

the Western Front ror the rest or the

perrormance or the machine. In this respect

war, considered the role or the aeroplane to be

then, senior officers,

one of reconnaissance, and in a way this was

controlled the air forces, were correct in

true. Although the world's first heavier-than­

slaling reconnaissance as the aeroplane's role.

air, powered and controlled aeroplane had

But in the long term they were incorrect -

flown more than len years previously, and the

they had railed to take into account the rapid

science or flight had advanced rapidly, the

rate or growth in the science or flying. Soon

aeroplane was still in its early inrancy. The

aircrart would be capable or longer and raster

loads that aeroplanes could carry were still

flight with increased loads, and weapons,

A BE2C over the forward trench line.

who

in all

cases

Above: Parade for Lord

Roberts's Inspection In 1914. From left to nght: 7 Henn Farman Biplanes; 4 Blenot Monoplanes; 2 Avro 500 Biplanes and 1 Blenot; 3 Maurice Farman S1 1 Biplanes; 8 BE2s or BE2As; 7 BE2, or BE2As and 1 RE4. left: Aircraft of the Eastchurch Squadron of the Royal Naval Air Service at Dunkirk In 1 914. The airship In the background IS Astra Torres No. 3.

B A C KGR 0 U NO

offensive or defensive. could be installed.

ments is the fact that the pioneers of aviation

Cenainl), the most valuable purpose fulfilled

had done so. And they had not done this in the

by aircraft in the First World War was tactical

seclusion of crackpot allempts at night, but in

and strategic reconnaissance; but each side

the full glare of publicity allendant on the

should have realized that the other side would

enormously popular pre-war air shows at

stan arming its machines as soon as it could

Hendon, Brooklands and Rheims. Here were

for the very purpose of denying its opponents

prophetic competitions in air allack, as bags of

the chance lO spy Oul troop dispositions,

nour, Simulating bombs, were dropped on the

defences and the like from the air. From this,

outline of a dreadnought ballieship laid out on

it should have been deduced that each

the airfield. In addition, machine-guns were

machine would require some form of defen­

taken into the air in attempts to arrest the

sive armament, and that an arms race in the

attention of the military - in Britain Major H .

air would begin. And from spying out an

R . M. Brooke-Popham was censured b y his

enemy's dispositions it was only a small step

commanding officer for endangering his

lO the first allempts to do something about

Bleriot by allempting lO fit a machine-gun on

them from the same machine as that from

it; in the United States, Colonel Isaac

which they were spied; soon from the bomber

Le,vis had experimented with his famous air­

purpose-built for its ta k.

cooled machine-gun in a Wright Biplane. but

ewlOn

What makes it all the more remarkable that

had been so discouraged by the authorities'

commanders had not foreseen these develop-

lukewarm reception of the idea that he had

I 9 I -+

-

1 5

+

19

Two of the three Avro 504s of the RNAS make ready to depart on the historic raid on the Fnednchshafen Zeppelin hangars on 2 1 November 1914. The mechanics are about to swing the propellors for take-off.

20 + A c E S

HIG H

The Roland 'Taube', a two-seater monoplane used by the Germans mainly for reconnais­ sance. Although superseded by faster and more manoeuvrable biplane types. the Taube continued in service up to 1 916. The Taube (German for dove) was so called because of the shape of its wings.

left his native land and started up his own

These appealed LO the military: partly for

manufacturing

in

patriotic reasons, as Germany led the world in

Belgium in 1 9 1 3 . In France, the more far­

the development of this kind of machine;

sighted army had let the aircraft manufacturer

partly as a sop LO the enormous enthusiasm

Raymond Saulnier borrow a machine-gun to

engendered in the German people for the type

experiment with an interrupter gear to allow a

as a result of Graf von Zeppelin's early tribula­

stream of bullets to pass through the disc

tions and later success with lighter-than-air

swept by the propeller without hitting the

craft; but mostly to the Zeppelin's enormous

blades; and in Germany Franz Schneider of

potential as a strategic reconnaissance craft

the LVG was conducting experiments along

with very large range and considerable ceiling.

the same lines. In the last lwo cases, the author­

This ignored the basic failing of the airship,

ities lost interest after a few early reverses.

however: extreme vulnerability because of its

concern

for

the

gun

No maller what more imagination might have revealed, the air forces of 1 9 1 4 were

very nature - an elongated balloon filled with highly innammable hydrogen gas.

geared almost exclusively to reconnaissance.

The most common heavier-than-air type in

The largest air force was that of Germany,

service with the German Air Force was the

which had 246 aircraft and seven Zeppelin

Taube, a shoulder-winged monoplane of

airships, with a LOtal air crew of 525. This

Austrian invention made in large numbers by

comprised the Imperial German Military Avia­

several

tion Section. ( I t is worth noting at this point

comprised about half the aircraft owned by

that the Imperial German

German

manufacturers.

These

avy Air Service

the German Air Force, the rest being made up

had thirty-six aircraft and two Zeppelins.)

mostly of biplanes of the LVG , Aviatik and

With considerable forethought, the German

Albatros types. These aircraft were formed

High Command had instituted a sizeable

inLO

expansion programme, but this was geared to

sections) - the basic Gennan unit for aircraft.

too great an extent LO lighter-than-air craft.

Each Abtei/llllg had a nominal strength of six

forty-one

Fliegerabteilllilgell

(Flight

Right: Firing above the arc of the propeller.

Cavalry and planes on manouevres in 1914. Although most naval and military departments were slow to realize the possibilities of flying, the majority had set up experimental departments of military aviation by the outbreak of war.

machines, and of the forty-one sections,

Saulnier, Farman and Deperdussin types. The

thirty-four were Feldjliegerabreilungen (Flabr)

basic organization was into Escadrilles, or

or field flight sections, assigned to the

squadrons, of six aircraft each in two-seater

operational

corps

units and four aircraft in Single-seater units.

commanders, while seven were Festungs­

Command was exercised by the Directorate of

jliegerabreilungen or fortress flight sections,

Aeronautics at CQG, the French Anny High

assigned to the protection of the seven major

Command. Head of the I nspectorate was

German fortress towns along her borders.

Commandant

These last had a strength of four aircraft.

Commandant du Peuty.

control

of army

and

Bares,

later succeeded

by

Control of equipment and personnel was

One of the handicaps suffered by the

exercised by the (nspelllion der Fliegertnlppen

French Air Force derived, perversely, from

(ldjlieg) or I nspectorate of Flying Troops

France's pre-eminent position as producer of

under Major Wilhelm Siegert. The growth of

most of Europe's aircraft. There were thus so

the importance of the air force was reflected

many types in service that maintenance was a

by the establishment of the office of the Chef

very severe problem. Luckily for Britain, this

des Feldjlieg, on 1 1 March 1 9 1 5, whose first

strength in manufacturing capability enabled

occupier was Major Hermann Thomsen.

France to sell many machines to her ally at a

The French Air Force, or Avialion Militaire,

time when Britain's own aircraft industry was

had a strength of 160 aircraft and fifteen

still trying to gear itself to the production

airships at the beginning of the war. The

needs of a long war.

airships were mostly of the Lebaudy type and

I t is worth noting two major differences in

the aeroplanes of the Bleriot, Voisin, Morane-

design theory between the French and the

B A CKG R O U N D

Germans, derived from the basic power units

favoured light, agile machines with a good

available in each country. The French had

rate of climb. It must be pOinted out, however,

been the inventors of the best pre-war type of

that the best French fighter of the war was an

engine, the rotary, and in the two forms of the

inline-engined t)'Pe, the Spad XIII, and that

Gnome and Le RhOne it powered the majority

some of Germany's most imponalll fighters,

of France's best early machines. Its advantage

notably the Fokker El, Fokker Drl and Fokker

lay in an excellent power-to-weight ratio, and

DVll I ,

its light weight was combined with compact­

Gnomes or Le RhOnes salvaged from crashed

ness. However, its development potential was

French machines.

were

rotary-engined,

often

Military nying in Great Britain was in the

Germans, the water-cooled inline. This type

hands of two bodies at the beginning of the

was at a disadvantage vis-a-vis the rotary in

war. The force that travelled to France with

lhe first two years of the war, but with a few

the British Expeditionary Force was pan of

exceptions proved to be the beuer power

the Royal Flying Corps, an anny formalion.

plant in the long run, as it was capable of

Left behind to guard Britain's shores was

greater development.

the Royal Navy's air force, the Royal Naval

German aircraft deSign, for the most pan,

+

23

with

not as good as that of the type favoured by the

Derived from this,

1914-1 5

Air ervice.

concelllrated on well-streamlined, strong,

The basic RFC unit was the squadron of

heavy and fast machines, whereas lhe French

three nights of four aeroplanes each, higher A Voisin about to depart in 1914. Note the early and extempore fitting of a gun (which affected the handling in flight).

24

+

A C E 5

H [ G H

Blenot XI·2 Senes 2.

80 h.p. Gnome engine.

Two·seat military monoplane. Note the central 'mast' with stress wires running out to the wlng·tips.

unils being the wing and the brigade. R AS

French superiorily was made abundantly

basic unilS were flighlS, squadrons and wings.

clear when aircraft soared into action in 1 91 4,

Al the beginning o[ the war Brilain could call

[or ilS was French machines lhal scored all lhe

on 1 1 3 aeroplanes and six airships; o[ lhese,

'firsts' in strategic reconnaissance, properly

sixly-lhree flew LO France wilh the BEF in

organized bombing and air fighling. The firsl

Augusl 1 9 1 4. The main lypes were the BE2

happened on 3 Seplember, when French

series, Avro 504s, Farmans of various marks

airmen spolled the increasing gap belween lhe

and several Bleriol Xis. The whole force was

German FirSl and Second Armies approaching

under the command o[ Major-General Sir

lhe Marne, which led LO the Allied vicLOry lhal

David Henderson who was succeeded on

hailed the German advance. (Brilish airmen

1 9 Augusl 1 9 1 5 by Hugh Trenchard, lhen a

had achieved a nOlable coup, however, in lhe

lieulenant-colonel.

field o[ lactical reconnaissance, spolling lhe

These lhen were the air forces available LO

German oUlflanking movement during lhe

the fighting powers in the western theatre in

Ballie o[ Mons on 22 AuguSl, and also lhe

1 9 1 4. The Germans had a numerically slrong

French wilhdrawal.) The second LOok place

air force, wilh an enormous pOlential. The

on 14 AuguSl when French Voisins allacked

French were numerically weaker, bUl had a

lhe Zeppelin sheds al Melz; and the lhird

beller long-lerm manu[acluring capabilily.

occurred on 5 October, when a mechanic

The Brilish were in the worsl posilion. Their

named Louis Quenauh, in a Voisin piloled by

manu[acluring capabililies were in the shon

Joseph Frantz, shol down a German Avialik

lerm poor, and many machines had lO be

two-seater with the Hotchkiss machine-gun

imponed [rom France. Apan [rom lhal,

mounled in the nose o[ his 'pusher' type. The

machines were in shon supply and LO a greal

firsl example o[ bombs in the war was when a

eXlent oUldaled (as were many Gennan types)

German Taube dropped some over Paris on 1 3

and the force was slan'ed o[ funds. I n opera­

Augusl, bUl the missiles in lhis inSlance were

lional

field,

only [or propaganda. The firsl successful

recognizing the lhree dislincl needs o[ recon­

instance o[ anillery co-opera lion, however,

naissance, anillery co-operalion and bombing

was by the Brilish, during the Ballie o[ lhe

long berore the Brilish and Germans.

Aisne in mid-Seplember.

doclrines,

France

led

the

So, the aeroplane had quickly proved its

even

machine-guns - if they could be

worth in warfare. The French immediately set

obtained - on home-made mountings. The

about organizing a strategic bomber force

trouble with the first four, even if they had

equipped with Voisins, and all three nations

been practical, was that there was no adequate

realized fully the need for a fighting aircraft

way of aiming them; and with machine-guns

that could prevent enemy machines coming

there was no way of firing directly ahead of

across to observe behind one's own lines, and

the aircraft. Moreover, the weight of the gun

also protect one's own machines when on

made it probable that the enemy machine

reconnaissance flights. The first attempts to

would escape before the pursuer got into

produce such a machine had been made as

range, if it ever did so. Another problem was

'private enterprise' inventions within the

that posed by the design of the aircraft. Most

ranks of the squadrons' more enterprising

two-sealers were tractor biplanes, with the

pilots, but later these gave way to properly

observer's cockpit forward of the pilot's,

designed fighters. Initially, though, the absence

compassed

of adequate interrupter or synchronizer gears

propeller and other impediments to both lhe

was an almost in uperable handicap. The

handling and the firing of the gun. The only

early efforts utilized whatever any particular

other sort of two-seater, the 'pusher', gave the

pilot or observer could lay his hands on -

observer a much beller view from the front of

pistols, rifles, shotguns, grenades (suspended

the nacelle, and also gave him an unimpaired

below the aircraft and intended to detonate on

forward field of fire, but performance was so

contact with one's opponent's machine) and

hampered by the design, however, that the

about

by

the

wings,

wires,

Lieutenant Jacobs, Fokker-Staffel West. 7 Army. standing in front of hIS Fokker EIII in 1916.

BE2A

B A C K G R 0 U N D

enemy had an excellent chance or escaping

with the protection arrorded by their Morane­

before his pursuer came in range.

Saulnier Ns, Nieuport lOs, Bristol Scouts and

It has been claimed, with some justinca­

Sopwith Tabloids. Soon arterwards, in the

tion, that the worid's nrst nghter was a British

spring or 1 9 1 5 , the Germans were introdUCing

machine answering to the above description -

a new class or aeroplane, the C class, which

the Vickers FB 5 'Gunbus', the nrst or which

was to remain in service for the rest of the war.

arrived in France on 5 February 1 9 1 5. It was

The requirement for this class was for an

also this type that rormed the equipment or

armed two-seater biplane or more than 1 50

the nrst nghter squadron to be supplied

h.p. to rulm the general-purpose role. This class

o. 1 1 , which

eventually included great machines such as the

arrived ror service in France on 25 July 1 9 1 5 .

Albatros CI, DFW CV, Rumpler CIV and

Previously, because the squadrons had all

Halberstadt

been intended as reconnaissance units, they

displayed considerable rorethought and decided

had been equipped with a miscellany or

to build rour classes or nghting machine. These

general-purpose types, squadrons receiving

classes were to rulm the tasks or bombing, aerial

twelve examples or a single type wherever

fighting, ground support, and reconnaissance

supplies permilled. But with the advent or

and artillery spotting. In this respect, they were

nghting machines, it was deemed advisable to

rar in advance or any Allied planning.

unirormly with the same type,

Cv.

Moreover,

the

l 91 4

-

1 5

+

27

Germans

allach to each squadron one or two 'Scouts',

However, more momentous changes were

single-seaters whose function it was LO protect

in the ornng. The nrst true Single-seat nghter,

as best they could their more cumbersome

the Fokker EI, was about to emerge, and with

two-seater brethren. The day or air rorces

it the 'Fokker Scourge'.

made up or entirely homogeneous squadrons, though, was still a long time orr. For the time being, the British and French had to make do ThiS view of an 'Aero­ mitrailleuse Deperdussin' shows one of the French attempts to fire a machine·gun around and over the arc of the propeller.

28 + A c E S

H I G H

1 A ir m e n

F lying alone !

othing gives such a sense of mastery over

mechanism, mastery indeed over space, time, and life i tself, as this.

A

hundred miles, north, south, east, west. Thirty

thousand square miles

of unbroken cloud-plains !

No

traveller in the desert, no pioneer to the Poles had ever seen such an expanse of sand or snow. Only the lonely threshers of the sky, hidden from the earth, had gazed on it. Only we who went up into the high places in the shadow of wings ! CECIL LEWIS

Right: British airman weanng a protective sheepskin over his Jacket.

Far right: A new recrUit arnves for training with the RFC. What was his life expectancy?

T

he romantic isolation or the airmen was somelhing real and exalting. They were separale and above lhe

verminous squalor of the

trenches,

lhe

prolonged ordeal lhal lhey louched occasion­ ally when nying low over the lines, or when being broughl back from a forced landing al the fronl. Hearsay and rumour magnified the horrors of perpelual siege warfare, living underground, the bUlchery of the 'Pushes', the reek of elher and gangrene in the hospilals. There were very few cases of officers opting for a lransfer back lO their regiments once lhey had served in the RFC. BUl for this very reason the FI>�ng Corps was lOlally neglecled by the High Command in terms or amenity and recreation. The

By 1916 aircraft design. on both sides. was becoming more homogeneous. This Avro 504 served with the RAF until 1931. (It IS held by the Shuttleworth Trust and IS flown regularly.)

'indiscipline' of the flyers was a source of

gun-fire and the eastern sky flickered white

continual irritation LO the Staff - the more so

and violet. Leave schedules were arbitrary and

since Squadron Commanders tended

(it

those lucky enough to survive in combat

seemed) to connive at it. In tacit recognition

could be kept in station for months at a time.

of the

freemasonry that grows between

Of recreation there was lillIe variety - only

aviators, it was thought preferable that the

the forced jollity and maudlin aftermath of

senior officer responsible should be someone

the 'binge', which would begin at dusk

who did not fly and as a result many interest­

and continue often until those taking part

ing technical innovations, particularly in the

were insensible.

field of gunnery, which the pilots allempted to

Uniformity

of

clothing

deteriorated.

introduce from their own experience, were

Regimental tunics, RFC 'maternity jackets',

forbidden as being against regulations.

sweaters, silk scarves, woolly scarves, leather

Those forward airfields were bleak, lonely

flying coats bUlloned up or falling loose,

places - cinder runways cut through acres of

sheepskin boots, knee-length flying boots of

beet and kale. Fire-fighting and medical

fleece-lined leather with suede LOps, slacks

services were minimal, and the returning

and shoes, or breeches and pUltees - all these

injured or those who suffered from accidents

were worn on operations or about the mess to

at landing or take-off would have LO endure a

the fury of inspecting 'brass'.

ride in a Crossley tender to the nearest field

There was very little entertainment in the

hospital, often as much as thirty minutes

evenings. No radio or 'shows'; only what

away. At night the ground shuddered from

music the squadron itself could make or

A I R M E N + 31

extract from clockwork gramophones that

It was in these early months of 1 9 1 5 that

had to be cranked by hand between each 78

the first generation of aces emerged. The team

r.p.m. disc. Musical taste varied from one unit

and title really belongs to 1 9 1 7 , the year of the

to another, selling its own conditions. Some

circuses and the great mass dog-fights that

preferred hits from the London shows whose

would break down into individual contests of

Lunes evoked glimpses of home and leave;

skill, judgment and bravery. But in 1 9 1 5,

others sang the bawdy or tragic ballads of the

when men like Major L1noe G. Hawker, Lieu­

RFCs own songs; while a few established a

tenant Max Immelmann and Oswald Boelcke

tradition of 'classical only'. It wa expected of

made their mark, the machine itself was still

every squadron member who went on leave

suspect; its fickleness was still the fir t enemy.

that he should return with at least one gramo­

Gunnery - whether from the ground or

phone record for the mess.

from hostile aircraft - was occasional and or church

erratic. Combat tactics were nebulous and

parades. They new every Single day, weather

experimental. It was the frailty of the airframe

permitting, and lost count of weeks and week­

and the unreliability of the engine that were

ends. Dn1llkenness varied from one unit to

the prime restraints on a pilot's enterprise.

another and with the fortunes of battle.

Manoeuvres that, in theory, the pilots could

During a bad run, aircrew on dawn palrol

work out for themselves as being ideal for

would sometimes not go to bed at all or only

evasion were nevertheless avoided for fear of

for a shon period of stupor, with ill effects on

stripping the fabric, or tearing out the stay

their nying ability (although pilots soon

wires at their roots. Few men who sheared

discovered that a hangover could be tempor­

their wing struts or lost a rudder lived to tell

arily cured by ascending over 8,000 feet).

the tale. Practical experience in the true sense

Squadrons

had

no padre,

Above: German

propaganda postcard commemorating Max Immel mann, one of the first generatIOn of aces who emerged In 1 9 1 5. He JOined an air untt In November 1 9 1 4 and In March 1 9 1 5 passed as a pilot. After hiS second encounter With an enemy aircraft on 3 June he receIVed the Iron C roSS. He went on to score fifteen victories, earning the title of 'Eagle of llile' before h� death In June 1 9 1 6.

left: A French aViation section Bessonneau hangar set up outSide Rhelms, 1 9 1 5. AU runways were In fact grass or Cinder strips.

32 + A C E 5

H I G H

Vickers FB9 of 1 9 1 5116. The gunner sat In front of the pilot. The engine was a French Gnome Monosoupape.

of the tenn was unobtainable, and rumour of

by the internal combustion engine and

a particular aeroplane's strange failings and

responded naturally to its vagaries. But for all

weaknesses would spread quickly through the

those young cavalry officers who joined the

squadrons and deter all but the most intrepid

Flying Corps in preference to a dismounted

from putting it to the test. It was possible that

posting in the trenches, oil temperature,

an aeroplane which was seen to break up in

compression ratios, valve overlap and such

the sky had already been weakened by enemy

tenns were pure double-dutch and best left to

bullets. No one could know for certain. It was

the 'troops' (as the mechanics were called).

only in the heat of combat when a few brave

At this time squadron equipment was not

men discarded prudence that these things

uniform - each unit was a hotchpotch of

could be established.

different types of aircraft suited (if the word is

Often it was the case that pilots who were

not too ironic) to different tasks. In the

the least skilful or intrepid were hardest on

squadron, the most glamorous and desirable

their engines. Long pursuit dives after an

were the Single-seater Scouts, now beginning

escaping foe would allow engine revolutions to

to make their appearance.

build up over the safety limit, ultimately with

In due course, No. 6 Squadron, in which

critical results - over-heating, damage to

one of the earliest experiments in mounting a

valves and pistons and sometimes total failure.

machine-gun on an aeroplane (a Fannan) had

Few early aircraft were fitted with more than a

been tried by Lieutenant Louis Strange in

fuel supply gauge and an oil pressure indicator.

1 9 1 4, received its first Single-seater, a Martin­

Pilots had to rely on their own sensibilities,

syde Scout. Major Gordon Shepherd, the

ears, nostrils and 'feel' to tell them of their

Commanding Officer, acceded to Strange's

engine's health. Some of them, of course, were

fervent plea that he should be allowed to ny

grounded in mechanics. They were fascinated

the plane.

A I R M E 1'-1

Strange was an experienced pilot (and, as

speed to less than 60 m.p.h. in its shallow

will be seen, a very brave man as well) and

climb. When the observer of the Aviatik

he soon found that the Maninsyde had a

alened his pilot it too struggled to gain alti­

combination of several vices, which, although

tude. Soon Strange found that his adversary

often found individually in aircraft of this

was dr3\ving away from him. The Maninsyde

period, were usually accompanied by some

had reached its ceiling and could climb no

compensating vinues. It was slow, unstable

more. Dr3\ving the joystick back, Strange

and yet lethargic in its response to the

lifted the machine's nose and fired a long

controls - in other words the very opposite of

deflecting burst at the enemy, emptying the

what was required in combat against another

Le\vis gun. Serenely the Aviatik flew on.

aircraft. Its only vinue was that it had a

Strange was angry and disappointed; now

forward-firing Lewis gun on a fixed mounting

he began LO feel afraid LOO. The chase had led

above the upper \ving.

him far behind the enemy lines and it had

Undeterred by the Maninsyde's tricky

brought home LO him how useless the Manin­

handling, Strange headed due east and was

syde was in combat; the magazine of the Lewis

soon well inside enemy territory. After some

gun was empty and he was effectively defence­

time he spolled his prey, an Aviatik flying

less. Strange put up one hand LO unclip the

above and to the nonh of him. But to close

magazine so that he could reload. He was now

with his enemy took an age. The weight and

in a gentle dive back LOwards the front line

drag of the Lewis gun cut the Maninsyde's

twenty miles to the west, with an air speed of

+

33

bad and dangerous aircraft.

BE2C c. 1915. A

34 + A C E S

HIG H

Mechanics in an aircraft-repairing shed in France. The engine In the foreground IS a Gnome Rotary.

A I R M E N

+

some 75 m.p.h. and could expect to be over friendly territory in a quarter of an hour. But the drum was stuck and the pressure of the wind made it very difficult for Strange to grip it firmly with his gloved hand. He throttled Oswald Boelcke, one of the first and greatest of the German aces. He had already scored forty victories by October 1916. He took full advantage of being chosen to fly one of the first of the Fokker E series Monoplanes.

right back and lifted the nose to reduce air speed.

Still

the

empty

drum

remained

obstinately stuck to the breech. Strange removed his gloves, then stood up in the cockpit cursing with all his might and strain­ ing with both hands to twist the magazine against its spring-load. But then the Martinsyde, which had

inside the upper (now the lower) wing of the

slowed almost to stalling speed, performed

Martinsyde. At the third attempt he succeeded

one of its most objectionable antics: the port

in doing this, but his violent shifting of weight

wing dropped sharply. Strange lost his balance

and the slowly declining air speed had caused

and fell against the joystick, giving instant full

the Martinsyde to go into a spin.

left nap, which exaggerated the aeroplane's

At this early stage in the techniques

turned the

of aerobatics, the spin was regarded as

machine upside down. In the space of two

virtually incurable - as a long but inevitable

seconds Strange found that he was hanging

prelude to certain death. For Strange it was

like a trapeze artiste with both hands still on

particularly and immediately objectionable in

the magazine of the Lewis gun while the

that while he was trying to haul himself back

Martinsyde new heSitantly above him in an

into the cockpit against the force of gravity, he

inverted position.

ow his curses that the

had also to fight against the horrible giddiness

drum should free itself changed to prayers

that builds up in the spin and that was, of

that it should hold. The thread (only one and

course, aggravated by the fact that he was

a half circuits of 360 degrees) had crossed. All

upside down.

spontaneous manoeuvre and

that was holding Strange's weight of 1 50 Ibs 1/4

By now the Martinsyde had lost some

mm width of low-tensile steel that

7,000 feet of its original altitude of 9,000 feet.

surrounded the magazine attachment. If this

How Strange managed to hook his feet back

broke or if the drum freed itself, as he had

into the rudder controls remains incredible -

been trying so hard to make it do for the last

still more amazing was how in the remaining

ten minutes, Strange would have fallen, still

1 ,500 feet or so he managed to correct the

clutching the empty magazine, some 9,000

spin and right the aircraft, a feat little short of

feet to his death. By an incredible feat of

miraculous. In a very shaken condition he

physical prowess - which involved putting

new the Martinsyde back to the aerodrome at

even greater strain on the jammed magazine -

tree-top level, and on landing was charged by

Strange hauled himself up the distance of his

the Commanding Officer with causing 'unnec­

elbows and started a series of desperate

essary damage' to the instruments and seat (by

swings,

kicking them with his feet while trying to

was a

any one

of which

might

have

dislodged the drum, to try and hook his legs

climb back into the cockpit).

35

PART T w o :

THE WEAPONS ARE F ORGED BACKGROUND 1915 -1 6 The winter of 1 9 1 5- 1 6 was the 'Fokker Scourge'. I t began when F okker,

m

the summer o f 1 9 1 5 ,

delivered his

Eindekker with i ts single Parabellum machine-gun mounted on the cowling. No Allied aircraft could stand up to the Eindekker because of its fire-power.

T

he aeroplane itself was structurally

rest of the German Air Force, made such an

weak and possessed an indifferent

attempt and formed three Kampjeillsitzer­

performance, because it was, even

IlOmmalldo, or Single-seat fighter units. Two of

But,

the pilots in the second of these were Oswald

fortunately for the Allies, the Germans issued

Boelcke and Max Immelmann. These two

it in ones and twos lO reconnaissance and

were ponrayed as rivals in the German press,

other squadrons much as the British issued

and though they may have been so, Boelcke's

Scouts. Had the Germans formed homoge­

importance was rar greater than Immelmann's.

in

the

Eill

mark,

underpowered.

neous units of the E types in 1 9 1 5-16, they

For while I mmelmann's greatness lay in being

would surely have driven the air forces of the

one of the first fighter aces, that was his only

Allies from the skies.

achievement as he was killed after scoring

This is not to say, though, that some

fifteen victories. Boelcke, on the other hand,

enterprising individuals had not made the

achieved forty victories, but much more than

attempt to gather together enough to make a

that, he was the father of aerial warfare.

particularly devastating weapon. I n the late

He taught, developed tactics and laid the

summer of 1 9 1 5, an officer in the Bavarian Air

foundation of the science of aerial fighting in

Force, which was partially independent of the

every way.

Max lmmelmann poses beside an easy Victim - a British BE2.

Fokker Monoplane E I I I

The place where Boelcke and Immelmann

To lhe north, lhe Brilish were also making

rose to fame was Verdun, where the Germans

headway against German air power. Even at

were lrying 'lo bleed lhe French army lo

lhe heighl of lhe Fokker Scourge, Trenchard

dealh'.

Inadvertently, lhey produced lhe

had insisted on sending out as many aircraft as

world's firsl large-scale fighler unil - on lhe

possible on offensive palrols; lhis proved

French side - lhe CigOglles, lhe elile French

enormously expensive in terms of lives and of

fighler force of lhe FirSl World War. In lhe

machines. This laClic has been severely crili­

early summer of 1 9 1 6 lhey were equipped

cized, as lhe Brilish machines were decidedly

wilh lhe lillie Nieupon II Btbt fighler, whose

inferior lo lheir German counlerparLS, and lhe

Lewis gun, firing over lhe lOp wing, wenl part

piiOlS, a large percentage of lhem slraighl from

of lhe way lo wresling control of lhe air from

nying school wilh no combal experience,

lhe Fokkers. I t was laler joined by lhe Spad

were unable lo cope Wilh lhe radical change of

VII, which had a synchronized Vickers gun,

laClics needed lO cope Wilh lhe E series. Those

and the combination soon wrested superiority

who did nOl come back had become 'Fokker

from lhe Germans over lhe soulhern part of

Fodder'. On 27 February 1 9 1 6, however, No.

lhe Weslern Front.

24 Squadron arrived in France.

Il was

A DH2 from 29 Squadron manoeuvres for position in an encounter with a Fokker Elndekker dunng the $omme offenSIVe of 1 9 1 6.

40 + A C E S

H I G H

The Infamous Fokker EI fighter fitted with a Spandau machlne·gun on top of the fuselage and fired with the Fokker Interrupter gear. With this plane, the German Air Force obtained superiority over the Alhed air forces In the winter of 1 91 5/16.

equipped with the first British single-seat

February before

fighter, the De Havilland 2, and was under

operational, a BE2C on a reconnaissance

the command or the third airman LO win a

sonie had had to receive an escon of no less

Victoria Cross, Major Lanoe G. Hawker. The

than twelve other machines. RFC doctrine

DH2 was a 'pusher', as Britain still had no

still stated that fighters should defend general

synchronizing gear, but it was agile, and so

purpose machines from a position of close

more than a match for the Fokker. The tide

escon, but enterprising pilots realized that it

was beginning to tum. Fighting alongside the

was more efficient to go and 'look for the

DH2 was the cumbersome but immensely

enemy than wait for him to find you'. Thus

strong FE2, which also proved itself capable of

were born the offensive fighter tactics that

dealing with the Fokker. And from May the

took the Allies over the German lines during

French staned supplying Britain with the

the rest of the war. Even when the tide was

ieupon I I in small numbers, when they

turning against it, the RFC was to be found on

could afford to release them.

o. 24 Squadron had become

the east of the lines.

With the arrival of these new fighters, the

As the year progressed, the superiority that

RFC staned to develop offensive tactics as a

the Allies now enjoyed was further enhanced

means or derending two-seat reconnaissance

by even beller machines. On the British side,

machines, which were still a very ineffectual

the excellent Sopwith 1 '12 'Struller' two-seat

breed on the Allied side. For example, early in

fighter/reconnaissance machine, equipped

B " C

K

G R 0 U N O

1 9 1 5

-

1 6

+ 41

with a synchronized Vickers for the pilot and a Lewis for the observer appeared early in the year - easily the best two-seater on either side so far. It was joined in September by the delightful Sopwith Pup, a scaled-down single 'pup' of the I 'll Strutter. And the French supplemented the Bebes of their Escadrilles de

Chasse with an updated version, the N ieuport 1 7 , from March onwards. The Germans were also developing new types, notably the Halberstadt D series in autumn 1 9 1 5 and spring 1 9 1 6, the Fokker Dl in the summer and the Albatros Dl and II with its new twin-gun armament, in the autumn. With the last, Germany once again began to gain the ascendancy over the Western Front. Not only German machines, but also German organization and tactics had under­ gone changes in the summer and autumn of 1 9 1 6. First of all, the lessons of the KalllpJeill­

sitzerllOlIllllalldo had been digested. Then, in

commander, or KogellluJt, was General Ernst

August, a new tactical fighter unit of fourteen

von Hoeppner, with Hennann Thomsen, now

aircraft, the jagdstaJJel

(jasw) or fighter

a colonel, as Chief-of-Staff and Wilhelm

squadron, was introduced. Boelcke had long

iegert as /djlieg. Returning to the tactical

been in favour of this, and he was given

aspect of the Gennan reorganization, it is

command of the first one to be formed,jasLa 2.

worth noting that an event overshadowed by

This became operational in September 1 9 1 6

the arrival of the Fokker, but hardly less

and by April 1 9 1 7 thirty-seven had been

important, was the development of German

formed. But on 28 October 1 9 1 6, Boelcke

infantry support tactics, or contact patrols. In

himself, the father and mentor of the idea, was

the absence of any type of 'walkie talkie' radio

killed in an air accident, when he collided with

in the First World War, divisional corps and

another member of his jasta, which was later

army commanders found it very difficult to

renamed jasta Boelelle in his honour. Boelcke's

keep track of the position of their forward

lessons had been well learnt, however, as the

troops during an attack, and consequently in

original members of his jasta 2 were soon

gun-laying or any form of support by other

commanding successful jastas of their own.

ground troops or artillery. Thus, aircraft came

One of these was the youthful Manfred von

to be used for the task of establishing contact

Richthofen, who commandedjasta I I .

with forward units, as in the Battle of Verdun.

Another event of importance for the

An elaborate system of visual codes was

German effort in the air was the establishment

arranged,

and

each

division

had

its

of the Deutschell LuJtstreit!"aJte or German Air

FliegerableilulIg IIIJallterie. At first, ordinary C

Force. Set up on 8 October 1 9 16, its first

class machines such as the DFW CV and LVG

The end of Immel man. His personal Fokker after his fatal crash in June 1 9 1 6.

DH2 'pusher' Biplane of 32 Squadron taking off from Ven Galand airfield In Nonhern France. Above: A

Left: Flieg"",bteilung

62, Doual, 20 January 1 9 1 6. In centre, Oswald BoelcKe, Hermann Kastner and Max lmmelmann.

B A C K G R 0

U

"I 0

CII were used, but their extreme vulnerability

and while the new generation of Allied

to ground fire soon led to armour-plate being

fighters (the SE5, Sopwith Camel and Spad

filled around the engine, fuel tanks and crew

XIII) was being developed, the Germans put

compartment, while proper armoured contact

the sleek, shark-like Albatros DI and II into

patrol aircraft (the J class) were designed. The

service, and were about to introduce the even

idea was soon copied by the Allies.

beller

The scene was now set for the next major development in aerial fighting. The Fokker Scourge had risen and eventually been beaten,

0111

'Vee-Struller, which was to bring

about the decimation of the RFC during 'Bloody April'.

1 9 1 5

-

16

+ 43

The ZeppelinS were highly Inflammable and defenceless against fighter aircraft. Here a BE2C flown by lieutenant Sowrey Intercepts a Zeppelin l32 on 23 September 1 9 1 6.

.... + A C E S

H I G H

2 M a c h i ne s

Take the cylinder out of my kidneys, The connecting rod out of my brain, my brain, From the small of my back take the camshaft And assemble the engine again. RFC MESS SONG

Morane Monoplane fitted with a deflector airscrew. The major problem of fitting a machine-gun on the fuselage in a position where it could easily be aimed by the pilot was that at the same time it was In a poSition to strike the propeller blades. One solution was to fit strengthened metal blades which, It was hoped, might deflect the bullets.

I

n those days designers were still inhibited

under the maximum stresses that a skilled

by the development of the engines that

pilot could impose upon them in the air. Long

drove their craft. The majority looked

dives would strip the fabric from the wing

upon their product as a sailplane with its own

surfaces; tail planes would shear in a zoom or

motive power, rather than as a projectile

too tight a !Urn; undercarriage gear would

containing a man and a gun. An aeroplane is

snap on contact with the ground if the angle

by definition something heavier than air. The

of approach were misjudged.

designers were at pains to keep this disparity

But as compensation for these failings, the

as low as possible and the results were two­

aeroplanes did possess a delightful buoyancy.

fold: while the human body is so constructed

Their take-off and landing from rough and

that it cannot sustain fatal injury in a collision

sloping grass fields were, by today's standards,

at any speed up to the maximum of which it is

quite incredible. They could glide a consider­

capable under its own motive power, this was

able distance if starting from some altitude

very far from the case with the early aircraft.

and this saved many lives. Even though the

Of course they could never be expected to

engines were unreliable, the majority of pilots

resist collision with other objects, but they did

became profiCient at handling their aeroplane

not even have the strength to hold together

down

to

the

nearest grass patch

in a

- ------

being used by 98 Squadron to train pilots for day-bombing duties. prior to departure for France.

Avro 504Ks

'dead-stick' condition. Often at the end of a

indicated what were, strictly speaking, single­

day's mission, pilots would turn off the engine

set fighters. The aeroplanes were in most cases

at a great height after crossing their lines and

unarmed and if by chance they should meet in

gUide the aeroplane down, gently losing

the sky they would ignore each other. Their

height through the evening sunlight with only

enemies were the weather, the imperfect skill

the sound of wind in the spars and rigging.

of the pilots, and the craft's structural weak­

In

the

nes es, and a long way behind these three,

evolution of the aeroplanes passed through

occasional bursts of inaccurate groundfire

four distinct stages, and with each develop­

from hostile (or friendly) soldiers.

ment

terms

of military technology,

complete

ascendancy

passed

to

whichever side had anticipated it.

But

very qUickly

the

ingenuity

and

enthusiasm of the pilots began to extend the

At first the aeroplane was used solely for

role of the aeroplane into the second stage of

intelligence Scouts - a description that later

its evolution. The crews would take up

o

I

DH 2

5'

!

48 + A c E S

H I G H

Right: lewIS gun mounted In the forward nacelle of an FE Biplane. The lewis gun was Invented by an American, Colonel Isaac Newton lewiS, and was mounted on the early fighter planes. It had serious drawbacks on single-seater planes: the gun wasn't within easy reach of the pilot If It developed a blockage dUring flight; or to replace an empty drum the pilot had to stand up In the cockpIt. Below: German two­ seater observation plane showing a Parabellum machine-gun and mounting.

revolvers or stalking rines and take pot-shots

combine a forward-firing machine-gun and a

either at hostile aircraft or at enemy soldiers

high-speed Single-seater aircraft would enable

on the ground. Some of them would take up

the squadrons thus eqUipped to establish an

hand grenades or eighteen-pounder shells

immediate

fined with makeshift fins, and when they had

unwieldy two-seaters with lheir restricted fire.

crossed the enemy lines they would lean over

One of the chief difficulties in designing an

the side of the aeroplane and drop the missiles

interrupter gear was that ordinary machine­

by hand. It was only a maner of time before

gun ammunition did not have a preCisely

machine-guns began to find their way into

uniform period of ignition; hand-fire rounds

aeroplanes, though initially only as the

would occur unpredictably, and if the pilot

observer's weapon on two-seaters.

was out of luck these would strike his

superiority

over

the

more

But the machine-gun was a heavy weapon

airscrew. As early as 1 9 1 3, a German, Franz

and it consumed a lot of ammunition. More­

Schneider of the LVG, had deSigned an inter­

over, its field of fire was severely restricted by

rupter mechanism and taken out a patent.

the structural outline of the aeroplane itself,

However. for some reason the German mili­

particularly by the airscrew, which, in front­

tary authorities refused to supply him with a

engined planes, made it impossible to use a

machine-gun on which to run field tests. I n

machine-gun except in the three-quarter rear

the meantime, Raymond Saulnier had been

field. Plainly the first deSigner who could

conducting parallel experiments in France.

An FE8 from 41 Squadron crosses the Allied hnes after a patrol over the Somme battle· field In October 1916.

Saulnier had become impatient with hang-fire

propeller moves into its line of fire, a series of

failures and had circumvented this by fitting

mechanical

steel deneclion plates on the propeller blade

propeller interrupts the aClion of the gun until

where its arc crossed the line of the gun; and

the propeller blade is out of the line of fire. In

this device, though clumsy, was none the less

the synchronizer, when the lrigger is pressed,

a great advance. But, as in Germany, the mili­

nOlhing occurs until the propeller is safe, and

tary authorities losl interest at the oUlbreak of

then the engine-driven gear, either mechani­

war and made Saulnier return his gun.

cally or hydraulically, completes the circuil

Gears lO allow a machine-gun to fire

linkages

opera led

from

the

necessary to make the gun fire.

through the disc swept by the propeller fall

After three months of war, the pilols were

into two categories - the interrupter and lhe

unanimous in their desire for freedom to fire

synchronizer. The former works on lhe

fixed machine-guns in the direction of nighl.

follOWing prinCiple: when the trigger is

For lhey had soon realized that it was difficult

pressed, the machine-gun fires, and when lhe

enough to ny the aeroplane at all, and keep

M A C H I N

OUI of lrouble in combal, withoul having 10

fighters from Ihe Fokker faclory. The

manoeuvres al Ihe bidding of the 'gunner' who

Crown Prince of Bavaria visited our aero­

was trying

drome

10

gel Ihe enemy aeroplanes in his

10

see Ihese new fighling machines

sights. If Ihe pilol by aiming Ihe aircraft could

and inspecled us and Section 20. Direktor

also be aiming Ihe gun, his task would be

Fokker, Ihe construClOr of this fighler, was

greatly simplified and his speed of reaction

presenled

Ihus doubled.

Parschau gave demonslralion flights for

Lieulenant Roland Garros, who had been a famou

tunl pilol before the war in Morane­

Saulnier

Monoplanes,

visited

10

him. Fokker and a lelllllallt

him and fired al ground targets from Ihe air. Fokker amazed us with his abilily.

Raymond

Saulnier in December of 1 9 1 4 and arranged

10

And by Ihe firsl week of July eleven of Ihe

have his own aeroplane fiued oul with Ihe

leading German pilots were flying Fokker EI

new device for a forward-firing machine-gun.

Single-seaters, derived

The interrupler gear was nOI fiued, Garros

equipped with Ihe forward-firing Parabellum.

relying on the defleclion plates only

Their effect was as dramatic as that of Garros's

10

ward

off the bullets thaI would otherwise have struck his airscrew. The work proceeded al a

from

the

M

5K,

- only multiplied lenfold. In these early days of aerial combat, pilots

leisurely pace and it was not unlil Ihe end of

had been conditioned

March thaI Garros look

were immune from enemy bullets when their

10

the air. BUI his

10

believe that they

success was immediale and eleclrifying. I n

adversary was bearing down on them. For

jusl over a fortnight he had shol down five

many their last visual memory on earth was of

German aeroplanes - an unprecedented score

the liule orange flickering that appeared

for Ihal period. BUl an 1 9 April he was broughl

above and very slightly to the right of the

down by ground fire while strafing a column

Fokker's propeller boss as it opened fire.

of enemy infantry on a road near Counrai. Garros's auempts

10

sel fire

10

his aeroplane

were un uccessful and the Germans immedi­ ately sel aboul copying and modifying it. On Ihe evening of Ihe day following Garros's downfall his armoured airscrew was already in Anthony Fokker's workshop being rna led

10

a brand new Parabellum machine­

gun. By 20 May Ihe Fokker team's adaptation of Ihe device inlO a lrue interrupler gear had been fiued

10

IWO of their new single-sealer

monoplanes (Fokker M 5K) and these were then sent on a demonstration tour of opera­ tional unilS. Max Immelmann.

31

lhal lime an unknown

squadron pilol at Douai, wrOle:

51

We have just gOl two small one-seater

aller Iheir course and execule

repealedly

ES +

100

Roland Garros. the French aViator who was the first to fit hiS plane With Saulnier's new device for a forward· firing machine-gun.

52 + A C E 5

HIG H

Anthony Fokker, the bnlhant young Dutch pilot and designer, who Invented the synchronized machine-gun (with the help of Saulnier's deflector airscrew which had fallen Into German hands).

The appearance of the Fokker transformed

overcoming it. (Moreover, the date of this

the balance of power in the air. For some

particular escort, 7 February 1 9 16, is not

months there was literally no answer save that

associated with any particular incident or

of swamping the enemy by sheer numbers -

period of activity on the ground and it is

the counterpart of 'stopping bullets with

unlikely that the reconnaissance was of more

bodies' on the ground - or, in rare cases, pilots

than routine importance.)

utilizing superior flying skill to evade pursuit. For example, the log of

Had the Fokkers been more numerous and

o. 1 2 Squadron

had the Germans deployed them in greater

shows that an escort for one reconnaissance

concentration, the RFC would probably have

BE2C was made up of three other BE2Cs, four

been faced with annihilation. Fortunately for

FE2Bs, four REBs and one Bristol Scout. This

the British, however, the bulk of the Fokker

was an extraordinarily cumbersome and waste­

strength was drawn south to the battlefields of

ful way of operating the air arm, because all

Verdun and the RFC was allowed a breathing

these aircraft except the FE2B, which had a

space while it awaited the arrival of a new

lewis gun for the observer in the front of the

generation of aircraft.

nacelle, were virtually incapable of engaging in

The Fokker's strength lay in its unique

combat ,vith the Fokker, much less actually

ability to fire through the propeller; the

M A C H 1 N E 5 +

aeroplane itselr was somewhat rrail and

aircraft. However, the Fokker's success at the

underpowered. The LOrsional strength or a

rront was so marked that the ldjlieg was

single wing was dangerously inrerior LO that or

compelled to allow the resumption or training,

a trussed biplane, and the wires and the upright

but they stipulated that it was to be done at the

upper and lower pylons on the ruselage with

Fokker flying school at Schwerin. The first

which Anthony Fokker had tried LO brace the

group of trainees were sent there from Doberitz

wing surraces were vulnerable to hostile fire and

in OCLOber 1 9 1 5 .

to the exceptional buffeting that might rollow a violent manoeuvre or pulling out or a dive.

Furthermore, t h e 100 h . p .

53

Oberursel

engine could only just drive the Fokker at 80

These characteristics gave the Fokker an

m.p.h. and the production or the 160 h.p.

awesome reputation among the German

engine which raised its maximum to 100

pilots. In July 1 9 1 5 some or the production

m.p.h. was very slow. Several Fokkers were

aircrart were sent to the flying school at

filled with captured 92 h.p. Le Rhone engines,

Doberitz ror use as training aircrart. On 27

which greatly improved their perrormance

July one crashed ratally, and a second Fokker

(and emphasized the somewhat theoretical

pilot was killed on the 3 1 st. After a third

quality or the Oberursel's claimed 100 h.p.).

Fokker ratality on 29 August the ldjlieg

In the spring or 1916 the Fokker myth

disbanded the Doberitz Fokker unit, sent the

began LO disintegTate. The first or the Nieupons

aircrart back to the Fokker works at Schwerin

(the Nieuport 1 1 , or 8ebe) had made their

and grounded the monoplanes as service

appearance in the skies over Verdun and as

German pilots In front of their Albatros OVs at a briefing before take-off.

54 "' A c E S

H I G H

The machine·gun arrangement of the Fokker EIII used by Oswald Boelcke. Note the curvature of the ammunition belt.

their numbers rose so the Fokkers become

The third stage of evolution coincided with

more and more chary of battle. In the north the

the Battle of the Somme, through the long,

British had captured one and found that:

baking hot summer of 1 9 1 6 . British output of aircraft had increased in spectacular fashion,

.. .it was perfectly orthodox, and there

as had recruitment into the RFC. Although

remained only to put it up against a British

still hampered by lack of a powerful purpose­

Scout

to judge its performance. The

built engine, the Royal Aircraft Establishment

Morane Bullet was chosen, and the two

had managed to purchase a consignment of

machines were run out on the aerodrome,

second-hand French engines, which they

side by side. All the General Staff assem­

fitted to their new airframe, the DH2. The

bled to watch the test. Both machines took

DH2 was a 'pusher' of the old box-kite

off together, and it was immediately clear

configuration that had killed so many trainees

that the Morane was all over the Fokker. I t

in Shorthorn form and was soon to become

climbed quicker, it was faster on the level,

obsolete; it acquired an evil and somewhat

and when the two machines began a mock

undeserved

fight over the aerodrome, the Morane had

squadrons as the 'spinning incinerator'. But

everything its own way. A cheer went up

for a few months the DH2 did attain a kind of

from the ground. The bogey was laid. A

ascendancy. Its rear-mounted engine allowed a

description of the machine, its size, power,

clear field of fire for the Lewis gun in the nose

capabilities, was circulated at once to

and, more important, an unrestricted rate of

everyone in the Corps. I t did a great deal to

fire. (For all interrupter and synchroniZing

raise the morale and prepare the way for

devices greatly restricted the gun's rate.) The

the Allied air supremacy later that year.

tactics of the RFC during this summer were,

reputation

among

the

line

M A C H I N E S + 55

in aerial terms, the counterpart of Sir Douglas

be developed to lift two machine-guns, the

Haig's repetitive frontal assaults on the ground.

'pusher's' faster rate of fire would be more than

But thanks to the diversion of the Fokkers

discounted.

southwards, the symbolic victory of an FE2B

A few lucky RFC pilots, among them such

gunner named Corporal j. H. Waller over

future aces as Albert Ball and James McCud­

lmmelmann on 18 June 1 9 1 6, the dash and

den, managed to get their hands on the latest

courage of units such as Lanoe Hawker's No.

French Scout built to this principle, the

H Squadron, they did succeed in establishing

port 1 7 . Almost as fortunate were the flyers in

a transient supremacy - although at a high cost

the RNAS who were being issued with the tiny

in lives.

but phenomenally agile Sopwith Pup fighter.

ieu­

Vet the principles of the DH2 design were

The first British aeroplane to carry a

obsolete before it was even put into service

forward-firing gun with a synchronized device

(and indeed were to remain so until the

was another Sopwith - the 1 '12 Strutter. This

advent of the jet engine, which applies its

also had a rearward-firing gun for the

power in 'thrust' from the rear instead of 'pull'

observer, as it was a reconnaissance fighter.

from the front). The French had already seen

The 1 '12 Strutter had only a short life as

the importance of a front-mounted engine

a dominant weapon before the arrival of the

from

first true

the

point

of view

of speed

and

manoeuvrability; once sufficient power could

two-gun fighter, the

German

Albatros D l , which completely outclassed it.

The $opwith 1 '/2 Strutter, the first British aeroplane to carry a forward-firing gun with Ross interrupter gear. FIring at 300 rounds per minute It was outclassed by the Albatros, whose twin guns had a firing rate of 2.000 rounds per minute.

56 + A c E S

H I G H

The Nleuport 1 7, an updated version of the Nleuport Bebe, was brought into the service In the summer of 1 91 6. Its chief distinction over the Bebe was that It was armed with a synchro­ nized Vickers gun In addition to the Lewis on the top wing. The British Nleuports, however, retained the Lewis gun as the only standard armament. T. O. M. Sopwith would soon adopt this configuration to produce the famous 'Camel'.

The Struller was then relegated to bombing

Charm, sweetness, agility, all these quali­

and reconnaissance roles, but the pilot loyalty

ties were possessed by the Sopwiths and the

it inspired was intense: 'They were delightful

Nieuports and made them beloved of their

aeroplanes to ny and beautiful to look at. On

pilots. But in a fighting machine these

the ground when taxi-ing to take-off, they

qualities are not entirely pre-eminent. I n

looked like brown butternies; in the air they

Germany a perfect fighting machine - the

were alive and

Albatros D - was under development, and

full

of grace, charming

companions of the clouds.'

from the date of its first appearance it naunted

The 1 '/2 Struller had a Single machine-gun

an absolute superiority, until, nearly a year

fitted with the Ross interrupter gear that

later, the antidote had been contrived. This

restricted its rate of fire to 300 rounds per

Albatros marked the beginning of the fourth

minute (compared with over 1 ,000 rounds per

stage in the evolution of fighting machines.

minute from the Albatros's twin Spandaus). I n

The Albatros D series machine was a

addition, the Ross gear was very prone to

beaUliful and deadly biplane. Developed from

jamming. However, the earlier examples left

the

the normal ground trigger on the Vickers so

reconnaissance machines and some special

that in a really tight comer the pilot could

plywood-covered racing planes of the pre-war

squeeze this and double his firepower at the

era, it was filled with the 160 h.p. water-cooled

risk of shallering his airscrew.

Mercedes engine, which allowed better stream­

same

builders'

successful

series

of

Perhaps the plane's gliding and handling

lining (and thus higher speed in dive and

ability encouraged this drastic expedient.

climb) at the expense of some slight reduction

The messes of 1 '12 Strutter squadrons were

in manoeuvrability. Its twin Spandau machine­

plentifully adorned with whole and sheared

guns gave it the highest rate of fire of any

propeller

wood,

aeroplane in senrice at lhat time. Furthermore,

laminated walnut or mahogany, was often

the impact of the Albatros was magnified by the

carved into ornaments, tobacco jars, mounts

way in which the Germans deployed it. Instead

for clocks and barometers.

of distributing them a few at a time all along the

blades.

The

beautiful

M A C H 1 N E 5 + 57

front, they were grouped in Jagdstaffelll (abbre­ viated to Jastas) or 'hunting squadrons' whose express purpose was LO seek Oul and destroy enemy aircraft - that is, without the conslraint of escort, reconnaissance. and other missions. The double impact of this deadly new aero­ plane and the manner in which it had been entrusted LO picked groups of elite nyers was LO cut a \vide swathe through the ranks of the Royal Flying Corps in the months that followed. Many of its bravest pilots, the gifted and imaginative pioneers of its early fonnation, officers who might have played critical parts in its expansion, were to perish under the guns of the Albatros. If the passing of the Fokker's ascendancy was symbolized by the death of Immelmann, then it is still more true to say that the lethal Manfred von Richthofen: 'When I have shot down an Englishman my hunting passion is satIsfied for a quarter of an hour.'

advent of the Albatros was marked by the long and

gruelling

final

encounter

between

Manfred von Richthofen, the man destined to be ace of aces of the First World War with eighty vicLOries, and Lanoe Hawker.

hear that single, fatal crack above the roar of

Of all the early fighting pilots, it was Lanoe

their own engines and the sound of adjoining

Hawker who had the supreme mastery of his

combat. By the time that the second genera­

machine. He was a superlative shot and in the

tion of 'pusher' aeroplanes arrived that were LO

earliest days had mounted a Westley Richards

sweep the Fokker Monoplane from the sky

.300 ingle-shot deer-stalking rine on a rigid

over the Somme, word had spread through the

bracket outrigged LO clear the airscrew, and

whole German air service of this remarkable

with this antiquated weapon had managed LO

Englishman with the moustache who could

score several confirmed destructions. So

make his aeroplane perfonn such prodigies of

perfect was Hawker's aim and so beautifully

manoeuvre and evasion.

co-ordinated were his LOuch and judgment at

But time passed, development advanced,

the controls of the aircraft, that he could fire a

the sleek and speedy Albatros arrived on

Single denection shot ,vith the deer-stalker

the scene in ever increasing numbers. The

that would wound a vital pan of the enemy

DH2s had to fight ever harder and their

engine or penetrate the skull of its pilot. His

obsolescence became daily more appareot.

victories against machine-gun-armed planes

Only Hawker's incredible nying skill saved

had LO the enemy a mysterious and terrifying

him from death when cornered by groups of

quality, for their planes seemed just to fall out

Gennan pilots nying new machines. Twice he

of the sky for no reason. Used LO the deadly

was shot down and once wounded. With each

claller of machine-gun fire, they could not

week that passed the strain increased. The

58 + A c E S

H I G H

The gradual decimation of Hawker's valiant o. 24 Squadron and his own ultimate fate are still less excusable when it is recalled that the instruments that might have allowed them lO survive, namely the new Sopwith Triplane (or even the agile little Pup itself) were being flown by the R AS in the northern seClOr of the front where the Germans respectfully gave them a wide berth. Hawker's fame among the enemy was such that all the pilots of the newly forming Jastas were eager to pit their skill against him (though whether they would have been so keen had he been known as the pilot of a Triplane is another question). During the winter months of 1 9 1 6, several had the opportunity and some did not survive the encounter. But then on 1 6 November, Hawker fell in with Richthofen - a man cunning enough lo avoid, even for a split second, the kind of error that would give Hawker the opportunity either lo exploit his brilliant aim or to escape the clutches of the Albatros. Again and again the two aircraft turned in near vertical banks. Each time Hawker's skill and delicacy in throttling back at the apex of the turn and allowing the DH2 lo side-slip for brief seconds, caused him to slide out of the German's sights at the critical moment. Then, briefly, Hawker could put the nose of the DH2 down in a dive, and seize a few precious yards Major Lanoe Hawker, the first and one of the greatest of the Bntlsh aces, who fell to Rlchthofen's guns on 23 November 1 9 1 6.

moment from which there could be no escape

of direct flight homeward. But sickeningly

drew nearer.

soon the superior power of the Albatros

How unbelievable it is that this brave and

allowed it to catch up and the deadly turning

talented man should have been condemned to

process was repeated. For each time that

fly one patrol after another in machinery that

Hawker weaved his way out of Richthofen's

had become totally outclassed - the very

sights, he lost precious altitude, and each time

counterpart in the air of that extravagant and

that he lost altitude he used up his reserve of

obstinate butchery that was repeatedly being

speed and distance for the bolt home.

ordered on the ground, where brave men were

After what seemed an age - fifteen

being sent to certain death in pointless and

or twenty minutes - lhe duellisLS were al

repetitive attacks on the same strongpoint.

ground level, the DH2 could tum no more.

M A C H 1 N E S -fl

59

Lieutenant w. C. Cambray Me demonstrates the technique needed to protect this fE2d of 20 Squadron in 1 9 1 7. The pilot has a forward-firing Lewis gun, as does Cambray. To protect his tail he had to stand and use this pole-mounted weapon. In a pitching, rolling dog-fight his feet are just below the rim of the cockpit and he has no seat belt. Note the camera on the left of the nacelle and the bomb racks underneath. The object on the top of the wing - and in danger of being shot off - is the gravity-feed fuel tank.

Desperately Hawker weaved and soared round

his nose round and meet his enemy head on.

tall trees and over farm buildings. Once an air

But Richthofen opened his thronle and the

pocket wafted the DH2 vertically some

enormous margin of power in the Mercedes

precious hundred feet and Hawker could dive

engine drew the Albat�os on top of its target,

again. But the last seconds of his life were

now at maximum exposure and almost

ebbing away. The Albatros stood off at a

motionless in its steep bank. One long burst

distance of about sixty yards, waiting. This

raked across the engine and on Hawker's head,

time there would be no escape. As the

shoulders and knees. The DH2 fell like a

Albatros closed in for the kill Hawker gave full

SLOne, bursting into names as it hit the ground.

left rudder in a last despairing effort to bring

60 + A c E S

H I G H

3 Ta c t i c s

I f by some delightful chance, When you're flying out in France, Some old Boche machine you meet, Very slow and obsolete, Don't turn round to watch your tail, Tricks like that are getting stale; Just put down your bally nose, And murmur, 'Chaps, here goes ! ' (TO TIlE TUNE OF 'TONIGIlT'S

In 1 9 1 8 the RFC started to Issue illustrative diagrams to help new pilots to anticipate the sort of tactics deployed in combat. Far too often In previOus years pilots had gone to the Front not knowing what to expect. This diagram shows three German planes pursuing a British 'Scout', reinforcing the cautionary verse at the head of this chapter.

E

THE

IGHT')

ven the most experienced pilot could

two-seater it was different. Heavier, more

be

his

stable and slower, their response was less agile

attention had been absorbed by a

and usually their pilots were less experienced

target on the ground or by stalking another

in combat, having been trained ror ground

enemy at a lower altitude. In that Hrst instant

observation

when the hammer blows or a Spandau burst

protection they depended upon the observer

rocked his ruselage, only immediate rudder,

and his ring-mounled machine-gun (lewis or

joystick and thronle rorward in a steep diving

Parabellum). But the observer,

llIrn could save his lire. It had to be a renex

to perrorm - duties that were at their most

aClion. The inexperienced would 'freeze' in

pressing when the aircrart was over the target

terror or waste precious mths or a second

area, that is, when the danger or interception

looking round lert and right to see where the

was also at its most critical.

surprised,

particularly

ir

enemy was coming from.

and

navigation.

100,

For

their

had duties

For a high-altitude interception the most

The pilolS or the single-seaters could thus

ravoured tactic was to approach the two­

save themselves even arter being surprised

seaters from below and to the rear where the

and come back 10 Hght again (though with the

'blind-spot', particularly when the plane was

disadvantage or a lower altitude). But ror the

in straight and level night, would errectively

,

r.=l �

-

IB A O Lo o pl lU..IHW1 CHANGO: IN DIR[C11OH AT VERY HIGH se£.!,Qs GIVE AISE TO EXCESSIVE AND

POSSIBI..Y

DANGEROUS STRAINS. IN rLATT'£NING OUT rROM A DIVE OR GOING INTO A LOOP AT HIGH SP££O THE STICK MU5'T NOT BE JEAKEO

BACK aUT �LLI[D

SLOWLY AT P"IAST IN OADER THAT THE. CURVE MAY

Ie.

.-..uA L

WHEAE nt E SPEED lS "I". ,..,_n. _ _ _ ..-u. ......

� ,...;:.: � :... of�;r

Diagram showing good and bad looping techniques.

mask the assailant. When the Scouts attacked

more

or less at will.

Funhermore, lhe

in pairs the technique was for one to dislract

majority of lwo-sealer crews were relatively

the observer's attention. usually by a broad­

inexperienced. and had received only a brief

side attack, opening fire at very long range.

theoretical background to the finer points of

while the killer approached from below

air-to-air combat. Yet the fact remains that a

closing the distance to the optimum figure of

team of skilful pilots and gunners with steady

thirty metres.

nerves could be formidable. Many of the

Where a Single-seater was attacking by

highest-soaring aces - Guynemer. Richthofen.

itself. it would normally do so in a dive out of

Lufbery - fell victim to a resolute rear gunner.

the sun. although accurate positioning of this

Tactical skill was a composite of many

kind LOok considerable flying experience and a

things: awareness of clouds and wind; private

high degree of concentration. Towards the end

deceptions and bluff; cool nerves and speed of

of the war the habit spread among rear gunners

reaction; but above all. flying skill. sensitivity

of mounting a sheet of mirror lO swing in

to the aircraft's response (which involved

parallel with the gun ring and if this could be

complete knowledge of acceleration. rate of

focused accurately even for a split second. it

roll, climb and turn and height-holding

would completely dazzle the attacking pilot.

ability) and keen vision. This last was as much

The extra speed and agility of the single­

a matter of experience and intuition as of pure

seaters should have made it easy for a skilled

phYSical efficiency. There was a certain way of

pilot to pick off his cumbersome adversary

looking at the ground or sky. a manner of

T A C T l c s + 63

focusing that allowed experienced pilots to

for a sudden change of course. Pilots learned

notice the minute and menacing specks of

to estimate the strength of clouds, their size

hostile aircraft; and until this had been

and direction, and whether they were growing

mastered, all novices were at risk.

or diminishing.

Spring and early summer of 1 9 1 7

that

On three days out of five the west wind

period when the RFC suffered the most

prevailed, and fights that started at altitude

grievously under the flail of the Albatros

would, as the contestants lost height, gradu­

Circuses - were marked by much cloud.

ally work their way over the fighting zone and

-

To the early airmen cloudland was a new

deep into German-held territory. Speeds, even

world; to the imaginative few, it became an

at maximum, were low and the differentials

enchanted land, the fairytale of childhood

correspondingly small. In level flight, few

dreams come true.

aircraft had a margin of more than ten or

To the fighting airmen clouds were signifi­

fifteen m.p.h. over their enemy. Anyone who

cant above all else. They meant the chance to

has driven a car fast over an empty, undulating

stalk and trap, but also, carried from within

road and tried to catch and overtake another

their soft and towering cliffs, the threat of

of similar performance some little distance

being taken by surprise. Skilled pilots learned

ahead, will have an idea of the closing pace in

how to fly just within the c1oudfringe.

aerial combat in

Invisible from below and yet able to scan the

Judgment and experience were vital i n

sky beneath them, it was important to know

determining the angle o f dive in a pursuit; i f

in evasion how soon a cloud would give cover

too steep, the allacker might pass below his

the

First World War.

Diagram showing the dangers of an enemy plane attacking 'out of the sun' working in partnership with a decoy plane.

6� + A c E S

H I G H

Diagram showing what not to do In case of engine failure.

intended victim and lose precious time in

By lhe lime Bloody April of 1 9 1 7 came

climbing again; if too shallow, he mighl alen

round, lhe very high casual lies lhal lhe lwo­

his prey before closing wilhin range and il too

sealers were suffering had lefl few crews

would have lime in which to Slan diving.

Wilh proper combal experience. The arm)"s

A number of lhe German Jasra piiOlS

insistence on continuous 'orrensive' patrols

including LOlhar von Richlhofen (lhe brolher

and lhe lOlal obsolescence of lheir equipmem

of Manfred) and Werner Voss had slaned lheir

were causing squadron casuallies of approxi­

careers as observers and knew lhe kinds of

malely lhiny per cem per week. For example,

lricks lhal would upsel a lwo-sealer crew. If he

Manfred von Richlhofen's log for 1 3 April

IN

CASE OF ENGINE

DON'T TURN BACK DOWN

AT ONCE

SORT OF A

AND

LANDING

MAKE

1 9 1 7 shows a cenified claim for an FE2B al

would open fire early, in shan burslS, and

8.58 a.m., 1 2.45 p.m. and 7.35 p.m. on lhal

the nervous two-seater pilot would start a

day - lhal is, on each of his lhree palrols. Yel

premalure

falally

in his lOlal score, Richlhofen included only

slowing his own plane and allowing lhe

lhree SE5A Single-sealers, nol claiming lhe

enemy to close lo a proper slriking dislance.

firsl one umil 30 November 1 9 1 7 , more lhan

aClion,

lhus

SOME

A H E AD.

lhoughl his enemy mighl escape, Richlhofen

avoiding

FAILURE

PUT HER NOSE

T A C T I C 5 +

six months after they became operational. The Germans could not understand the

65

just after the laller had been issued with one of the new Fokker Triplanes:

way in which the British aeroplanes daily came over the lines lO be shot down. 'il is

I saw the triplane curve in behind his tail

bener if the customers come to the shop', was

I McMaking, another pilot in Macmillan's

Richthofen's dry commenl. 'Certainly they are

Sopwith Camel Squadron I

brave, but it is bravery that has a touch of

instantly at il. Before my Sights were

foolishness about il.' Combat against the

centred I fired a brief burst because I knew

French he dismissed lightly: 'In a Frenchman,

most Huns reacted to the warning sound of

bravery is quite exceptional and if you do

bullets Oying near them. This fellow,

meet it, it is like a glass of lemonade and very

however, was of a different breed. He

soon goes Oal.'

looked round at me and I saw his black

and dived

....�J(INC CONSISTS r:K ITAl.UNC THE ""'CHIN[ JUST MOV[ TH[ 9U�rAC[ Dr TH[ CAOUND A�D OROPPINC THE IIDlAIMHC a OR 4 n:tTWfTH AI UTT\...E F'UIIWAAO .!'CtO AS 1'05S18L!C.. " I'IlHCAlCt UNDiNe II _ON JIOUCH �NO.1lAHD -IttC OOIIM. WATDt I:TC...WH£R(NI 0IIl)IHAR'( LANDINe WQlA.D Rq; ULT FH" SOM�T llIt ILWSllI.lTlON IS IHTDI ·DEDAS .. WAJlHlNC ACAIMST PIUI -cAKlNC � 100 CIIUTI. MDCHT OR'\.vac;,_ TlI[ 1lIICIt.tIi1ll[ oP'I'06I'IT. £IlIIOR or 4TlDjmlltl TO"'uHo ao..aw TlICCIIOUNO' 1$ OP'L£M f1ItlIUEKT OCCURRDa. TK:IUCH fT MA'I' at _t O�· ItOUS IN ITS IIESUl.Ta.

'j:,.:::.�.:::, . •

Diagram showing the dangers of a 'pancake' landing from too great a height.

With every adversary against whom a pilot

leather helmeted and begoggled face above

actually duelled (as distinct from surprising

his left shoulder as he swerved slightly lO

out of the blue and killing at one stroke)

one side then looked ahead again and

Richthofen established a kind of personal

followed the Camel's tail.

relationship - the shape of his head, his

I think McMaking must have been

grimaces under stress (many of the best piiolS

wounded by the triplane's first fire, because

wouldn't wear goggles for they restricted the

he did not use his Camel lO manoeuvre as he

eye's nalUral field of vision at the corners),

might have done. He went down straight in

how strong was the nerve, how merciful or

a steepish dive, with no attempt at evasion.

deserving mercy - and there is lillie doubt that

I increased speed and pulled close lO

this contributed to the neuroses of remorse or

the triplane. I was now below the main

vindictiveness that unbalanced the aces.

Hun formation and

Norman Macmillan has given a vivid account of his first meeting with Werner Voss,

I

heard the splaller

of Hun bulielS ralliing round my ears. GlanCing back and upward

I

saw two

66 + A C E S

H I G H

Albatros coming down upon me, bUl above

I saw McMaking's Camel still below

them, Moody, in another IitLle Camel, was

him, falling steeply in a gemle curve. If he

treating them just the same and driving

were already badly wounded (as I believe)

them off.

why did his opponem not leave him LO his I

was almost dead upon the buff­

fate and tum LO duel with me? We were at

coloured triplane's tail. Its pilot looked

an advantageous height for the Fokker

round again. Possibly the sound of the

Triplane for both climb and manoeuvre.

bullets his comrades aimed at me had

Did he think the Camel ahead of him

ow

I

was close enough LO see (and

might escape across the lines? Or was it his

almost read the expression in) his keen

policy to butcher him right LO the ground

blue-grey eyes behind his goggle glasses

in order to claim his scalp? I was alone no\\�

and as much of his face as was left

our odds were even, and we were on his

uncovered; nose, mouth, chin and shape of

side of the lines, an advantage LO him.

cheek. Had I been able to meet them I

Surely he ought LO have rounded LO engage

could have picked him out from among his

me? I have never undersLOod his tactics,

fellow pilots.

why he did not take me on . . .

alened him.

He saw I was dead on his tail and

Pilot offIcer firing at a fixed target from a 'cockpit' moving along ralls at an RAF gunnery school In France In July 1 9 1 8. In the air, of course, the target would also have been moving.

instamly banked and curved to the right

In the last reson, flying skill a t the limit of

while he looked at me just as my bullets

feasibility was critical. For it was this, above

spewed fonh. My tracers passed close over

all else, on which the pilot's life depended.

his cemral left wing, just outside his

Tactics worked out in theory, demonstrated

cockpit and in line \vith his head, missing

on a blackboard, practised in the still and

it by inches because of his outward

friendly air of Salisbury Plain, broke down in

swerve. When my brief burst ceased he

the stress and turmoil of combal. Then the

looked ahead again. He was a clever pilol.

pilot's reflexes, the sixth sense that led him LO respond LO his aircraft'S whims and protests, were everything. When the wing surfaces or the fuselage were damaged or the engine was misftring, the joystick sluggish - especially when

the

dreaded

orange

flame

from

perforated fuel lines began to lick round the engine cowling - when the pilot had only a few minutes, perhaps only a few seconds, to put his aircraft on the ground, then all depended on his individual skill. Ami-aircraft fire (flail in the Second World War) was known as 'Archie' from a famous pre-war music

hall

song,

regardless

of

whether the shell-bursts were Allied or hostile. Without radio communication or ground control, searching pilots used the clusters of AA shell-bursts as a location for

T A C T I C S

o{o 67

German anti-aircraft guns. Known as Archie, their shells gave off black smoke, the British gave off white.

homing on to hostile aircraft. The Allied shells

they could reach their combat altitude. And so

(British 3-in, or French 75-mm) had a white

the first minutes of the dawn were spent i n

smoke. The German was black cordite and

climbing,

gave off an unpleasant, toxic smell that

clusters of orange fire, which showed Archie

lingered, even at altitude in still air long after

bursting around some early spoLler plane,

the fighting had passed over. Returning pilots

could make it worth the hazard of a diversion.

climbing;

only

the

pin-point

would sometimes traverse a belt of this vapour and look uneasily round the sky, banking

This is the worst moment of the day.

their wings to one side and another in a

You don't usually sleep very well if you are

conditioned reflex.

down for a Dawn Patrol. The batman calls

At dawn, when the first patrols were flown

at 4.30 a.m. with cocoa and biscuits.

I

am

and the sky was a pale hemisphere of

always wide awake then. When it actually

cinnamon or grey, it was impossible to detect

comes to the point - warming up, take-off,

aircraft below you against the black carpet of

gelling into formation and so on - you find

the land. But this safety at low altitudes was

yourself doing these things automatically.

ephemeral, for with every minute that passed

But then, when you see Archie below! I t

the air lightened and with i t grew the risk that

looks much worse i n the dark, you can see

the patrolling Scouts would be spotted before

the flames and this reminds you ...

68 + A C E S

H I G H

4 De a t h

There were few flyers with any experience of aIr fighting who were not obsessed to some degree, though usually secretly, with the thought of being shot down in flames. ARTHUR Go

Onlookers stand at a respectful distance from a dead airman.

s

LD

LEE

o wrote one of the survivors, Arthur

with

Gould Lee, who subsequently rose to

screamed curses, others would jump and fall,

lhe rank of Air Vice Marshal - yet it

arms oULStretched, clothing alight, from seven

took thirty years berore he could bring himself

thousand feel. Still others (Bert Hall and

to commit this view to paper. So deep·seated

James McCudden among them) carried a

was the obsession that no mention of it can be

pistol, nominally for self-defence 'in case of

found

published

forced landing in enemy territory'. It had only

accounts (although privately, in diaries and

six rounds and only one purpose. Just a very

lellers, it is found in profusion).

few had the cool nerves and the nying skill to

in

any

contemporary

their hands, others stood

up and

This was the paramount horror, the

retain control of an aeroplane on fire, to try to

recurring nightmare, the insistent spectre that

handle it down or deliberately go into a stall

penetrated sleep and caused men to lie awake

to extinguish the names with the back

for hours before the dawn.

a

one who had

draught, although many perished in turning

nown in combat could have failed to see that

to this last resort. Richthofen's own combat

terrible sight, an aircraft spiralling downwards

log shows that out of eighty victories, fifty­

in the black smoke of a gasoline fire. And it

four were gebralllll (burned).

was only a matter of time before they saw one

On eilher side the piloLS' allegorical names

close enough to notice the last frenzies of the

for gasoline - Infernal Liquid, The Hell-brew,

crew. Some would try to beat out the names

Orange Death, Witches Water - underlined

70 + A C E 5

H I G H

and perpetuated this phobia. Even after the

wire rope, where the crew hung their head­

ignition had been switched off the peril

phones and binoculars. Many gunnery officers

remained. The airscrew would continue to

had made three or four jumps in escaping

rotate with its own inertia and the force of the

certain death by burning. The question of

wind: it was locked in direct drive to the

issuing parachutes to the pilots of the RFC was

magneto, which continued to emit sparks and

raised at Staff level several times during 1916

these would ignite any fuel or vapour from

and 1917, but the general view was that

broken feed pipes.

' ... possession of a parachute might impair a

Sometimes, where serious engine damage had resulted in total seizure, the magneto stopped; or for some other miraculous reason Right: A British aero­

plane brought down in the Ypres Salient, 1 9 1 7 . The fire is I n its last stage. Below: Lieutenant

Quentin Roosevelt, son of the former President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, lying beside his aircraft, a Nieupon 28. He belonged to the 95th PUrsUit Squadron AEF and is buried on the exact spot where he feU. Today it is marked by a star set in a stone CIrcle.

pilot's nerve when in difficulties so that he would make improper use of his parachute'. The Superintendent at Farnborough had

there would be no outbreak. But even in these

made

cases pilots could have their nerve shattered,

parachutes and dummies, but when Major

and perhaps lose their reason altogether

General Sir David Henderson, GOC of the

during the long ordeal of bringing a damaged

RFC, was minuted as to whether he wished

aircraft in to land with their clothing soaked

the experiments to continue, he scrawled on

in gasoline. On nearly every aircraft the fuel

the text in his own hand, 'No, certainly not!'

tank was mounted in the nose as close to the

General R. M . Groves committed himself to

engine as possible to simplify the feed and

the view 'that smashed aircraft generally fall

pump. This meant that the draught from the

\vith such velOcity that there would hardly be

airscrew, even if the airscrew had stopped

time to think about the parachute'.

from fonvard flight, blew flames back into the pilot's face.

a

number

of

experiments

with

Death lingered in the sky even as it does on land. There is no such thing as 'instantly'. One

Parachutes were issued to men in lhe

hundred and sixty pounds of flesh and blood,

gunnery observation balloons, tethered by a

a complete nervous system, brain, heart,

lieutenant· Colonel Audaln. wearing a parachute harness. about to ascend in an observation balloon. The High Command refused to allow pilots to wear parachutes, justifying this action With the claim that It might 'impair a pilot's nerve'. But they were issued to the crews of observation balloons. Above:

Right: Early testing of

parachute apparatus In France. Neither partICipant looks especially confident.

lungs, kidneys: heart pumping seventy-two

stricken aeroplane that could no longer answer

times a minute (or more likely 1 25 in the stress

to the controls but dived or yawed, or spun, or

and terror of combat), all these things do not

slipped and fell with long deliberation like an

surrender life however grievously stricken

autumn leaf before finally breaking against the

without a struggle. Only very occasionally

solidity of earth and stone.

when the first cluster of bullets smashed the

For most pilots with minimal imaginalion

pilot's skull did he pass into the beyond

their first Sight of a death in combat was

without an ageless and agonized period of

traumatic. Repeated in close succession it led

resistance. Sometimes, more than half the

to nighunares, depression, withdrawal -

time, it was against the names. At others, terri­

symptoms that were ignored by a medical

ble pain and numbness, recurrent nausea and

service that had no psychiatric branch. Still

fainting in a cockpit where the blood sluiced

deeper was the impression made by the first

audibly as the aircraft rolled from side to side.

direct 'kill'. One pilot wrote the whole account

Some men went to lhelr deaths unhanned in a

to his fiancee on the same evening:

I got my first hun LOday! At las t ! . . . Coming back, the formation split u p and we made our separate ways. I t was a lovely evening, very clear, with a pale blue sky, and I thought it was LOa nice to go straight back, I'd have another look at that incredible morass east of Ypres. I was half sliding down, nonhwards, just this side of the Hun balloon lines when I saw an RES approaching on my left front, about 500 feet below. And tracers were spitting out from the observer's gun. I t was then that I realized that he was being followed and allacked by an Albatros V-Struller from 1 50 yards' range, also firing shon bursts. Before I could react, the Hun ceased firing, and turned east. I assumed he'd broken off because he'd spolled me. The RE whizzed past below, the observer waved, and the Albatros continued on a level course eastwards. I dropped into a wide sweeping curve that brought me dead behind the Hun, and 200 feet above him. He was still nying level, due east, but not going nat out. I t seemed incredible that h e hadn't seen me when he turned aside from the RE. I t looked s o easy I suspected a trap, and searched carefully around, but there was no other machine in Sight. I came down closer and closer, holding my fire. My hean was pounding, and I was trembling uncontrollably, but my mind was calm and collected. I closed LO ten yards, edged out of his slipstream, drew nearer still until I saw that if I wasn't careful I'd hit his rudder. His machine was green and grey, and looked very spick and span. He had a dark brown nying helmet, with a white goggles-strap round the back of his head. I aimed carefully through the Aldis between his shoulders just below where The parachute of an officer descending from an observation balloon caught In the branches of a tree. ThiS one was fortunate on two (ounts: the parachute opened and the landing was soft.

o E A T H + 75

•

A German pilot bemg fitted with his parachute.

o E A T H

+ 77

Far left: A German

DFWCV wrecked at Pilkem Ridge on the first day of the battle, 3 1 July 1 9 1 7 . Left: A crashed BE2C.

they showed above the fairing. It was

To the crew of this one aircraft, life and death

impossible to miss. I gently pressed the

would be in perfect equilibrium. If it was only

trigger, and at the very first shots his head

the engine that had suffered, and if it had

jerked back, and immediately the plane

given out on account of some mechanical

reared up vertically. He must have clutched

failure of its own, their chances were good.

the joy-stick right back as he was hit. I

Given reasonable height and cool handling,

followed upwards, still firing, until in two

the aeroplane could glide on to friendly terri­

or three seconds he stalled and fell over to

tory. At worst its crew would finish as

the left, and I had to slew sharply aside to

prisoners of war. Even if they were seen by an

avoid being hit. He didn't spin, but dropped

enemy and their plight detected, there was a

into a near-vertical engine-on dive.

convention on both sides that persisted at

I

went after him, throllie wide open,

least until 1 9 1 8 that 'dead-stick' aeroplanes

firing in long bursts, but he gradually

were left to their fate. Yet was not this conven­

left me behind. I followed, still firing

tion honoured many times in the breach? The

through the Aldis, until he was 300 yards

novices, the vindictive, the cold blooded, those

I

stopped, there was no

eager to add cheaply to their score, could not

point in pumping any more lead into

resist the easy target which was alTered to them.

distant, then him. But

I

stayed in the dive and saw that

he didn't pull out . . .

On return there would be no inquiry concerning those who were missed once the de-briefing was over. The subject was not

A few pilots lived t o tell the tale o f that fatal

referred to. The policy of Trenchard, the RFC's

moment in a dog-fight when the engine

Commander in France for 1 9 1 5-17, of 'no

stopped.

empty chairs' kept the messes full, even though it meant offering up the inexperienced and the

..

I nstantly there was silence. And for a few

partly trained as human sacrifice . I t was the

seconds this

i1ence Cas it seemed by

deaths of the wounded, those who had made

contrast with what had preceded it) would

it back over the line, in field hospitals and

be total. Then, first to intrude because it

dresSing stations, that made the biggest impact,

was nearest, the song and moaning of the

and for that reason many pilots were reluctant

wires in the rigging. And hard on its heels

to visit the hospitals even when their closest

the exhausts of other engines: the rallle, on

friends were detained there. Everyone dreaded

every side, of other guns.

the funerals, the silent crowd around an earth

78 + A c E S

H I G H

Reputed to Illustrate the last flight of Captain Albert Ball, VC, 050, MC t 7 May t 9 1 7 .

D E A T H

grave in some humble comer of a French

lhousand feel lO lhe ground. It lOok aboul

village churchyard, marked by lhe while

five minutes. He and his observer were

painled crossed blades of a shallered airscrew.

silling lhere, wailing for dealh, for lhal time.

There is no beller descriplion of lhe

The machine fell JUSl lhis side of lhe

agonizing speclacle lhal dealh provided and

lines. They say a man in the lrenches heard

lhe proleclive callousness lhal il produced,

shouts, as il mighl have been for help, come

than Cecil Lewis's account of Lieutenant

from lhe machine JUSl before il slruck lhe

Roberts's crash afler his lail was damaged:

ground and smashed lO a pile of wreckage.

+

79

The observer was killed, for lhe fuselage Roberts was a crack pilOl, and if human

broke in half: bUl Roberts escaped. He was

skill could have gal lhal machine OUl, he

badly smashed up, bUl brealhing. They

would have done it. His elevalOrs and

got him on to a stretcher and sent him to

ailerons were slill inlacl, and by shulling

hospilal. He had been oul all lhrough lhe

off his engine he almost managed to avert

Somme battle wilhout leave, his nerves

disasler - bUl nOl quile.

were righl on lhe edge, and we heard,

He could nol SlOp lhe machine spin­

with what truth I never knew, that this

ning: bUl he could SlOp il going inlO a veni­

fearful experience PUl him OUl of his

cal diving spin. He lried every combinalion

mind. As far as we were concerned he was

of elevaLOr and bank.

gone - lhe dead or wounded never came

a good. The machine

wenl on slowly spinning, round, and round,

back lO us - and in lhe swiftly changing

and round, all lhe way do\Vn from eighl

pallern of lhe days we forgol him. The burning cadavers of two British airmen brought down by Baron von Richthofen at MericQurt. 1 9 ' 8.

P A RT T H R E E :

THE K I L L I NG T I M E BACKGROUND 1917 •

By the beginning of 1 9 1 7 , the German Air Force had without a shadow of doubt gained the ascendancy over the Allies in the air over the Western Front. This had started with the introduction of the Albatros DI and I I in the previous year.

,

T

hese

fighters,

though

marginally

in span than the upper and conSiderably

superior to contemporary Allied types

narrower in chord. These two wings are

in performance, had a clear advantage

connected to each other by a pair of V-shaped

in firepower, being equipped with two belt-fed

struts, which led to the RFC's nickname for

and synchronized machines to the Allied

the 0\11, and its later development the OV and

types' Single belt- or drum-fed type. Now the

Va, as the 'Vee-strutter'. The advantages

Germans were introducing their latest fighter,

inherent in this platform, increased manoeu­

the Albatros 0111. This was a development of

vrability and a much better downward view for

the earlier Albatri Cas machines of this marque

the pilot, were to a certain extent offset by its

were known generically in the RFC), but was

one major disadvantage, the structural weak­

fitted with an up-rated engine and a new form

ness of the lower wing. This was caused by its

of wing, derived from that of the French

narrowness, meaning that the structure had to

Nieuport, which had achieved such marked

be built up around a Single spar, which in turn

success against German machines in the

left the \ving weak in torsion. There were

previous year.

several instances of Vee-strutters developing

This new wing platform was the sesqui­

-flutter' in their lower wings and having them

plane type, in which the lower wing is shorter

break off, normally with fatal consequences.

lieutenant Mernard seated in a Nleuport In 1 9 1 7.

,

........��-.

•

. -,:,�,

.

:-

-•

"" "

. '.

.�

B A C K G R O U N D

Despite this, however, the Albatros was in

launch a large-scale offensive around Arras to

every way superior to Allied types at the

draw German reserves away from the sector

outset of 1 9 1 7.

slightly to the south, where the French were April

to launch yel anal her offensive inlended to

numbered thirty-seven, were almost invari­

drive the Germans out of the war. When it

ably passive in their defence of the skies over

slaned, the French, under General Raben

the Western Front, very seldom crossing over

George Nivelle, suffered enormous reverses

to the weSl of the lines. This gave them a

and casualties. This so shattered the morale of

decided tactical advantage, though it lost

lhe French army, still suffering from lhe

them the strategic initiative in the air. With

titanic struggle for Verdun in the previous

lhese lactics lhey were able to climb into the

year, that Widespread mutinies occurred, and

The

German jas/as,

which

in

sun over their own lines and wait, in numbers

the army ceased to be able to lake pan in any

of considerable superiority, for the inevitable

major offensive action for over a year. The

Allied reconnaissance and anillery observa­

British offensive at Arras, though successful

tion machines that would cross the lines.

on the ground, albeit with herculean casual­

Their task was made easier by the two-seaters

ties, was a disaster in the air.

in use \\�lh the Allies - the old Moranes and

The RFC was decimaled. Casualties were

the new Sop�th 1 '12 Strutters just coming

something in the order of a third. These were

into service \vilh the French Air Force, and

the highest losses suffered by the RFC in the

the 1 '12 Strutters, BE2s and REBs of the RFC.

course of the whole war, and Trenchard

April 1 9 1 7 was set for the first big Allied

received considerable criticism for insisting

offensive of the year, when the British were to

that the RFC continue to ny offensive patrols

1 9 1 7 + 83

Sopwith 1'/1 Strutters from 70 Squadron, based at Vert Garand, leave for a patrol.

-

Facing page: A German aircraft, Irrecoverably on fire, at a great height over Arras, northern France.

84 + A c E S

H I G H

a front line squadron, varied from eleven days to three weeks. The Allies suffered grievous losses, and it was the German Air Force's high summer. During April, the Allies' only successful aircraft had been the new fighter from the Sopwith stable, the Triplane. Still underarmed by German standards, it was able to hold its own by virtue of its phenomenal rate of climb and

considerable

agility,

unmatched

by

anything the Germans could put up against it. This Triplane was operated only by the RNAS A Sopwith 1 1n Strutter, with a 1 1 0 h.p. le Rhone engine, IS servIced at Luxeuil in 1 9 1 7.

in inferior aircraft against an enemy admirably

units serving on the Channel coast around

prepared to take advantage of such a situation.

Dunkirk, although it had also been intended

The RFC suffered losses, particularly i n

for the RFC. This did not occur, however, as

aircrew, that were t o take more than a year to

the Admiralty and the War Office agreed in

recover. But it was not the numbers that were

July 1 9 1 6 that the RNAS should receive the

the most important loss, tragic as they were,

'Tripehound', as it was nicknamed, then under

but the skill and experience of the pilots and

development for the RFC, in exchange for the

gunners who had learnt how to cope with the

Spad Vlls, which the R AS agreed to transfer

new conditions of aerial warfare in the second

to the RFC during the crucial days of the

half of 1 9 1 6 . These were lost in great

Battle of the Somme. In the crisis of the Battle

numbers, and the long-term effects included

of Arras and Bloody April, the RFC requested

the

of

that naval units eqUipped with the Triplane

casualties among the inexperienced pilots

should be sent south to aid the sorely pressed

who had to be posted straight from fiying

RFC. The Admiralty sent No. 10 Squadron.

school to a front-line squadron, even after the

The Triplane's success was immediate and

Battle of Arras had ended. The life expectancy

considerable, a fact testified to by the number

of a subaltern, from the time of his posting to

of triplane deSigns originated in Germany

continued

alarmingly

high

rate

Right: A squadron of

French Nieuport Scouts line up in the snow at the aerodrome in Bailleul, 27 December 1 9 1 7. Above 3,000 feet the wind chill would have been insufferable.

•

B A C K G R 0 U N O

1 9 I 7

+ 85

arter the arrival or the Sopwith original, but it could not halt the slaughter or RFC machines and men. All it could do was point to better things in the ruture. There was no let-up in the RFC's orrensive tactics arter the end or the Battle or Arras, though the scale was considerably dimin­ ished.

During the

breathing space

this

arrorded, a new generation or Allied fighters, destined to overcome the dominance or the Albatros, appeared. These took over rrom the now badly outclassed Sopwith Pup, outnum­ bered Sopwith Triplane (only 140 were ever built) and outgunned Spad VII and Nieuport 1 7 . The first or the new generation to arrive was the SE5, designed by the Royal Aircrart Factory. This was a rugged, angular biplane, very rast, equipped with two machine-guns (though one or these was a Lewis gun

proved to be amongst the best Allied fighters

mounted on the top wing rather than a second

or the war, continuing in production right up

belt-red weapon in the ruselage) and possess­

to the end or hostilities.

ing a rair measure or the inherent stability to

The eclipse or the Albatros began with the

be round in all production RAF types. In the

arrival or the SE5 in late April and or the Spad

SE5 and its successor, the up-engined SE5A,

XI\I in late May, and was made certain in July

this inheritance was not a drawback, instead,

on the arrival or the first or the Allies' most

it was a positive advantage, as it made the SE5

successrul fighter, the Sop\vith Camel. Unlike

one or the best gun platrorms (which is really

its contemporaries the SE5A and the Spad

all a fighter is) or the war. The other Allied

XIII, the Camel had a rotary engine and also

fighter to enter service at about the same time

had a distinct ramily likeness to the Pup. But

was the French Spad XlII, an up-engined and

its strength lay in an adequate perrormance,

up-gunned development or the Spad VII. In a

two Vickers guns and a superlative aerobatic

way, the fighters were similar, both possessing

capability, excelled possibly only by the Pup

excellent perrormance and having the same

and the Fokker Triplane, the D r l . Although it

sort or angular lines and strength, but the

was being replaced by the Sop\\�th Snipe and

Spad had the advantage in armament, \vith

Dolphin in the closing months or the war, the

two Vickers guns in the ruselage.

Camel remains the classic rolary-engined

Both, though, had teething troubles when

fighter or the First World War.

they entered service, and the SE5 also surrered

The Germans, confident or continued

rrom wrong tactics in the hands or pilots who

success \vith the Albatros DIll arler April,

had flown only light, sensitive, rotary-engined

railed to press on \vith the planning or a

fighters berore. But once these initial difficul­

successor. So when the Albatros supremacy

ties had been overcome, the two machines

began to crumble in the race or the Spad XlII

The observer gets a heaVier punch. Twin machme4guns in the rear cockpit of a Breguet 14A2 Biplane, 1 6 December 1 9 1 7.

86 + A C ( S

H I G H

Right: 2nd lieutenant Gontermann (on fight) In a British FE2D Biplane that he had forced down behind the German hnes. ThIrty-nine vlctones stood to thiS officer's credit at the date of his death on 31 October

1 9 1 7.

Below: A pair of SESAs from 56 Squadron on dawn patrol near Valheureux, France.

,

o

I , , ,! t1

, 1

5

Al batros OI-D I II

,

88 + A c E S

H I G H

and SE5A, they had to have recourse to a

ineteen-seventeen also proved to be the

hurried programme to update lhe Dill. This

great turning point in the field of tactics and

resulted in the introduction of the DV at about

organization. The arrival of true fighters in

the time lhe Camel was making ilS debut on

1 9 1 6 had led to their introduction in small

the Allied side. But the improvemenls made in

quantities initially, and this had resulted in the

the Albatros in the way of streamlining and

fighter pilot being for the most pan a lone

increased engine power were offset by the

nyer, using stealth to stalk and dispatch his

increase in weight: the later mark was no

opponent. The tactical counter to this was the

beller than ilS predecessor. The only other

introduction of the jasta, and the homoge­

German fighter to appear in any number at

neous fighter squadrons and Escadrilles de

about this time was the Fokker Dr1 Triplane,

Chasse, and the year had ended with a presen­

which owed ilS inspiration to the Sopwith

liment of what was to come, as more and more

Triplane. The Dr1 entered service in August

unilS took to the skies in formation. The reply

1 9 1 7, during the period that the obsolescence

to this first counter was thought of and put

of the Triplane had become embarrassing to

into practice first by the Germans. This was

the R AS. Allhough its design was anachro­

the jagdgeschwader or fighter wing. The first

nistic in comparison with the Allied designs

of these, No. 1 , was formed under Manfred

entering service in autumn 1 9 1 7, the Drl

von Richthofen's command on 26 June 1 9 1 7 .

obtained considerable success as a result of

BaSically i t was a n amalgam of jastas 4, 6, 1 0

its enormous manoeuvrability and good fire­

and 1 1 , and was provided with many lorries

power. In addition, it was issued only to the

and other mobile equipment, so that it could

best of the German pilolS, who enjoyed the

be shullled up and down the line to provide

advantage,

air superiority wherever

conferred on

them

by

their

needed

at any

defensive tactics and prevailing westerly wind,

particular moment. Thus the Germans, who

of being able to fight over their own lines and

by now could not hope to attain an overall air

glide towards their airfields with the aid of the

superiority, could gain a local and necessary

wind if they received any damage.

one by the dispatch to that sector of a large

Finally, as far as the aircraft thelTlSelves were

and elite unit. The aircraft of such unilS were

concerned in 1 9 1 7, one must take note of the

often painted in garish colours, since camou­

arrival of the superb Bristol F2A and B in the

nage

spring of 1 9 1 7 . With the introduction of this

recognition between members of the same

two-seater, the Allies at last had a reconnais­

unit, and led to the Allies dubbing the

sance and general purpose machine as good

jagdgeschwader 'Flying Circuses'. The only

as, if not beller than, anything the Gernlans

other jagdgeschwader, Nos. 2, 3 and 4, were all

had. As with lhe SE5, ilS entry into front-line

formed in 1 9 18.

was

unnecessary,

as

a

means

of

service was not particularly auspicious, but

The other new type of German unit to be

soon ilS crews realized that, although it was a

formed was the jagdgnlpl'e or fighter group,

two-seater, it had the performance, firepower

which

and manoeuvrability to take on fighters at

Geschwader in size, usually made up of two or

was between

the jasta

and

the

their own game. From then on, its success was

three jastas. Twelve were formed eventually,

assured, and it went down in hiStory as the

but these were not established unilS, rather ad

most versatile aircraft of the First World War.

hoc forces drawn together for a speCial

purpose.

When

lhal

purpose

had been

fulfilled, the jagdgruppe was disbanded.

lhe individual ace, such as Albert Ball and

Above: A German

Georges Guynemer.

bomber IS loaded prior to a miSSion.

lhe

The mOSl important organizalional change

jagdgesc/I\vader and jagdgn'ppe was the Wing,

of the year was the decision by the Brilish

which mighl contain anylhing up lO five

Government lO sel up the Royal Air Force,

squadrons lo deal wilh an emergency. The

lhough lhis only came inLO being on 1 April

French, unlike the Brilish, had elile unils,

1 9 1 8 . The summer of 1 9 1 7 had been marked

such as Les Cigognes or Les Sportijs, and

by the periodic arrival of German bombers

lhough lhese were composed of several

over the skies of soulhern England, and

smaller units, the various component pans

such was the polilical and popular furore,

The

Brilish

counlerpart

lO

did nOl oflen serve LOgelher. BUl in the event of an emergency, the Escad,-illes could be called LOgelher LO provide local air superiorily. The syslem of calling LOgelher large numbers of aircrafl under a unified control for a special purpose was slill galhering momenlum in 1 9 1 7 , and although a few large-scale baltles LOok place LOwards the end of the year, lhey were small in comparison with what 1 9 1 8 was lo bring. Wilh a few eXlraordinary exceplions, however, the increasing systemization or aerial fighling had sounded the dealh knell of

Below: The Bristol F2B fighter, a two-seat reconnaissance and bomber biplane. Introduced in March 1 9 1 7, it had a 275 h.p. Rolls-Royce Falcon III engine. By this stage Bntlsh designers were re­ asserting their superiority.

• •

Above: A Sopwlth Camel attacking a German Hanoveraner Biplane. Right: A Sopwlth Tnplane.

a single-seat fighting Scout operated by the RNAS. Although brilliantly manoeuvrable. Inter-servICe rivalry prevented It being deployed In any quantity.

B A C K G R 0 U N D

demanding

protection

for

Britain

and

the United States. The aerial programme had

retribution on the Germans. that the govern­

also 10 fit in \vith the OHL (German Army

ment had set up a commiuee under General

High Command) strategy. which was for a

Jan Christiaan Smuts. the South African

knock-out blow on the Western Front in the

statesman and soldier, 10 investigate means of

spring of 1 9 1 8 - this also being calculated on

satisfying both these demands. In the short

the necessity of striking before the American

term. two of the RFC's best squadrons were

scale of reinforcement became LOa great.

brought back from France (where they were

The

plan,

known

as

the

Programm, had to be complete in all i15

the long term. the commiuee found that it

aspects by I March 1 9 1 8 and provided for: 1)

would be best to amalgamate the RFC and

Enlargement of the thirteen existing nying

RNAS. whose equipment requiremen15 had

training schools; 2) Formation of a second

led 10 a wholly uneconomical priorities

jasla training school; 3) Aircraft production to

system in the British aircraft manufacturing

be doubled 10 2.000 per month; 4) Engine

trade. under a ministry independent of the

production to be increased from 1 .250 10

War Office and the Admiralty. Such was the

2.500 per month; 5) The reallocation of 7.000

increase in production anticipated from this

skilled workers from other branches of the

rationalization of resources (an expectation

armed forces; 6) Machine-gun production to

that proved entirely unjustified) that the

be increased to 1 .500 per month; 7) Aviation

committee also recommended that the new

fuel production 10 be raised from 6.000 to

Royal Air Force. when il came into being.

1 2.000 IOns per momh. There were a number

should set up a stralegic bombing force along

of other provisions relating 10 the necessary

the lines of the French one thaI had been

machine LOals and raw materials, especially

operating since 1 9 1 5 . This force, which

aluminium.

Force. finally comprised British. French, Italian and American squadrons. However, it was a year before these plans came to fnlilion. With the American declaration of war on Germany on 6 April. both sides foresaw huge American rcinforcemen15 for the Allied war effort. and

Germany

instituted a major

programme of re-armament to beat the Allies before the weight of American production and manpower could make i15elf fell. As early as 3 June 1 9 1 7 there was a conference auended by all senior officers of

Kogellluft al which lhe situation was reviewed in the light nO! only of the mounting threat from the RFC but of the longer-term menace (in fact considerably overrated) of American industry follo\ving the declaration of war by

'"

91

Ameri/w­

sadly missed) to provide a IOken defence. In

became the Independent Air Force. Royal Air

1 9 1 7

An 1 1 Squadron Bristol Fighter of Lieutenant McKeever and Sergeant Powell encounters an enemy formation in poor weather on 30 November 1 9 1 7. shooting down four of the nine aircraft In the ensuing actIOn.

92 + A C E 5

H 1 G H

5 A ce s

One must first overcome the inner schweil1ehul1d. MANFRED VON RlClITHOFEN

Manfred von Rlchthofen with his dog Moritz, who sometimes flew as a passenger and 'looked round Intelligently'. He once wrote, 'The most beautiful thing In all creation IS my Danish Hound, MOritz.'

A

great dIvide separated the novIce

There have been two changes in the bunk

from the experienced I t was a gulf

next to me since April Fool's Day (last

that separates those who are gOing to

week! ) . I wouldn't sleep in it for all the tea

die from those who may survive.

in China.

The new faces, nervous, enlhusiaslic, with their playing-field grins, were ignored, or

Poor old B - caught it yesterday, down in

almost. They arrived, unloaded their kit; often

names over Menin. He had been acting

the previous occupant's effecLS and possessions

strange for the last few days, wandering

were still strewn about. They had the worst

about speaking to himself.

tenLS, the surliest batmen. I t was recognized that their stay would be only temporary. In

FROM A DIARY: Turned back again today

1 9 1 7 the life expectancy of a subaltern in the

,vith mag failure (ha hal. In a blue funk

RFC from posting until death was eleven days.

in case Sgt. Mellish 'told' on me. But he

Cowardice was a deadly sin. The veto was

dutifully took the whole thing to bits and

absolute. In discussion fear was masked by

reassembled it and kept mum.

bravado - 'Chaps, here goes!' Only in the privacy of diaries, very occasionally in letters

Garett has been moved to a room of his

to relatives, do these forebodings emerge:

own. He had been kicking up such a shindig

94 + A C E '!)

H I G H

in lhe night with his dreams of burning,

observers who had survived many critical

spinning and such like that we three

battles, and whose nerves cannot have gone

complained and got him billelled solo.

unaffected, refused to put their fate in the hands of a young pilot fresh from England

Squadrons varied in their altitude to new­

whose combat ability was completely untried.

10

There were many bad inSlances in that terrible

comers. Some commanders took great care

nurture their replacements and avoid expo­

spring of 1 9 J 7 when new piloLS new at the tail

sing them to serious risks in their first days.

of the squadron because they were ordered

They were taken on personally conducted

there. At the first sign of combat the hardened

tours of the ballle area, were changed round

tip would break off huslling iLS way down and

with experienced crew members (new pilot

home in the first hectic minUles of lhe dog­

wiLh experienced observer and vice versa) and

fight and leaving the apprentices to be cut up

were pOSitioned second and third in the

by the enemy. 'Missing' was a more comfort­

standard tactical formation, known as lhe Vee,

able definition of a casualty than 'seen to go

on offensive palrols so that they could take

down in names'.

lheir cue from the leader (for one of the

Some, very few, could make lhe lransition

beginner's most serious defects was his

from novice to ace. Oswald Boelcke, one of

inability to sec the enemy).

the first and falher of fighter tactics and

But in olher uniLS they were left to fend for themselves.

Oswald Boelcke was the first and greatest of the German aces. He had already scored fony victOries by October 1 9 1 6. HIs skill lay not only In his evaluation of aircraft and application of combat tactics, but also In his far-sighted Ideas on fIghter unit organization. The effect of the war on Boelcke IS shown by the drastiC change In hiS appearance over less than twelve months.

Experienced

nyers

organization, had achieved this and, as he was

strongly

much photographed, it is possible to trace in

disliked the idea of pUlling themselves al risk

his features the scars of lhat experience. First

by taking up a raw observer. Hardened

lhe early pictures; shaven head, penetrating

Fokker Dr1

96 + A c E S

H I G H

blue eyes, the confidence and tellu of a chivalrous young Prussian. But then, frighten­ ingly soon, the shadows form; the eyes enlarge but are hollow in their sockets. The nesh falls away

from

neck

and

hand

and

wrist,

accentuating the line of bone and sinew. In group pictures those round him are eVidently pleased to be in his company and renect his glory, some are even smiling. But never Boelcke. Already he has seen too many planes burning. It was the practice of the Germans to visit the site of their opponent's crash in order LO confirm their combat repon and only the final question concerned Boelcke - would his own death be 'Jerellt oder getmcl1l1et' (literally 'wet or dry', that is burned or mutilated to death). It was 'Jerellt' following a collision in combat on 28 OCLOber 1 9 1 6. This same expression can be seen in the eyes of Georges Guynemer, the French ace of

les Cigoglles, France's elite fighter unit. There is a picture of him taken towards the end of his life, showing a man razor thin, hollow­ eyed, bedecked with medals and honours, staring not at, but beyond the phoLOgrapher, with his eyes unfocused as if in a trance. Guynemer had been right through the ballle of Verdun where the Cigoglles were based at Nancy. I n June of 1 9 1 7 when he was appOinted an officer of the legion of Honour, his score of kills sLOod at fony-five.

ow he

had LO bring the Cigoglles nonh LO help the RFC clear the unfamiliar skies of Flanders while fir t the Ballle of Messines and then of Passchendaele were fought out below. He was gramed three precious days' leave. His father begged him LO retire and take a position as an instructor and technical adviser. The old man was shocked by his son's appearance and knew, intuitively, that if Guynemer returned LO combat, he would never see him again. But Guynemer was a victim of his own publiCity Georges Guynemer, bedecked with medals, but now weighing less than nine stone, shortly before his death In September 1 9 1 7.

A C E S + 97

left: Baron von Richthofen landing his Fokker Or1 Tnplane, whICh was painted red all over. Very few Allied flyers survived If they saw this particular aircraft from this angle. Below: Manfred von

Rlchthofen with members of lastd 1 7 in 1917: (from left to right) Sebastian Festner, Emil Schaefer, lothar von Rlchthofen (Manfred's brother) and Kurt Wolff. Montz IS In the foreground.

machine.

Although

half-persuaded,

he

claimed that he could not retire from combat for fear of what would be said. 'a" dim', he told his father, 'that I have ceased to fight because I have won all the awards.' In vain his father argued that he could always return, that he would be stronger and more ardent, and that when he did so everyone would under­ stand. In vain he reminded his son of all the crashes, the forced landings and wounds that he had sustained and how providence could not look after him for ever. There is a limit to human strength', Guynemer's father told him. BUI

this,

the

philosophy

of

age

and

experience, was unacceptable. Before he went back to the front, Guynemer told his father,

98 + A c E S

H I G H

talking to himself, or go and rouse his mechanics to swing the prop of his aircraft and run up the engine under the light of the moon. He believed that there was a whisper­ ing about him in the mess, that he was deliberately avoiding combat because of his inferiority at the controls of worn out aero­ planes .. .'such as the ordinary pilot has to Oy'. Word got back to Paris and two emissaries were dispatched to investigate. Capitaine Felix Brocard, the Cigoglles' Commanding Officer, and Commandant Jean du Peuty, commander of the French Air Force Aviation Staff at GWL (the French General Head­ quarters), arrived at St Pol at nine o'clock on Rene Fonck. the Allied as well as the French ace of aces.

the morning of 1 1 September. The sky was overcast and a light drizzle was falling. All the 'Indeed there is a limit. But it is only there to

Cigoglles were grounded with the exception of

be excelled. I f one has not given everything,

Guynemer and a sOlis-lieutenant, Benjamen

one has given nothing.'

Bozon-Verduraz,

When Guynemer arrived at St Pol-sur-mer where the Cigoglles were now based, he

whom

Guynemer

had

ordered to accompany him on an interception Oight that had taken off at B.30 a.m.

learned that one of his closest friends,

While the delegation from the Air Ministry

Capitaine A. Heurtaux had been seriously

waited impatiently at St Pol, Guynemer and

wounded the day before. His own favourite

Bozon had located an enemy two-seater over

Spad was unserviceable (it had been brought

Poeleapelle and staged a conventional three

to St Pol from Nancy by an inexperienced

o'clock and six o'clock anack (one coming in

pilot

leave).

from the quarter and one from the rear). But it

Incredibly, Guynemer was forced to Oy his

was a trap. Three Albatri escorting the two­

sonies in second-rate aircraft - those awaiting

seater behind and 3,000 feet above it, dived on

replacement pilots or, worse still, in the queue

the two

for workshop allention. On one day three

turned to anack head-on, escaping in the 1Il;;lee.

different aeroplanes had engine or structural

But Guynemer was never seen again. A few days

failure while he was Oying them; in each case

later

the

he brought off a forced landing. A less skilful

been

shot

pilot would have been killed. Twice his guns

Wissemann.

had jammed in combat. For four consecutive

aircraft was ever found. The special Spad, which

days he Oew five patrols of two and a half

du Peuty had had delivered that day from the

hours each, but without scoring a victor),

factory at Buc, was already second-hand.

when

Guynemer

was

on

pads. Bozon saw them in time and

Germans down 0

by

announced a

he

had

Lieutenant

Kurt

trace of Guynemer's body or

Guynemer was now fast becoming a victim of

With the possible exception of Manfred

a paranoiac condition. At night he could not

von Richthofen, none of the aces preserved

sleep but would pace the Ooor of his bedroom,

their initial sallgfl'O id.

Above: Members of

Jasta 7 7 In March 1 9 1 7:

(seated In aircraft) Manfred von Richthofen; (seated on wing) Karl Emil Schaefer; (standing from left to right), Karl Allmenroeder, Hans Hlntsch, Sebastian Festner, Kurt Wolff, Georg Simon, Otto Brauneck; (kneeling) Esser, Constantin Krefft; (seated In front) lothar von Rlchthofen.

Right: Parade of RFC recrUits stili in their civilian clothes. Sometimes new arrivals were broken in gently, but all too often they were given little help and abandoned by the more experienced pilots to fend for themselves.

,

100 + A C E 5

H I G H

Rlchthofen's room decorated with serial numbers cut from the wreckage of aircraft that he had shot down. The ceiling lamp IS a Gnome Rotary wired up to the light bulbs in the cylinder heads.

Richthofen was totally cold-blooded,

had no intimate friends - although lhere

incapable of any close personal relationship,

were many who idolized him without their

and his very aloofness gave him a special

affection being relurned. 'The most beautiful

strength and heightened the devotion that his

lhing in all creation is my Danish Hound,

colleagues and subordinates paid him. He

Moritz', wrote Richthofen. Moritz slept on

never relaxed, seldom smiled, disapproved of

Richthofen's bed, and even new on occasion

any slackening of discipline or protocol. He

although he must have weighed over a hundred pounds. On these nighlS Richthofen said thal Moritz .. quite enjoyed himself and ·

.

looked about intelligenLly'. But wilh this one exception Richthofen had no weaknesses. From his earliest youth he had found satisfaclion only in killing things. He was a crack shot and kept theJasla in game wherever they were stationed. A Prussian by binh, he had served with the Uhlans al the outbreak of war, lransferred to the air service and flown as an observer, serving for several momhs under a mad consumplive pilot called Zeuner, who wanted to die and used to close the

range

to

an

impossibly

dangerous

prox-imity in combal. Richthofen's nerve held and

after

his

experiences

with

Zeuner,

nothing could ever have seemed quile as bad. He retained his cavalry breeches and always wore them with high boots, a fur cap wilh ear naps and a thin leather, hip-length jacket, belted and with a wide fur collar. After his victory

over

Lanoe

Hawker,

Richthofen

adopted the practice of bringing back trophies from every plane that he had shot down, just as formerly he had filled his mOlher' house wilh lUsks and heads and antlers. All the aces were kepl, or kept themselves, in

the firing line far too

long (indeed

Richthofen's own equanimily was undoubt­ edly helped as much by his frequent lay-offs as by his mastery of 'the inner schweilleillllld'). All could count and see how, slalistically, lheir own death was a measurable happening. Superstition was intense and widespread. No pilot would go into a dive after his enemy

A C E 5 +

without touching wood or some private

That evening the curious incident was the

talisman. Each narrow escape would be attrib­

subject of excitable discussion, when the

uted to a particular piece of luck or propitiation

news came through that the BE2C had made

of the fates, just as friends and colleagues who

a perfect landing in a field thirty miles inside

had suffered death from chance shots or aircraft

the German lines. The petrol tank was bone

breaking up were remembered on reflection to

dry and both members of the crew were dead

have nouted the

mores

Once jasla 1 1

of superstition.

with over fifty bullets in their bodies. A

suffered a particularly

unnerving experience. On

101

report from another jasta indicated that the

1 7 September

BE2C had been aLlacked and damaged (but

1 9 1 6 , a BE2C emerged from a cloud bank and

not seen to crash) some minutes before it Hermann Goering, one of the bravest German fighters of the first World War. He took over command of RlChthofen's Jasta In 1 9 1 8 and went on to achieve political prominence, becoming 5e{ond only to Hitler In the Third ReICh, commanding the whole luftwaffe In the Battle of Britain in 1 940.

new straight into their formation. The jasLa

had nown through Richthofen's formation.

broke up and took it in turn to aLlack the

One of the Circus has described how 'there

lumbering two-seater, whose crew made no

was a distinct feeling of uneasiness at the

effort to defend themselves, each pilot filling it

news; there was something eerie about

with lead. The German pilots closed the range

shooting at a crew of dead men. Was there

shorter and shorter, firing until their guns

an omen in the way they had ignored

jammed. Pieces new off the BE2C, but it

our bullets?'

continued to ny a level course due east, finally disappearing

alto cwmdltS.

into

a

towering

bank

of

But Richthofen was equal to the situation. At the end of the meal he hammered on the table and called for a toast:

A C E 5 + [03

A glorious dealh! Fighl on and ny on lO

never saw his mOlher. His falher desened lhe

lhe lasl drop of blood and the lasl drop of

home when the lillie boy was six years old.

pelrol - lO the lasl beal of the hean and lhe

Bullied

lasl kick of the mOLOr; a dealh for a knighl

neighbours, Lufbery focused all his love and

- a LOaSl for his fellows, friend and foe.

ambilion on the absent figure of his falher and

and

neglecled

by

relalives

and

by the age of nineleen had saved enough As the aces looked back over lheir own

money lO allempl the journey lo the Uniled

escapes and ordeals - panicularly when lhey

Slales LO lry lO find him. Lufbery did nOl have

had suffered wounding and laler relurned LO

enough money lO cross the Allanlic from

aClive dUly - deep neuroses began LO build up.

France and his attempt to SlOw aW3)' was

Their effecl was compounded by renecHve

discovered and brulally punished. He changed

guill concerning all lhose piioLS whom lhey

direclion and made his way around lhe

had burned or shol, and a dark cenainty lhal

Medilerranean down lhrough the Balkans and

retribution awaited them.

across Turkey \\�lh groups of ilineranl labour­

One of his colleagues has described lhe

ers and vagrants, crossing

onh Africa in

nighlly ordeal of Read Chambers, an Ameri­

Arab caravans and finally laking a lramp

can ace who had been in continuous combat

Sleamer from Casablanca. Lufbery arrived in

for three months. He was:

New York on the very day lhal his falher, who had now become prosperous, sailed for

. . . LOrmented by a nighlmare: a face. The

Europe wilh the intention of finding his only

face would appear vague and dislanl, and

son - and the two never met again. In despair

would slowly come nearer until it seemed

lhe young Lufbery conlinued round lhe

as if the face and Chambers were Iilerally

world, eking OUl a living wherever he could.

nose LO nose, slaring al each olher. ThaCs

He did a spell as a soldier of fonune in Indo­

all, JUSl slaring. Then Chambers would

China and lhen mel up wilh one of the earliesl

wake up, his sleep spoiled. Who was il?

'stunt' Oyer

Chambers was not superstitious, but it was

leaching himself the lheory of engineering.

a torment not La know to whom this

eXl Lufbery laughl himself lo ny and finding

disembodied face belonged. Was il a man

himself back in France afler the oUlbreak of

he had killed? Or was il the man wailing

lhe war, he enlisled and soughl dealh in lhe

for him in the sun?

clouds. For a year he laughl American

and enlisted as his mechanic.

volunteers umit, almost aCcidentally, he was Some of the aces, men like Alben Ball or

shot down auacking a two-seater in low cloud

Oswald Boelcke, did indeed slan as carefree

over his own aerodrome, with his own score

personifications of their country's youth; their

slanding al sevenleen kills.

metamorphosis was a maller of weeks and

Werner Voss, Richlhofen's c10sesl rival,

monlhs. BUl in olhers the dealh-wish was

sLOod in marked contrasl LO the Prussi""

lalenl from the slarl. A miserable childhood, a

nobleman. Of humble origin, he had enlisled

lonely and introspeclive life, the handicaps of

in the Hus ars when slill under age. He had a

physical frailty or poor health, found relea e

passion for machinery and mOlorcycles, and

in the endless viSla of the skies and the privale

gradualed nalurally inlo the Air

lrial of individual combal. Raoul Lufbery

where he new as an observer lhrough the flrsl

A paIr of 29 Squadron's Nleuport 17 Scouts take off from Popennghe for an evening patrol In the summer of 1 9 1 7

ervice,

l O� + A c E S

H I G H

Above: Raoul Lufbery

in an American uniform wearing a major's Inslgma. He was one the most brilliant stars of the Escadrille Lafayette who transferred to the American Air ServICe when the USA entered the war.

Right: Baron Manfred von Richthofen.

A C E S · I OS

months of the Battle of the Somme before being

transferred

to

single-seaters

in

September. When he left his old unit, Voss recorded that not one single member of its strength who had been present on the day that he joined was still alive. His experience there left him with a lasting compassion for two­ seater crews - the poor devils (verachtlil,en) as he called them - and he always made a practice of shooting down enemy two-seaters by a burst of fire into the engine compartment so that the pilot might have a sporting chance of bringing the aeroplane down alive. Voss had crossed swords with James McCudden (the man who a year later was to lead the formation that killed him). McCudden was nying with three others in DH2s and Voss managed

10

escape by his superior aerobatics.

At the time McCudden recorded the incident: '. . . a really clever Hun IOday. He knew his business alright, turning far tighter than we could manage. Last time he was within fifty feet of me and I swear he was grinning all over his face.' Voss soon graduated

10

Albatri and became

a night leader in jasta 2, Boelcke's old jasta, which had already lost two of its commanders. In January and February, Voss raised his score 10

twenty-two - uncomfortably close

10

that of

von Richthofen (at that time twenty-seven). Then he was switched south

10

clear the skies

of French aeroplanes during the Nivelle offensive of April 1 9 1 7 . Voss did not return

10

the British sector until July by which time the first of the SE5s, Camels and Bristol Fighters were beginning 10 crack the domination of the Albatri. Voss was given command of jasla 1 0 and, like Richthofen and the other leading aces, appropriated Fokker Triplanes

10 10

himself one of the first be delivered. It was

painted light olive-green with Maltese crosses on a white tailplane and a white ring on the Major Mlck Mannock Vc. Mannock was to become an inspirational leader to his comrades. HIS VC was awarded posthumously after petitioning from those who had served with him.

106 + A C E 5

H I G H

Combat report of 2nd Lieutenant A. P. F. Rhys-Davlds. MC 23 Seplember 1 9 1 7.

fuselage. The wheel discs and wing under­

If one were to nominate the lhree primary

surfaces were coloured light blue and the front

aces of the Royal Flying Corps it would have to

of the nacelle housing the Oberursel rotary

be Lanoe Hawker, Albert Ball and 'Mick'

engine was painted to depict a terrifying

Mannock. There are many other claimants,

grimace around the two eyes of the air intake,

certainly

in the manner of a totem pole. Although

Bishop, Raymond Collishaw, James McCudden

he led Jasca 1 0 with great success, Voss's

- all made their contributions in their own

preference was still for solitary patrols at dawn

individual terms and typified a whole strain of

and dusk and, ultimately, it was on one of

pilots that idolized them. But the first three

these that he met his death.

were

-

A. P. F. Rhys-Davids, William

archetypal.

Hawker:

distinguished,

moustachioed, elderly by comparison with the nedglings that followed him; a crack shot, a • • •

classic example of a type that the Great War

--,

was to extinguish for ever - the chivalrous,

Combats in tbe Air. •

Sheet; lIo.l

Edwardian gentleman of private means. Orate;

TmJe; Datr

"eipt

23/r1/17 !5.�

_

Mannock: Hawker's very opposite; of humble

8.35.

ot't'en.1'1'e PatrQ). 8,000

_

l.OOOrt.

birth, burning \vith social indignation, ruth­ less in battle, a man who had no time for the horseplay or posturings of the officers' mess; who refused to anend his enemies' funerals or drop wrealhs or messages over enemy aero­ dromes; who jumped a German nying training school, killed the instructor and had no scruples about pursuing his five pupils in their unwieldy Aviatik trainers and sening light to them one by one. He was killed in 1 9 18, \vith at least seventy-three victims to his credit, and the lasting reputation as the war's greatest patrol leader and mentor of novices. And Ball: no hero of the First World War combines so strongly those national charac­ teristics which F. Scon FitzGerald identified in

Telldel' is the Night as the root cause of its incredible ferocity, of why ' . . . it could only be fought once in five generations'. Ball was a perfect public schoolboy. He had the enthusiasms and all the eager intelligence of that breed. But of course he had joined at eighteen; he had no experience of life, he had no outlet for his affections (he wrote only to his mother, thanking her for cake and provisions in much the same way as he must

A C E 5 +

have done from school), he was in every sense

award of the MC and his founh narrow

immature. These are the ingredients of a

escape, Ball's score sLOod at thirty-two enemy

perfect killer, where a smooth transition can

planes. He wrote LO his mother: 'I just feel

be made between the motives that drive a boy

absolutely through, all in. I am going LO ask

LO 'play hard' at school and then LO 'fight hard'

them for a rest. I don't think they can refuse

against the King's enemies.

me. I have flown a patrol every day this year.' o. 1 3

I ncredibly, the authorities did refuse this

Squadron and with them he flew many

request. Worse, Ball was lransferred back to

hundreds of hours on observation in the

o. 13 Squadron where he had to resume the

elderly and vulnerable BE2C before the Baule

most dangerous task of all, namely flying as a

of lhe Sam me. But in lhose days squadrons

sitting target in BE2C observer planes. His

were not uniform in their equipment and Ball

nerves at breaking point, Ball applied for a

coveted and, whenever possible, showed his

transfer back to his old squadron. ' . . . that made

prowess in lhe Iiule single-seater BrisLOI Scout

you see sense, eh l' said his Corps Commander

that was auached LO the squadron. He was

(who did not fly).

At first Ball was auached LO

an

Ball remained in the line, and survived, for

exclusively fighter squadron, which by good

a further three months. Then proVidentially

fortune was being re-equipped with French

he was sent back LO England, there being

Nieupons. Ball qUickly realized that the

assigned to a training school and remaining

Nieupon had such a margin of superiority

until February of the following year, when he

over all other aircraft at that time that he made

was appointed Flight Commander in the new,

a practice of taking on enormous formations

crack Squadron

of

to take on Richthofen with the SE5s.

transferred

German

LO

No.

1 1,

aeroplanes

theoretically

Single-handed,

knowing that unless luck was against him he would be able lo shoot down al least one German aeroplane while the enemy came LO lheir senses, and thereafter lhe speed and manoeuvrability of the Nieupon would allow him LO escape. Throughout June and July 1 9 1 6, Ball's score accumulated. Each time he sent

a

German down in flames he felt, as he

put it in his letters ' . . . utterly rotten'. But dUly was inexorable. Many times his own aero­ plane was riddled so badly by machine-gun fire lhat it had LO be scrapped on return. Three times he crashed, once being saved only by a miracle. Statistically, Ball must have known that his life was coming LO a close, and that same distant look that haunts the gaze of all those aces who allowed themselves LO be photographed late in their career , can be discerned in the photographs of Ball. After his

L07

o. 56 that was being formed

Albert Ball, eager and Intense. He was a youthful contrast to the hardened aces of Jasta 1 1 who. In the end, were to kill him.

108 + A C E 5

H I G H

6 C ir c u s e s

I am a hunter. My brother, Lothar, is a butcher. When I have shot down an Englishman my hunting passion is satisfied for a quarter of an hour. MANFRED

Albatros Dills of Richthofen's lasta 1 1 at Douai in France just before the Arras offensive of March 1 9 1 7. Richthofen's plane is the second from the front. painted all red and thus without the Iron Cross on the tail.

I

VON RICHTHOFEN

t was a panicularly unfortunate coinci­

officer, at the Jasta airfields. In June of 1 9 1 7 ,

dence that the decline of the RAF from

the principle o f concentration was carried still

exhaustion in the Battle of the Somme

further

when

the

Germans

began

to

coincided with the arrival of the Albatros.

amalgamate Jastas into JagdgeschlVader (jG).

Throughout the winter of 1 9 l 6/ 1 7 , their

For example, Jas ta s 4, 6, 1 0 and 1 1 were amal­

numbers multiplied al a frightening rate. After

gamated into JG 1 under Richthofen with

taking

instructions 'to attain air supremacy in sectors

into

account

combat

losses and

wastage (accident damage, unserviceability), German operational strength, in Albatri alone,

of the front as direcled'. Now

the

enemy

had

Simultaneously

had risen from 7 in September, to 78 in

attained superiority in equipment, in numbers

November, 270 in January and 305 in March.

(by virtue of his concentration), in skill (the

By May of 1 9 l 7 , il was to sland at 434. A

Jasta pilots were all picked) and, resulting

total

from these, in morale.

of

thirty-seven

separate Jastas

of

fourteen aircraft each controlled through the

The brief period of superiority - which the

Flugmeldediellst - the Flight Report Service

RFC had enjoyed during the early days of the

that liaised by telephone, from the ground

Somme offensive and which had been largely

troops and observation through to the duty

due to its enomlOUS numerical preponderance,

l lO + A c E S

H I G H

the H2 fighter and to the dash and courage of a few picked groups, notably that led by Hawker - was gone. The skill and bravery of those experienced pilots were useless against the superior speed, armament and rate of climb of the Albatros. Only the Sopwith Triplane could give the Germans a fair fight. And the enemy always avoided the Triplane formations - which was not difficult as they were all grouped in the far North under R AS command. One other aeroplane had a chance. The tiny Sopwith Pup could still, on account of its light weight and perfect manoeuvrability, get the better of the Albatros at extreme altitudes. Nos. 54 and 46 Squadrons had a song of their own sung to the lUne of We've COllle lip

From Somerset: Oh, we've come up from Fifty-four, We're the Sopwith Pups, you know, And wherever you beastly Huns may be The Sopwith Pups will go. And if you want a proper scrap, Don't chase BEs any more, For we'll come up and do the job, Because we're Fifty-fourl Above: Hauptmann Schleich (left) in conversation with Lieutenant Roth. Right: A Fokker Triplane, based on the successful - but neglected Sopwith design.

C I R C U S E S +

There, at 1 7 ,000 feet and over, the pilots

admit I began lO quake, as we didn't seem

gasped for lack of oxygen as they stntggled

lO have a hope in hell, but I managed lO

with the controls. I t was an unknown land

find a spare second lO lOuch wood, and I

whose lOwering banks of freezing cloud and

also put in a snatch burst whenever a Hun

biller temperatures denied entry lO any but

whizzed past my nose. We Pups all lost

the bravest in the winter months. The Pup

height quickly, with DVs buzzing over and

took nearly an hour lO climb lO its maximum.

among us like a swarm of wasps, to the

During that period, or when descending, it

tune of a continuous rallie of guns, with

was prey lO the more powerful German

tracer criss-crossing all over the sky.

single-seaters whose twin machine-guns had

It was incredible that we escaped, and

nearly three times the rate of fire of the Pup's

the main reason was lhat there were so

single Vickers.

many of them they got in each other's way,

111

but somehow it all ended and we weren't A few minutes later, at 1 7,000, SCOll dived

even badly shot about, thanks lo the Pups'

on a group of five (Albatros) DVs aboUl

amazing manoeuvrability. Two of the

1 ,000 feet below, and the eight of us might

Flight types were driven down to 300 feet

have knocked them inlO a cocked hat but

and had lo slither westwards lo safety

for one small thing. Fourteen - yes, 1 4 ! -

among the tree-tops. SCOll and I were also

more Albatri rushed along and joined in.

lucky lo get away, as he had a gun jam,

We learned the number afterwards from

and my engines started to miss and

Armitage. whose engine cut out in a dive,

vibrate badly. . .

and who watched them swooping on us as he glided westwards. When we dived, I picked out a red-and­ grey Hun, and followed him round as he lOok avoiding action, but kept above him while waiting my chance for a burst. It was a free-far-all as usual, with planes nashing like fireworks, and I was concentrating on gelling a bead on my Hun while in a very tight vertical tum, and had just sent in one burst, which weill in half-way up his fuselage, when - rak-ak-ak-ak! Tracers spilling past my head. Joystick right back, full right rudder, a twist of a spin, dive and zoom, and suddenly I realised that the sky was crowded with aeroplanes, all Alba­ troses, all thirsting for our blood. I had a maniacal two minutes, skidding to left, to right, diving, zooming, and generally throwing the poor old Pup around like a dntnk on skates. I must

'N

A German postcard shOWing the winners of the coveted Qrdre pour Ie Merite or Blue Max The French were the first to introduce the 'ace' system but the Germans refined it with several gradations. The Blue Max was the hIghest award that a German flyer could gain.

1 12 + A c E S

H I G H

The much-loved Sopwith Pup. On account of its lightweight construction, the Pup was the most manoeuvrable of all the First World War fjghters, but only had a single gun with a slow rate of fire.

The Pup needed special skills to get the best

of the war. They perished in out-classed and

out of its manoeuvrability. Although Mc­

clumsy aircraft.

Cudden had found that: 'The Sopwith could

Arrogant in their immunity, the German

out-manoeuvre any Albatros no matter how

aces decorated their aircraft in ever more

good the German pilot was . . . when it came to

namboyant colour schemes. It was the last

manoeuvring, the Sopwith could turn twice to

example of the tribal application of war paint

the Albatros' once.' There were few pilots of

- to identify the chiefs and to strike terror in

McCudden's ability. The majority were trained

the hearts of the enemy. The lower surfaces of

and had experienced only the slow and stable

the Albatri were kept sky blue to conceal them

observation aircraft that made up the mass of

while they climbed to dive from the sun, but

RFC equipment. Flick-turns, side-stepping,

the fuselage and the tops of the wings were

nying (and shooting) inverted, were still an

streaked gold, purple, green and adorned

unknown world to the majority of RFC

with ancient or symbolic hieroglyphs. Karl

pilots. And during the winter those few who

Allmenroder of jasLa 2 was the first to paint

had the experience and courage to force their

his aircraft completely red; Hermann Goering

obsolete aircraft into these attitudes, were

ofjasta 27 all black with a white tail fin; Ernst

gradually worn down by jastas. Cruickshank,

Udet gold with yellow spinner; Bruno Lorzer

Sanday,

gallant

gold with a black tail and a white spinner.

officers whose names never entered the role

Other pilots adorned their engine cowlings

of aces that was a feature of the later years

with hideous faces or printed their names in

Palethorpe,

Miller

were

C I R C U S E S +

enormous leners on the upper-wing surfaces

sophisticated. The British were tied lO the

so that their opponents should remember and

requirements of Corps and Army HQ. The

quail. Kempf of Jasra 12 emphasized his by

Army Staff persisted in seeing the Flying

printing under his name 'Kellllseht mi noeh?'

Corps as an adjunct of their own intelligence

(,Do you not remember me?').

and artillery branches, and where bombers or

Now throughout the RFC a general decline

reconnaissance nights failed to achieve the

in nying standards and tactics set in. The

objectives set them, their escorts were blamed.

effects were felt all the way back lO the

Thus the British fighter strength was tied to

training schools where pupils were being

prO\�ding cumbersome escorts nying on slow

rushed through without a proper grounding

and steady courses at medium altitude while

so that they could fill the depleted ranks of

the German Circuses were able to roam free in

the squadrons in

stepped-up tiers reaching to 1 5,000 feet.

France.

Many of the

replacements sent to squadrons in the spring

But to use the word 'fighter' i n any

of 1 9 1 7 arrived with less than twenty hours'

deSCription of RFC equipment in 1 9 1 6- 1 7

solo nying in their log books, and often with

was a misnomer. The fast Single-seater 'scout',

only two or three hours on the type of aircraft

of which the Albatros was the prime example

that they were expected to ny in combat.

but which had its counterparts in the R AS

Many lOa had contrived to get through their

Pups and Triplanes, was a design concept not

passing-out test without executing the more

wholly appreciated by the RFC Staff. The RFC

difficult of the basic manoeuvres - like the

'brass' still regarded the proper role of the

right turn (when the response of the controls

nying machine as that of an extension of

was severely affected by the nywheel effect of

cavalry reconnaissance that, like a cavalry

the rotating engine components and the

squadron, should have the ability to raid or

airscrew). They were prone lO such beginners'

defend itself, but whose raisoll d'el,.e was

errors as letting the machine's nose fall during

collecting information. For this purpose what

a turn or allowing the air speed to sink to

was reqUired - namely a stable, two-man

stalling point in a climb.

aircraft that could be nown 'hands off' while

Squadron commanders testing the new

the crew examined the ground, wrote notes,

recruiLS in mock combat as they arrived were

drew maps and leaned over the side to change

horrified to find that they would even forget

plates in the mahogany box-camera - was the

the transition of rudder to aileron effect in a

antithesis of what was needed to contest for

steep bank. I n these mock combats, staged

mastery of the skies in close combat.

deep behind the lines in the long spring

The

Superintendent

at

Farnborough

evenings. the recruits would sometimes spin

(Mervyn O'Gorman) was, like so many

out of control and crash lO their deaths without

energetic civil servants, an ambitious Empire

even haVing heard their guns fired in anger.

builder. 'at only did he confine the work of

As the days of 1 9 1 7 lengthened, the

the draWing offices strictly to this obsolete

Germans with their stricter training schedules

concept of deSign, but was also at pains to

and the rigid nying discipline of their tightly

ensure by the placing of contracts and other

knit formations increased their dominance of

means that no other aspirant manufacturer

the air space over the whole length of the

could produce a design - still less an aero­

British sector. German tactics also were more

plane - whose merits might rival or eclipse

J J3

1 14 + A C E 5

H I G Ii

Factory.

to be so hated by its pilots that they would

Fortunately, the chaotic state of this new

deliberately try and 'crack them up' on

industry, together with the vigour and long­

landing or delivery, even though this meant

sightedness of the Admiralty and its First

long spells with worn out, obsolete equipment.

Lord, Winston Churchill, did allow, in these

The RES embodied practically every major

early years, firms such as Short, Sopwith,

body design fault that had already been

Bristol and De Havilland to survive and

idemified and for which the cure was known.

produce rival designs. None the less, O'Gor­

The fin area was small and had to undergo

man was tenaciolls in his hostility, doing his

sllccessive modifications in service to make it

best to restrict the output of rivals through the

safe; and the undercarriage was set too far back

Supply Directorate (which was answerable to

relative to the aircraft's centre of gravity and it

him) and, wherever possible, recommending

was easy to 'put the nose in' when landing on

against their adop-tion for squadron service.

rough ground - with highly disagreeable

those

Werner Voss's Fokker Tnplane decorated with a face on the engine cowling. Voss was an expert with the Tnplane, a very manoeuvrable but difficult plane to fly, and in it he shot down twenty-two British planes In twenty-one days.

of

the

Royal

A i rcraft

Now, in February of 1 9 1 7 , the 'new' aircraft

consequences; and the plaCing of the large air

product of the Royal Aircraft Factory's design

scoop just above the engine severely curtailed

staff was about to enter service. This was the

the pilot's forward view and gave the machine

RES, an ugly and perverse aircraft that came

dangerous stalling characteristics.

C I R e U S E 5 + 115

Flight sergeant in a BE2C fitted with a camera for aenal photography. As late as 1 9 1 7 General Haig considered that the chief function of the RFC was the collection of Information (although he seems to have made little use of it).

With the first deliveries of the RES in

the emergency and petrol tanks so that the

France, its evil reputation, magnified by

whole of the spirit flowed over the engine,

disappointment among crews who had pinned

and in the fires which resulted, many pilots

their hopes on its arrival, spread rapidly

and observers perished.

through the RFC: No. 52 Squadron, mainly composed of relative novices, were the first to

The Commanding Officer of 34 Squadron

receive the aeroplane and lost four of their

issued some 'notes for the guidance of pilots'

pilots from uncontrollable spins set off by the

and their text has survived:

minimal fin area. Morale sank so low that an exchange was ordered between 52 and 34 (a

The chief thing to remember is that the

more experienced squadron still flying the

machine gives very liLLIe indication of

BE2Es). Soon another unpleasant characteris­

losing its speed until it suddenly shows an

tic of the RES emerged:

uncontrollable tendency to dive which cannot be corrected in lime if you are near

When a bad landing threw an aircraft

the ground. You will find the rudder

on LO its nose, there was almost a certainlY

control in every case of spinning or swing­

of fire. The engine was pushed back into

ing tail will become very stiff, and you may

1 16 + A C E s

I-I I G H

.

'

I

,

"

l11l\I

BUilding Wings In an aeroplane factory dunng the First World War. The preferred wood was ash, box and (like the medieval bowmen) yew.

not be able to get it very central but you

the extra resistance caused by the rudder is

should aim (without pUlling on sufficient

sufficient to bring down the pace. . .

pressure to break anything) to do this.

One more point a s regards losing speed.

With the engine off the thing to avoid is

Observers must be cautioned that when an

gliding too slowly. At 65 m.p.h. or below,

aeroplane is gliding down from work over

when gliding, the machine suddenly loses

the lines they must not stand up in order to

speed. This is particularly the case when

look over the pilot's shoulder for the fun of

making a turn to enter the aerodrome as

the thing, as the extra head resistance

Above: The RES

reconnaissance machine was introduced late in 1 9 1 6 and remained in service in large numbers until the Armistice, despite being greatly inferior to the Bristol Fighter. Left: An REB of No. S2 Squadron about to set out on a mission. Few crews liked this aircrah and many died in it.

11 8 + A c [ �

H I G H

caused may lead

lhe aeroplane falling

HO h.p. at 1 ,-100 r.p.m., yel weighed only

below ilS crilical gliding speed, and so

330 Ibs. One was installed experimentally in a

bring aboul an accidenl.

BE2C, transforming the speed and rate of

10

climbs of that sleepy aircrafl. But the aero­ It was bad enough in roUline flying, bUl

dynamiC characterislics of the BE2 made it

in combal lhe RES wa

completely unsuitable for dog-fighting no

a dealh lrap. NOI

ulllypical was lhe experience of 59 Squadron,

matter how much power the engine devel­

newly equipped in April of 1 9 1 7, which sem

oped and il was plain lhat the airframe would

oul six of ilS RESs al S. 1 5 a.m.

pholograph

have to be radically modified. At firsl draw­

lhe Drocoun-Queant SWilCh line; caughl by

ings (designated FElO) were for a 'pusher'

jasla J J over Vielrie. All six were ShOl down

aircraft like lhe BE9 bUl lhis was plainly obso­

and len of lhe piiOlS and observers were killed.

lete before it reached even the prototype stage.

Anolher deSign, a bomber from lhe privale

A second design, designated E5, was more

De Havilland concern, lhe DH4, was going

promising. II was for a rakish, square-rigged,

into service at almost the same moment and

Single-seater, neither as streamlined nor a

yel anolher lwo-sealer, lhe BrislOl Fighler, was

aesthetically pleasing as the Albatros, but light

on lhe way. BUI lhe DH4 had been deSigned

and rugged-looking, offering an excellent pilot

round a RoilS-Royce engine and demand for

view. The 'new' design was still recognizably

lhis superb engine was so high lhal the De

from the lineage of the BE2 and the RES,

Havilland airframes had

be filled wilh an

lacking the in lant agility of the Sop\vith

engine deSigned by lhe Ro)'al Aircraft FaclOry.

single-seaters. But O'Gorman's design slaff

This had a lower power OUlPUl and had been

were inspired by a different design philosophy

rushed inlO produclion by O'Gorman in ilS

claiming

original form (in spile of the engineer slaff

fonnerly offered as being essential for observa­

recommending some fifty-seven differenl

lion, would now pay dividends in making the

modification to such major items as pistons

new design a steady 'gun plalfonn'.

10

10

and valve gear).

that

stability,

which

they

had

Under constalll pressure from the RFC

ThaI winler, lhen, lhe Brilish Air Slaff were

staff, the deSign, development and production

faced \vilh a lhreefold problem. In addition to

slages merged dangerously close. On 20

reviving the flagging morale of lhe squadron

ovember 1 9 1 6 the prolotype was submilled

in lhe field, they had lo evolve and produce a

for final inspection and the approved note was

Single-seat fighter \vith speed, manoeuvra­

issued at 2 1 .30 hours lhat evening. Detail

bility and annament superior lo lhe enemy;

developmenlS and inlermillent flighl lrials

and lhey had lo ensure that the impact thaI

continued at Famborough for lhe next lhree

this machine would make on its first arrival

weeks and on Christmas Eve lhe test pilOl,

should not be wasled by unskilled or incom­

Major F. W. Goodden, took lhe second

pelent piiolS.

prototype across to France where it was tried

The previous year lhe first of a new and technically highly advanced engine had been

by selecled piiolS from lhe

ieupon and Spad

squadrons of the RFC.

delivered lo lhe RFC. This was the Hispano­

Goodden brought the aeroplane back

Suiza SA, a VS with aluminium monobloc

England on 4 January and made one more

caslings and lhreaded steel liners that gave

flight on lhe twenty-sixth. That Sunday he

10

lurned up al i i a.m. for a 'j o)' ride and lOok off from the

lill frosl), runwa), al 1 1 . 1 0 a.m.

mOSl skilful, mOSl experienced and mOSl aggressive

pilols,

lO

form

Eight minutes later, having made two circuits,

nucleus of a new RFC fighler

when he was approaching lO land from lhe

arm built round this new

soulh-ea l, the aircrafl broke up in the air and

fighler.

Goodden losl his life. An official inquiry

Alben Ball, were

blamed the airscrew and lhese find­

laken

lhe

Some, like off

ings were published. BUl

investigation or the wreckage continued while the production examples were being buill and il emerged lhal lhe

A Fokker DVII

airscrew was 110t to blame, but thal the

ieuports�

drawing had lefl oul the web elements for lhe

like Cecil Lewis, off Moranes and

others,

wing so lhal afler a cenain nying lime, lhe

olhers like Anhur Rhys-Davids, off the Spad.

SlruLS pulled oul of the wing surface.

All were recalled lo England and conslilllled

In March, the firsl of lhe produclion series

as a new squadron, No. 56, slalioned al

SE5s arrived al Manlesham for sen�ce lesling.

London Colney. Here lhe)' were confined for

The report was pessimistic:

six weeks to familiarize themselves with each olher, lheir individual nying skills and laClics

Laleral conlrol insufficienl, especially poor

and lheir new aeroplane.

at low speeds. The machine manoeuvred

To begin wilh il was unpopular. All agreed

poorly, and was almosl unconlrollable

lhal the cumbersome 'greenhouse' - a mulli­

below 70 m.p.h. in gusts, causing a crash

sided windscreen of celluloid and melal frame

on lake-off on 29. 3 . 1 7 . The windscreen,

- obslrucled the pilot's view and quickly

unnecessarily large, hindered the pilot's

became scralched and covered in oil. The

landing view.

Lewis gun moumed on the upper plane was virtually impossible lo reload owing lo

These commenlS, lOgelher wilh dala for

gravilalional pull and wind resislance. Ball

turning time and other manoeuvrability

was panicularly outspoken;

faclors, did nOl augur well for the SE5's firsl encounler \\�lh the enemy.

onelheless, lhe

The SE5 has LUrned Oul a dud. Its speed is

plan and the aircrafl itself had gone loO far for

only aboul half

any draWing back. In March of 1 9 1 7, lhe

nOl so fasl in gelling up. II is a greal shame,

whole of the RFC had been combed for its

for everybod), lhinks lhey are so good and

ieupon speed and il is

which has been preserved and stili occasionally flies from Duxford aerodrome.

l20 + A C E S

H 1 G H

expects such a lot from them. Well, I am

in the immunity of the Kenlish sky. Each got

making Ihe best of a bad job. I am laking

his filler to modify his own aeroplane as it

one gun off in order to take off weight.

suited him. Some removed Ihe 'greenhouse'

Also I am lowering the windscreen in order

altogether. Ball, always obsessed with speed,

LO take off resistance. A great many things

removed not only the 'greenhouse' but also

I am taking off in the hopes that I shall get

the LOp Le\vis gun and lowered his sealing

a little beller control and speed. But it is a

position by eight inches.

rOllen machine . . .

Every day there were at least four hours' nying practice:

to be one of the most successful fighter planes of the war.

-

diving,

basic

Had the pilots o f 5 6 Squadron remained in

combat manoeuvres and follow-my-leader.

France, it is probable that all would have been

The maximum speed of the SE5 was 1 20

killed in that spring. The average life of a

m.p.h. at 6,500 feet, falling below 100 m.p.h.

fighter pilol had been reduced LO less than a

at 15,000 feet. (Ball was wrong - the SE5 was

fortnight and, between March and Mal', 1 ,270

faster than his

aeroplanes

m.p.h.) The pilots found thaI the aircraft

from

RFC

squadrons

were

deslroyed. The SESA, which proved

formation,

lieuport 1 7 by nearly 1 5

could climb to 6,500 feet in eight minUles and

As the terrible weeks of 'Bloody April' went

LO 10,000 feel in under fifteen minutes (both

by, the individual pilots at London Colney

these figures were superior to the Albatros,

gradually came to terms with the new aircraft

although, naturally, this was not known at the

C I R e U S E S +

time).

Furthermore,

the

SE5

A group 01 No. 56

an

Swan at Radlett and, on the way back, Captain

endurance or two and a hair hours - nearly

, Foot, the leader, had crashed in a Metal­

one hour more than the Albatros, so that 56

lurgique car and broken three ribs so the flight

left to right G. J. C.

Squadron would have

at

to their aerodrome at Vert Galand was to be

Maxwell, N. B. Melville,

maximum altitude ror their enemy to appear

led by Cecil Lewis the MC and rormer Morane

time

to

had

121

wait

below them. They round, too, that the stabil­

pilot, who had celebrated his nineteenth

ity or the aeroplane had several advantages,

birthday a month before.

particularly in those last critical seconds when

There was a small group or parents and

the enemy was in your gunsight. Confidence

rriends and a rew or the girls who had been at

spread and with it an impatience to return to

the Black Swan to wave them goodbye. Lewis

France. While they waited, the pilots would

taxied across to the eastern corner of the

amuse themselves with ever more hair-raising

airfield with the other ten rollowing behind

aerobatics - a ravourite trick was to roll the

him in Single rHe. Turning into the wind, they

wheels on the sloping roor or number 3

took orr, banked and roared back over the

hangar on the run-in in order to get a

sheds ror a last wave at the little group on the.

smoother landing.

tarmac. Then, climbing into V-rormation, 56

On 7 April, at 1 1 a.m., the Squadron were

Squadron headed ror the Channel coast. The

ranged in line on the turr or London Colney

day or the great encounter with Richthoren's

warming up their engines. The night before, a

Circus was but four weeks away.

rarewell party had been staged in the Black

Squadron officers in April 1 91 7. Back row,

H. M. T. Lehmann,

C. R. N. Knight, t. M.

Barlon and K. T. Kraggs. Front row, left to right:

C. A. Lewis, J. O. Leach, R. G. Blomlield, A. Ball and R. T. C. Hoidge.

122 + A C E S

H 1 G H

7 S qua d ron s •

I hope he roasted the whole way down. MICK M ANNOCK ON HEARING OF RICIITHOFEN'S DEAT H

W

hile the Royal Flying Corps

and put under No. 1 1 Wing RFC, being

suffered under the nail of the

stationed at Droglandl. On their first day of

Albatros Circuses in the early

action, they shot down two Albatri. Further

pan of 1 9 1 7, there was one sector where the

encounters followed on 5th, 6th, 14th, 1 5th,

Germans hesitated to venture. In the far nonh

1 7th and 18th and in every one of them the

of Flanders the naval squadrons equipped

Triplanes had the measure of their opponents.

with the Sopwith Triplane dominated the

, aval

Ten's'

career

was

short

and

skies. The various administrative and design

spectacular. Its core was the five Canadian

disputes

Pilots R. Collishaw,

that

lay

behind

the

immense

V.

W M.

Alexander, G .E.

superiority in equipment that the Navy held

Nash, E.

over the RFC have been mentioned already.

the 'Black Flight', painting their engine cowl­

But in the spring of 1 9 1 7, the paradox had

ings, metal fuselage panels and wheel covers

resulted that the airspace over the quietest

in black gloss and carrying the name embla­

sector of the front was dominated by the

zoned in white, Blach Maria, Blach P,illce,

English while that over the most active was

Blac/, Sheep, Blach Roger and Blac/, Death.

the province of the German Circuses. Finally, the slaughter of the regular RFC

Reid and). E. harman who formed

Word had spread rapidly among the German pilots of these extraordinary little

had become so serious that after much

aeroplanes

depanmental obstruction a single squadron of

silhouette and their unnatural ability to climb

Triplanes, 'Naval Ten', was moved on 4 June

and weave. A disturbing rumour arose that the

with

their

freakish

head-on

Triplane could not be engaged by the normal

deputy who had been awarded the 'Blue Max'

tail approach - to do so was certain death for

only ten days before. His Albatras was identi­

it could out-manoeuvre any other plane in

fied by his white engine cowl and spinner and

level flight, sliding round to sit on its

white painted elevators. The encounter that

adversary's rudder as if attached by a tow-line.

followed was brief. The jasta found that every­

But surely there was one unit that could cow

thing they had heard about the Triplane was

these insolent newcomers? The all-red aero­

true. Only Allmenroder himself scored a

planes of Richthofen's jasLa 1 1 were given

victory, shooting down Blac/, Sheep (Nash)

priority orders to seek out the Black Flight.

and then leading the jasta away in a long dive

For five days the Circus ranged up and

that could outstrip the slower Triplanes.

down across the Ypres salient searching for

For two days the German pilots anxiously

their enemy. All the German anti-aircraft

discussed tactics. Allmenroder decided to split

crews had been alerted to scan for the

the jasta in two, flying one half at maximum

Triplanes and contact jasta 1 1 by telephone,

altitude, the other lower than was normal in

but identification from the ground was

order to draw the Triplanes down. If the

difficult, as the silhouette was much like that

timing was right, the upper formation should

of the Sopwith Pup. Finally, on 25 June, the

be able to choose their own targets in the

two teams met over Quesnoy. On this patrol

ensuing dive and rescue their comrades before

jasta 1 1 was commanded by Karl Allmen­

the Triplanes 'locked on'. The matter was put

roder,

to the test on 27 June. But something went

Richthofen's

twenty-two-year-old

The Officers' Mess.

124 + A C E 5

H I G H

wrong, because the upper rormation did not spot the attacking Triplanes until too late. Black Flight, again led by Collishaw, made one pass at the lower jasla and then disappeared to the east. Observers on the ground saw the Albatri regain rormation and start climbing with the exception or one aircrart with a white spinner and cowl, which was gliding slowly westwards. Gradually the glide steepened and the Albatros rell into a vertical and uncon­ trollable dive. jas[Q 1 1 had lost its deputy. On the same day the Black Flight claimed three more victims, two of them going down under the guns or Collishaw's Blac/, Maria; and ror the first three weeks in July it continued to wreak havoc among the now thoroughly disconcerted Circuses. On 6 July 1 9 1 7 Richthoren attacked a combined

squadron

or FE2s

and

RE8s

escorted by the Black Flight. Collishaw got one or the Albatri. Richthoren himselr broke through the escort and attacked a 'Fee' head­ on, crewed by Captain D. C. Cunnell (killed a rew days later) with gunner Lieutenant A. E. Woodbridge. Woodbridge kept his nerve and filled the Albalros with lead. Richlhoren, temporarily blinded, just managed to put the aeroplane down right side up and then rainted with a head wound, remaining in hospital ror a month. But no five men, however brave, could stand up indefinitely to the rull weight or the angry jaslas. Blach Death was sel on fire on 22 July and Shannan was killed. Blach Roger went down with Reid on the 28th. On the 30th, Blach Maria was also shol down, although Collishaw had already been recalled to England to serve ror a period as an instructor (he ended the war with Sixty-three victims). The gallant little company was disbanded. By this time the Hrst or the Sopwith Camels (in essence a more powerrul The Canadian ace, Major Raymond Collishaw. He was the leader of the famous 'Black Flight', composed entirely of Canadians, all of whom flew Sopwlth Triplanes, and one of the most successful fighter units of the war.

g delivered lO and robUSl Pup ) were bein lhe Triplane, with lhe naval squadrons and s, was bei ng its crit ical servicing problem phased OUl .

career of lhe The brie f and bril lian l iron ic legacy: when 'Tripehound' did \eave one ped lhe ir own lhe Ger ma ns had dev elo CbOlh Richthofen lriplane, lhe Fokker Drl record with lhe and Hoeppner had gone on lane was lhe besl belief thal lhe Sopwilh Trip , many RFC crews English fighler of lhe war) eved) its friendly recognized Cas lhey beli and allowed lhe silhouelle, withheld lheir fire il lOO lale lO save enemy lO close lhe ran ge unl (heir lives . . .

Above: Hangars at Sommesous In 1 9 1 8. Left: Manfred von Rlchthofen prepanng for a flight. He is wearing the sheepskin boots that pilots found so necessary, fighting at

altitudes where the temperatures could be many degrees below zero, even In June.

L26 + A C E S.

H [ G H

I t soon became apparent that the Sopwith Camel: although very difficult for a novice to

discipline. On this subject James McCudden, coolest of all the British aces, wrote:

ny, could be mastered by any of the more

The SOpw1th Camel, first

experienced pilolS, and was so agile and quick

I consider it a patrol leader's work to pay

in combat that it had to be ordered in quantity

more auention to the main points affecting

for the RFC as an alternative to the SE5.

the fight than to do all the fighting himself.

However, during the summer or 1 9 1 7, Camel

The main poinlS are: ( 1 ) arrival of more EA

deliveries were slow and the only hope of

who have tactical advantage, i.e. height;

dealing with the Albatros Circuses was

(2) patrol drifting too far east; (3) patrol

the SE5.

getting below bulk oT enemy formation. As

On 7 April, 56 Squadron had arrived at

soon as any of these circumstances occur,

their base at Vert Galand and spent two weeks

it is time to take advantage of the SE's

on navigation nighlS, gunnery testing and

superior speed over EA SCOUlS and break

tuning their machines. Proressionalism was

off the fight, rally behind leader and climb

now at ilS peak and combat tactics a formid­

west of EA until you are above them before

able synthesis of individual nair and group

attacking them again.

brought Into service In the mIddle of 1 9 1 7.

*The Camel e\'enlually bt:came the mOSt successful fighter of the war. with Camel pilotS shootmg down 1.194 enemy machines,

Although It had some

It was the first British fighter (0 have twin Vickers guns. and it was the hump made b)' the cowhng o\'er their breeches that led

Idiosyncrasies, once they

to the nickname of Camel. which bt:came .so prevalenl that

had been mastered It

componentS were gathered into the forward seven feet of the fuselage. which ga\·c the Camel a remarkable agility, as the

II

was adopted as the machmes official name. All the major weight

was found to be the

momentS of inertia were so small. But this, combmed with the torque of itS rotary engine. ga\·e the Camel its most famous quality

most manoeuvrable of

- the ability to turn to the right in onl), half the lime it took other fighters. Delivery began m July 1 9 1 7 and ended after 5.490

all fighting planes.

had been built.

Right: James McCudden, who JOined the RFC In

1 9 1 3 and made hiS first operational flight as a pilot In July 1 9 1 5 He scored fifty-seven vldones before hiS death In July 1 9 1 8 at the age of twenty-two. He won more decorations than any other member of the RFC. RNAS or RAF dunng the war.

Below: lieutenant Geoffrey Bonnell, an American volunteer with No. 32 Squadron, seated In the cockpit of a DH2 with a lewis gun mounted

tn

the

nose. The DH2 was not an outstanding fighter plane, being neither partICularly fast nor manoeuvrable, but It was a match for the Fokker Elndekker

,

128 + A c [ \

H [ G II

O n 2 2 April, the Squadron new their first offensive sonic on a trail that was to bring them lO their quarry, and disaster, within less than three weeks. The first encounter was highly successful. Alben Ball shot down two Albatri and other members of the

quad ron got two more. For

the rest of April and the first week in May, 56 Squadron cut a fine swath in the German Air Service. As the pilots' confidence grew, they became accustomed to attacking against odds of up to three-to-one. Ball was indefatigable, he still kept his old

ieuport and would sonie

alone in this when the SE5 was being serviced, being over four hours a day in the air. A t fighting altitudes the S E 5 was still outclimbed by the Albatros, but the very high quality of the pilots and the consternation that

they

created among their enemy, who had been enjoying such lOtal superiority up lO that lime, gave them an advantage. They must have clashed several times with j(l5l(l

II

for

memion of 'all red scouts' can be traced many limes in lhe Squadron log, but they never found Richthofen himself at full strength until their second patrol on 7 May. It was a still evening, but the sky was heavy with threatening masses of cumulus cloud lOwering from 4,000 to 1 2,000 feet; 56 Squadron new at full strength - eleven machines in fonnalion, two fours and a three, and found their enemy at 1 8,000 feet behind the German lines. How far this was a deliberately comrived ambush, how far an accidem arising from the Squadron's over-confidence, will never be known. The fact remains that McCudden lOok the whole Squadron into a dive follo\\�ng six Albatri of a different jasta nying east, 3,000 feet below. But Richthofen himself and two jastas of jG 1 were nying at the same altitude some one to three miles distant and followed Armourer fitters of No. 22 Squadron filling lewIS drums

Right: Albert Ball, seated In hIS 5E5. On 7 Apnl 1 9 1 7 he

and Vickers belts at the 'Armoury' at Vert Galand

went to France With No. 56 Squadron, the first unit to be

Aerodrome, 1 Apnl 1 9 1 8

equipped With the SE5, and It was In thiS plane, exactly one month later, that he would meet his death.

1 30 + A C E S

H I G H

A Sopwlth Pup just after take-off. This one has SUrviVed and is In the care of the Shuttleworth Collection, Blggleswade. The Bnstol Fighter.

56 Squadron down. The batlle broke up into

separated from his fellows. For over an hour

individual contests and \vithin minutes each

the Squadron struggled to save itself, fighting

of the highly skilled pilots of 56 Squadron

down from 1 5 ,000 feet to 600 before, in fading

was fighting for his life, turning ever tighter

light, the survivors ducked and weaved their

and more desperately losing altitude, and

way individually back to Ven Galand. Of the eleven SE5s that had gone out on that evening patrol on 7 May, only five returned. Ball himself, the indestructible,' was missing \vith his score standing at fony-three - by far the highest at that time, of any pilot in the RFC. There is a strange irony in that 56 Squadron, forged as the head of the lance that was to break the power of the Albatros Jasta and, in particular, to kill Richthofen, should have been the instrument that eliminated Richthofen's closest rival. At 1 8.00 hours on the evening of 23 September 1 9 1 7 , the day of the autumnal equinox, cloud base was at an altitude of

•

The exaCt manner of his death is still a mystery. as wuh SO many other aces of the war. Hc was last seen divlI1g after an Albatros. Some days latcr the Gemlans

claimed that he had been shot down by the brother of Manfred \'on Richlhofen. Lothar. who had a meleoric career at the front shooling down four Allied aircraft. But on that day Lother claimed a Triplane, and was supponed by several of his comrades.

SE5A

132 + A C E 5

H I G H

9,000 feet. Werner Voss's Jasra had flown ilS

- R. T. C. HOidge, A. P. F. Rhys-Davids. R. A.

last patrol of the day under his leadership and

Mayberry, V P. Cronyn, and K. K. Muspratt,

he was up in his own triplane, eyes focused

led by James McCudden, vc. Although fast in

on the red glow of the sunset that would

a climb triplanes were no match for the SE5A

silhouette any stragglers who

in a dive, and the six Englishmen rapidly

might be

making for the safety of the British lines.

A. P. F. Rhys-Davlds, one of the several experienced pilots who were drahed to No.

56 Squadron. It was his guns that brought down Voss's triplane In September

1917.

gained on Voss before he could get within

A few minutes after reaching operational

shooting distance of his selected victim. Rhys­

altitude, Voss spotted his prey and dived after

Davids and McCudden split to put themselves

it, but above him and invisible against the

either side of Voss's triplane so that one or the

darkening sky of the east was a flight from 56

other would catch him if he tried to bank out

Squadron of six of ilS most experienced piiolS

of trouble , Muspratt and HOidge parted

vertically so that either a climb or a dive by

HOidge's tail. For a few seconds the English

Voss would offer a target, while the other two

strained eyes against the failing light, then the

SE5As hung back as guards. Yet before the

orange stab of name from the triplane's twin

leaders could open fire, some sixth sense had

Spandaus showed Voss's position as he filled

warned Voss, and he straightened out of his

HOidge's fuselage with bullets.

dive, performing at the same time an incred­

The SE5As, perfectly diSciplined and with

Werner Voss was commander of Jasta 70 of Rlchthofen's Circus. He was killed in September 1 9 1 7 in an encounter with a flight from No. 56 Squadron. McCudden said of Voss In hiS last battle: 'His

him

the advantage of speed built up in their dive,

flYing IS wonderful, hiS

face-to-face with his four converging enemies.

climbed and banked again to position them­

courage magnificent and

For split seconds the adversaries confronted

selves in the lethal 'box' from which this time

bravest German airman

each other at a closing speed of 180 m.p.h.

there would be no escape. Yet again the

whom It has been my

Startled, the English all opened fire, but none

triplane turned before the British could open

of the bullets struck their target and even as

fire and, raising his nose, Voss slipped through

the SE5As passed above and below him and to

the descending formation, this time riddling

his right and left, Voss was giving his triplane

McCudden's aircraft and turning immediately,

right rudder, which brought him round on

put himself on the tail of Muspratt, the last

ibl)'

rapid

nick-turn

that

brought

in my oplOIon he is the

pnvilege to

see. '

left: Captain BiShop, ve. RFe. who had brought down 37 German planes at the date this picture was taken. Below: Werner Voss's last fight with the 'aces' of No. 56 Squadron, 23 September 1 9 1 7. He fought an amazing single·handed action against at least nine aircraft before succumbing to the guns of twenty·year-old Arthur Rhys-DaVlds.

man in the night. Three times the sequence

sighlS. Hardly believing his luck, Rhy -Davids

repeated ilSelf until the British discarded their

closed the range while Voss's figure in the

advantage in numbers and formation and

cockpit enlarged to fill the ring-sight. Still the

challenged Voss individually and in pairs.

triplane new straight and level. Somewhere, at

By now most of the SE5As had emptied

some point, Voss had been badly wounded

their Lewis guns and few of the pilots had

and had either fainted or was incapable of

found the time to re-Ioad, continuing to rely

working the controls. Rhys-Davids fired a

on the single belt-fed Vickers that fired

long burst on denection raking the whole

through the airscrew. The light was failing and

length of the triplane's fuselage. For a second

an easterly breeze, which had risen in the

the German aircraft wobbled and then the

evening, carried the fight back over the lines.

nose fell, engine full on, screaming vertical

There was still time for one more pass at this

and then over-vertical, until against the velvet

indomitable foe.

of the darkened landscape below a dark

Rhys-Davids, tense with the effort of anti­

red nash exploded, brighter than any shell­

cipating the triplane's next evasion, found in

burst as Voss's triplane smashed into a

one magic instant thal it remained in his

thousand fragmenlS.

Above: 46 Squadron

Sopwlth Pups engaging enemy 'scouts' near MesSlnes In 1 9 1 7.

136 -1- A C E S

H I G H

8 B r a ve s •

Elijah was reputed to be the patron saint of aviators, but as he went to Heaven in a chariot of fire, this was something we weren't too keen about. KIFFIN ROCKWELL

f all the units that lOok part in the

Norman Prince, one of the few American

dog-fights over the Western Front

citizens lO earn a pilot's licence before the

none had such individual character

outbreak of war. Prince had travelled to

as the Escadrille Altlericaille of the French Air

France in the \vinter of 1 9 1 4 with the inten­

Force. It was the creation and the club of a

tion of forming a unil for American volunteer

number of widely different, yet i n their

nyers. In Paris he had teamed up with

varying ways typical, Americans, having in

Edmund Gros, a rich doctor who had built up

common only bravery, a taste for adventure

the American Ambulance Field Service. The

and a United States passport. Playboys,

two men set aboUl combing all the various

soldiers-of-fortune and professional avialOrs

units lO which American volunteers had been

came and went in its ranks. They new

drawn in those romantic opening months of

ieuports and then Spad Single-seaters that

the war (and where in most cases they were by

displayed an Indian brave's head as their

now thoroughly disillusioned and miserable).

O

unit's insignia.

At

first

the French authorities were

The squadron had originated in the minds

obstructive. But \vith the deadlock on the

of a number of adventurous Americans, but

ground and the increasing propaganda value

the driving idea was that of a New Englander,

of the personal side of aerial welfare, their

B R A V E S + 137

opposition

changed

to

support.

Seven

Americans were enlisted and given the acting

nine were killed and two were invalided out with wounds.

rank of NCO in a squadron commanded by

The first posting for the Squadron was at

two French officers. The Escad,·i lle was

Luxeuil in the Vosges. The French authorities

officially formed on 16 April 1 9 1 6. In addition

could not decide on the balance between

to Prince there was William Thaw, who had

tactical deployment and propaganda. The

owned a hydroplane while still at Yale; Kimn

American flyers were given every luxury.

Rockwell, a medical sLUdent from North

I n spite of their StaLUs as 'other ranks' and

Carolina; and Victor Chapman, a Harvard

minuscule pay scale, money nowed freely, in

graduate who had been at the Ecole des Beaux

grants and from their private incomes. They

Arts in Paris and had joined the Foreign

were quartered in a sumptuous villa next to

Legion as a private when war broke oul. (Both

the Roman Baths and messed \vith their

these two had grandfathers who had been

officers at the best hotel in the town. For

officers in the Confederate Army.) There were

many weeks the Escadrille was carefully

also two from the Ambulance Service, James

nursed and commiued to action only when

McConnell and Elliot Cowdin, and a LOugh

the dice were heavily loaded in its favour. All

Texan, Bert Hall, who had made his name as a

the time the French propaganda machine

pre-war SLUnt nyer and had already acquiued

dwelt on their achievements. The pilots'

himself valiantly in the French Air Force,

spirits found vent in extravagant and destruc­

having captured a Halberstadt two-seater by

tive sackings of the local inns and in repeated

forcing it to land behind French lines. Of

'blow-outs' in Paris.

these original seven, only three survived.

One of the earliest members of the unit,

Altogether thirty-eight American nyers passed

James McConnell (who was later LO die in

through the ranks of the Escadrille, of whom

baule), wrote with foreboding: 'I thought of

Edward Rickenbacker, America's ace of aces. He jOined the 94th Aero Squadron on 4 March 1 9 1 B and by the end of the war had scored twenty-six victories. With Raoul tufbery and Douglas Campbell he made the first patrol over enemy lines by an American flight.

\38 - A c E S

H I G H

the luxury we were enjoying; our comfortable beds, baths, and motorcars, and I recalled the ancient custom of giving the man selected for the sacrifice a royal time of it before the appOinted day.' And indeed that day was not far away. The fall of Fort Vaux at Verdun in June 1 9 1 6

'-

caused tremors that threatened t o bring down the whole of the Verdun system. In this dreadful battle of attrition, the long-range artillery piece was king, and whosoever could give it eyes and lengthen its range would win the day. The Escadrille was a Nieuport squadron and only the

ieuport could cope

with the Fokker, which, in tum, was protect­ ing the Gennan artillery-spotting balloons. Its commitment became inevilable. It was here, over the blackened earth of the Verdun trench system, with its permanent haze of sulphur and cordite fumes, that the elite of the Gem,.n air strength, led by Oswald Boelcke and Max immelmann, was engaged. On the evening of 24 May, the machine of one of the pioneers of the

Escadlille, William Thaw, who had started the war \vith the Foreign Legion, was shot to pieces in a duel \vith three Fokkers and he crash-landed with his pectoral artery cut open, to survive in hospital. On the 25th, another original member, Bert Hall, was badly wounded.

On

1 7 June Victor Chapman

narrowly survived a duel with Boelcke, being wounded in the head. On 1 8 June Thaw's replacement, Clyde Balsley, was struck in the thigh by an incendiary bullet and taken to a field hospital where he contracted gangrene. The same week, Chapman - still nying, though \vith his head in bandages - was caught in failing light by five Fokkers and shot down, the first American ainnan to be killed in the war.

ow only Kiffin Rockwell,

Elliot Cowdin and the founder,

orillan Sioux head, the insignia of the Escadrille Americaine, the American volunteer unit that joined the French Air Force In April 1 9 1 6.

B R A V E 5 +

,

.

139

140 + A C E 5

H I G H

Prince, remained. Within a month the carefree

onset of Bloody April and the decimation of

mood had gone sour. The pilots were forcing

the RFC squadrons, this small band of gallant

themselves beyond their capabilities and new

volunteers had allowed themselves to be

arrivals were swept up mercilessly into a back­

dashed to pieces against an enemy far better

breaking routine of four or five patrols a day,

trained, and many times their number.

stopping only in the ten o'clock twilight and

The attitude of the French Command then

starting again at dawn. After Chapman's death,

underwent

Rockwell wrote to his brother: 'Prince and 1 are

husbanding the Americans in case the death of

going to ny ten hours tomorrow and we'll do

one of them should cause a reaction, they seem

our best to kill one or two Gennans for Victor.'

to have decided that a pronigate expenditure

The following day, Rockwell, blinded by

of American lives was a surer guarantee of a

fatigue, was shot down by a German who

deeper commitment. Before the war when Sir

dived on him from the noon sun. Less than a

Henry Wilson (later Chief of the Imperial

week later Prince stayed out too long and

General Staf£) had asked General Joffre how

crashed into a high tension cable in the

many English soldiers he desired in the expe­

evening light as he followed the ground

ditionary force, the reply came back: 'Only

contours back to base.

one, but I will make sure that he is killed.' This

Thus ended the first phase in the history of the Lafaywe Escad" ille* Cas it had come to be known}, and those who decry the importance

a

complete

reversal.

From

philosophy seems for a time to have pervaded the French attitude to American nyers. The

Escadrille was expanded. Some

of the American contribution to the air war

hardened nyers like Raoul Lufbery and James

and point to the low scores of their 'aces', as

Hall and Charles Nordhoff joined their

well as the manner in which their first regular

compa-triots along with many others who had

squadrons were so carefully husbanded and

to learn from scratch.

kept out of combat, should not forget the reckless heroism and devotion of those first

French training schools were no bed of

pilots in the Lafayette. Two years were to pass

roses. We were up every morning before

before any other American airmen came even

dawn, with only a cup of lukewarm

close to matching the deeds of this gallant unit

chiCOry, masquerading as coffee, to sustain

- and even then the US's latter-day aces, Frank

us till the first meal at eleven o'clock.

Luke, Edward Rickenbacker, Joseph Wehner

Daylight found us shivering at our various

and the like, had to be trained in tactical

fields, awaiting our turns on that fearful

matters by the French, who had learned from

and wonderful contraption known as the

the Lafayette, examples, and were equipped

Bioriot Monoplane.

from the same source.

Its construction was a source of never­

Before the advent of the Albatros and the

ceasing

wonder.

With

only a

slight

Circuses and the prophetic duel between

exaggeration, it seemed as if they were

Richthofen and Lanoe Hawker, before the

merely gathered-up odds and ends of

*The initial tide of Eswdlille Amelicaine was dropped follOWing German pressure exercised through isolationist circles i n the -

N (Nieuport) IN. of 'laJaycuc' and this tide stayed with the unit until 18 February 1918,

at this time allegedly neutral - United States. The French then deSignated it by the simple code number Claude Genet lhen had the idea of fixing on the name

when it was officially incorporated in the United States air arm.

B R A V E 5

+ 141

majority went through the training school at Buc. learning on the clipped-wing Bleriots (the Pillgouills) and graduating lo a twin­ engined Caudron RIV whose whole wing warped in a tight turn. But of these 209. only thirty-one actually found their way inlO the exclusive Lafayelle squadron and the remain­ der served. until America joined the war. with other French frolll-line units. After its brutal mauling at Verdun. the

Escadrille was taken out of line for resting and re-equipped with the new

pad VII single­

seater with a V8 Hispano-suiza engine. At first there was a wide gulf between those who had been through the deadly Fokker battles of the summer and the brash young arrivistes. In the words of the official historian 'there was wood. discarded matchsticks and the like.

considerable disharmony at various times'.

which were wired together. catch-as-catch­

More. perhaps. than any other front-line unit.

can fashion. with bailing wire lO form the

the Lafayette seems lo have been racked by

fuselage. Then old handkerchiefs were

fads and superstitions. There was a great craze

sewed lOgether. lo cover the wings and that

for collecting golden medals and bracelets -

part of the fuselage around the pilot's seal.

but with the proviso that they had lo be

The remainder of the fuselage was left

' presented by one of the girls in Paris; then

naked. which gave the ship a sort of half­

there was a wave of addiction to black velvet

finished appearance. We were undoubtedly

cats - which had lo emanate from the same

wrong in thinking it was left naked because.

source - without whose company in the

with true French thrift. they wanted lo save

cockpit it was dangerous even lo take off.

on fabric. More likely it was lo facilitate

Every pilot carried a girl's silk slOcking under

replacement of brace wires. which had an

his flying helmet: .. .if anything happened to

uncomfortable habit of snapping when any

you it was a sure sign the girl didn't love you."

panicular strain was put on them.

·

For nearly a year after the United States'

The landing gear was fairly solid. with

entry inlO the war the Lafayelle Escadrille

junior bicycle wheels at the end of each

continued lo fly under French colours. In the

axle. wrapped with a couple of turns of

latter months of 1 9 1 7 the policy of conserva­

light rubber cord.

tion seems lo have returned. although the publicity did not diminish.

Of the 209 American nationals who volun­

In February of 1 9 1 8 the Escadrille was

teered for service in the French Air Force the

formally absorbed into the United States Air

*h is possible thal this practice came from some of the French

Escadrilles

where i t had originated with the French ace, Jean

Na\'3rre. who new in "inter lime with a girl's stocking actually pulled over his head as a protection agamst the cold.

Major John W. F. M Huffer and Raoul lufbery in Toul. France, April 1 9 1 8. Note the InsignIa of

94 Squadron on the plane.

N i e u port 1 7

B R A V E 5 +

Service and was redesignaled lhe I 03rd Aero

out and continue to try and operate the

quad ron. Allhough Thaw, who had urvived

joyslick while silling on lhe head-fairing; lhen

his earlier wounding, remained commander,

he crawled back along lhe fuselage towards

most of the first alumni were dispersed to

lhe lail and lei go, falling lhree lhousand feel

sliffen olher unilS. The squadron's maSCOl, a

10 his dealh.

lion cub called Whisky, was senl 10 lhe zoo,

All lhose characlerislics of lhe FirSI World

the French uni[onns were thrown away and

War aircrew who new and foughl wilhoUI

orders wcre given that the slackness and

parachules, who knew lhal dealh from

indiscipline 'for which the unit was notorious'

wounds would occur four limes out of five,

should be reclified.

who saw their comrades comc and go and

Three monlhs laler lhe lasl link wilh lhe

measured lheir own exiSlence by lhe hour, all

old days of lhe Escadrille were severed when

lhese were personified in lhe members of lhe

Raoul Lufbery's

LafayeHe Escad,·ille.

ieupon caughl fire during

combat in full view of hi ncw command, the

In addilion, they were expatriales; they

941h Aero Squadron al Maron, who were

foughl wilhoUI a counlry, surrounded by

walching from lhe ground. Lufbery, who had

people who spoke a different langauge and

always sworn lhal he would never burn, ShUI

whose altaChmenLS and values wcre alien.

off lhe malar and coolly lried to eXlinguish

Like lhe Polish squadrons in lhe Bailie of

lhe names by sideslipping firsl to lhe lefl and

Britain twcnty-three years laler, this seems to

lhen 10 lhe right. In a Spad il mighl have been

have heighlened lheir ardour, bUI broughl

possible, bUI wilh lhe shon-nacelled rolaries

with it too a certain melancholy that is

like lhe

exemplified in lheir favourile mess song:

ieupon and lhe Camel, names from

143

lhe engine companmenl would make lhe cockpil intolerable wilhin a few seconds.

We meel 'nealh lhe sounding raflers,

Horrified, lhe onlookers saw Lufbery climb

The walls all around us are bare; They echo lhe peals of laughler; II seems lhal lhe dead are lhere.

Frank luke Jr, the second highest scorer of the American aces, WIth the Spad In whIch he blazed

So sland by your glasses sleady, This world is a world of lies. Here's a toaSI 10 the dead already; Hurrah for lhe nexl man who dies.

a name for himself. He was known as the 'Balloon buster' because of hiS remarkable success In destrOYing balloons; he 'busted' fifteen before hiS death In

CUI off from lhe land lhal bore us, Belrayed by lhe land lhal we find, The good men have gone before us, And only lhe dull left behind. So sland by your glasses sleady, The world is a web of lie . Then here's to the dead already, And hurrah for lhe neXI man who dies.

September 1918.

14-+

oJ.

A C E 5

H [ G H

9 S t or k s

. . . will remam the purest symbol of the qualities of his race. Indomitable tenacity, ferocious energy, sublime courage: animated by the most resolute faith in victory, he bequeaths to the French soldier an imperishable memory which will exalt the spirit of sacrifice. GUYNEMER MEMORIAL

Sous·Ueutenant Maurice Boyau, Legion of Honour, Medaille

T

he inscription above is taken from the

assembled hosts as did the chevalier of

marble plaque on the Guynemer

olden time.'

memorial at the Pantheon in Paris.

The French were the first to institute

The sentiments expressed, while wholly

the 'ace' system (which was of course never

Escadrille No. 77 as a

suitable to Georges Guynemer's own tortured

officially recognized in Britain, though in

Corporal pilot. At the

and mystic heroism, were less appropriate to

Germany it was further refined with several

year he was

the majority of his colleagues, among whom a

gradations and the coveted POUI" Ie Me,ite or

commissioned as a

kind of cynical despair gradually lOok root -

'Blue Max' at the summit). The rules of

nowering with tragic consequence in 1940.

scoring were strict but if a pilot had five

Militatre, Croix de Guerre. In February 1 9 1 7 he joined

end of August that

Sous·lIeutenant. He was shot down In flames on 1 6 September 1 9 1 8 by seven enemy aircraft after destroYing a kite balloon. In total he had destroyed thirty·

The French had been the first to realize the

confirmed viclOries (in May of 1 9 1 7 this limit

immense propaganda value of the air war and

was raised lo ten) he qualified for the title of

the manner in which, by presenting it in

'As' and was mentioned by name in official

personal terms as a series of individual

communiques.

five German aircraft,

contests, public attention could be distracted

An immediate and unfortunate growth of

including twenty kite

from the futile carnage of the trenches. 'The

class differentiation set in. It was virtually

Knights of the air', wrote one commentator,

impossible for a pilot or gunner of a two­

'sally forth lO do baltle before the eyes of the

seater to reach this score and among the

balloons.

l

-

,

Above: A Spad VII.

Single-seaters it was far easier for the

Powered by a Hispano-

pilots

5U1za engine, It was the

than

any

other.

The

iellport

authorities

re-equipped with the Spad from the early autumn of 1 9 1 6.) Almost

incidentally

the

French

had

most famous of the French

encouraged the di\� ion by grouping the best

Inhne-englned fighters. The

ieuport pilots in one Escadrille. The original

chanced on the most effective system of

aircraft and was flown by

Escadrille selected was N.3 and every pilot in

tactical deployment of their Single-set fighter

the

it identified himself as being one of that select

strength - putting inlO practice a conclusion

company by painting a white slOrk in night on

that was reached somewhat later and on

the side of his fuselage. As the aces multiplied

purely tactical grounds by Oswald Boelckc

propaganda had a snowball effecl. More of

and General von Hoeppner. There is no doubt

the CigogJles Escad,illes were formed and

that the strength and gallantry of the Cigoglles

balloons between January

became a magnet lo allract outstanding nyers

group was of critical importance during the

1 9 1 7. when he JOined the

from other units. (It is worth noting that

Battle of Verdun. During May Boelcke, whose

the CigogJles were among the first to be

Fokkers were still operating in threes, was

Spad was an outstanding air forces of nearly

every Allied power.

Below: Michel COlffard. France's most successful 'balloon buster'. He destroyed twenty-elght

Flying Corps, and his death In October 1 9 1 8.

urging that larger JagdslaffelJl (the first use of the 'hunting pack' term) should be started. Had this been done there is little doubt that the CigogJles would have suffered the fate that was later lo befall them over the Somme. But Max Immelmann's death on 18 June led lo a personal order from the Kaiser that Boelcke should be grounded lest he too were lo be lost LO Germany. I nstead, the German ace was sent on an inspection lour of the Prussian front. Probably the only unit in the French Air Service that could rival the CigogJles in reputation

and

extravagance

was

.77.

known as les Sporrijs on account of the number of sportsmen and playboys who

o

5 ! ; , t , I

Sopwith Camel

•

1-+8 + A C [ 5

H I G H

passed through its ranks. One o[ its most

patrols their favourites could be hurried back

famous was Maurice Boyau, captain o[ the

to Paris in time for the night's festivities. Paris

French International Rugby team in 1 9 1 4 , and

was the very hub o[ the alliance, her society

another Georges Boillot, the racing driver,

uniquely sel[-important, overflowing with

who had [ought so valiantly and lost to the

money and unlimited pleasures available:

three white Mercedes o[ the German team in the last Grand Prix berore war was declared.

Mistinguett was drawing huge crowds at

The Escadrille N.77 was an exclusive club

the Folies-Bergeres: the great Bernhardt,

where the private incomes o[ the members

though aged and ailing, was still as

lavishly supplemented their pay [rom the

seductive as ever,

Republic. They brought their own servants

between the theatre and her hospital [or

and motor cars and quartered their ladies in

the wounded at the Odeon: at the Opera

the most expensive hotels in the area. Their

comique ManDl! was all the rage, and in

contacts and influences, particularly that o[

May, when the Germans were hammering

Capitaine

Commanding

their way 011 to COte 304, there was a glit­

Orncer, ensured that both their equipment

tering mm premiere o[ Salallllllb6 and the

and their publicity were the best. However, a

Spring Flower Show was reinstated in all

critical examination o[ the score recorded by

its pre-war glory.

I'Hermite,

their

dividing her

time

its members seems to indicate that although there were exceptions, the Sportijs seem to

In such a selling the glamorous airmen were

have spent most o[ their time shooting

prestigious toys to be courted and shown on

down balloons. *

every occasion.

contrast, the Cigognes were more

During the autumn and winter o[ 1 9 16/17

desperate men and among them rivalries and

the Cigognes Escadrilles were being re­

loyalties burned fiercely. Some o[ them were

equipped \\�th the Spad Single-seater and their

poor and had to subsist on their income as

numbers (3, 26, 73, 103 and 167) now carried

orncers, but the system o[ grants [rom private

the prefix 'SP' instead 0[ ' '. The change [rom

sources, which the Michelin brothers had

the Nieuport symbolized their altered status.

started, was an extra incentive to raise their

The little rotary-engined sesquiplane, nimble,

tallies. The pace o[ living was furious: the

delicate, dependent on the pilot's skill [or its

Cigognes were always surrounded by touts,

errectiveness, was infinitely rewarding to

pimps and salesmen o[ all kinds who set up

those who could excite its response, but

quarters in the vicinity o[ their aerodromes.

would not tolerate clulllsiness or cowardice.

They were lionized in Parisian Society and

The Spad with its inline liqUid-cooled engine

hostesses

was [aster, but

In

would

send

their

Delaunay

less agile;

its orthodox

limousines to wait beside the hangars so that

construction made it stronger, but heavier.

when the pilots landed [rom the afternoon

The storks on the side o[ the [uselage were

"Dating from the earliest period when observation was regarded as the pnmary role of the Air Arm, the dcstruction of a balloon was classified as a 'victory' and allowed to stand in a pilots score sheet, and thiS was never altered. Although a balloon could not evade gunfire in a way an aircraft could,

11

was by way of compensation very well defended from the ground - a measure of its

importance. 'Balloon busting' was an extremely hazardous business, and allracted its own extraordinary aces, Stich as Heinrich Gontermann of Germany (18 balloons), Willy Coppens of Belgium (28), Frank Luke of the United

Coiffard of France (28).

tales (15) and Michel

5 T O R K 5 +

149

Georges Guynemer

'------_

I)

now painted black,' and, like the change from

arms of death than any other nyer of the First

red to black on the Rolls-Royce, a legend arose

World War. After six adventurous months

that could be neither proven nor denied that it

with a reconnaissance squadron in the north

was an expression of mourning for (heir

of France, his fire and courage brought him a

patron, Gu}'nemer.

transfer to a Nieuport Escadrille at

Georges

Guynemer

personified

the

ancy.

Flouting the superstitions that were rife

dedicated and obsessive hero (see Chapter 5).

among

But more typical is the rough and glamorous

adorned his

figure of Charles Nungesser. Seconded from

omen. A coffin, two lighted candles, the

the Hussars in 1 9 1 4, he had already packed a

skull-and-crossbones over a black heart. He

lifetime into his youth. He was a champion

did not believe in the efficacy of the French

swimmer and boxer and had taken up motor

roundel after being attacked by a British

cycling and automobile racing with ardour.

Camel, and so added a tricoleur 'V' to his

He successfully new an aeroplane solo on the

upper \ving.

very first occasion that he tried to break the

Single-seater

pilots,

N ungesser

ieuport with the symbols of ill­

On the day that he reported to the

controls and then decided to design his own.

Escadrille

The outbreak of war put a stop to this, but in

Nancy in a most spectacular fashion, nying in

the first few weeks Nungesser distingUished

and out of church steeples and tall buildings,

himself, as a hussar, by waylaying a German

looping over the place and charging up and

Staff car behind the enemy lines, shooting the

down the boulevard at an altitude of thirty feet.

occupants and driving it across

a

'. 65 Nungesser first 'beat-up'

man's land

By the time he landed at his aerodrome, an

under nre from his own side. He was allowed

official complaint from the townsfolk had

to keep the car and was awarded the Mtdaille

already been

Militai"e, but scorning both these he declared

Officer's desk. The latter, somewhat aCidly,

that his greatest wish was to be transferred to

told his newest recruit to confine his aero­

the Air Service.

batics to enemy territory.

laid on

the

Commanding

othing daunted,

For the next three years this extraordinary

Nungesser had his aircraft refuelled and

man went closer and more frequently into the

forced several of his colleagues to accompany

*Although it

s i

Widely belic\'cd that the stork was adopted as the mascot of the Cigogllcs Escadrilles because of their Hispano

engines. in fact the reverse: is Ime. The stork was the group mascot even when they were nying Nieupons with Le RhOne engines and was retained after the switch to Hispano-engmed Spads. After the war, when Hispano-SUlza were marketing mOlor-cars, the)' adopted the stork as their trade mascot.

standing In front of hiS Spad. The stork on the Side of the plane was the symbol of the Cigognes Escadrille.

5 T O R K 5 +

him to the nearest German airfield where,

he flew and fought, but his strength was

covered

tpuist. Unlike Guynemer who was also on the

by

his

comrades,

he

repeated

his performance.

threshold of a nervous collapse,

151

ungesser

In January of 1 9 1 6 Nungesser was the

allowed himself to be sent back to Paris on

victim of a serious accident when testing a

sick leave. On his flight home he was set on by

new aeroplane. The joystick went through his

a solitary Halberstadt. For over half an hour

mouth, dislocated his jaw and perforated his

the two planes fought Single-handed. Perhaps

palate; in addition both his legs were broken.

it was Nungesser's poor health, perhaps it was

Yet within two months he was flying again,

the exceptional skill of his opponent, but

although he could move to and from his

neither could gain the advantage. Finally, his

ieuport only on crutches. Throughout April,

fuel almost exhausted, N ungesser landed at Le

ungesser had to return to hospital for

Touquet airfield and was surprised to see his

periodic treatment of his injuries. But while

unknown

he was flying fresh wounds accumulated. His

towards him. When the two were side by side,

lip was slashed by an explosive bullet; his jaw

the German waved gleefully, then opened his

was again broken when he inverted a damaged

throule and took off again. Curiously, this

aircraft making a forced landing; and in

sporting gesture, so t)'Pical of the earlier days

standing beside his

another crash in

of aerial combat, was seen by

Nleuport. He was called

a man's land, he dislocated

adversary

land

also

and

taxi

ungesser as a

his knee. In December he had to return to

terrible humiliation and he was to spend

hospital to have all his fraclUres broken and

hundreds of hours of his future flying life (for

reset, and was forced into a two-month rest.

by now

But in May 1 9 1 7 - the peak period of Albatros

and his auachment to

domination -

nominal) searching for that same Halberstadt

ungesser returned again to the

fray in his personal Nieuport, now fiued with

ungesser had a roving commission

so that he could retrieve his honour. That winter

a C1erget engine of greater power.

.65 was no more than

ungesser skidded his Mars

left: Charles Nungesser

'the Indestructible' because he survived so many crashes, but after the war he was unable to adjust to peace-time conditions. In 1927 he disappeared during a flight across the Atlantic and no trace of him was ever found.

touring car on the icy road while driving back

Below: Nungesser In hiS

Allied opposition was frail, and sometimes

from Paris in the middle of the night. The car

Rolls-Royce 'Alpine

timid,

the

overturned and Nungesser was thrown out,

accidents which most

Germans. On 1 2 May a lone Albatros dropped

once again breaking his jaw as well as suffer­

affected him occurred

a message challenging Nungesser to Single

ing other injuries. But his faithful mechanic,

combat that afternoon over DouaL Yet when

Soldat Pochon, who was responsible for the

he arrived at the appOinted rendezvous,

maintenance of all Nungesser's planes, was

ungesser found not one, but six of the

trapped in the car and killed. Nungesser went

ungesser's return, in a period when was immediately noticed by

enemy were waiting for him. But still he could not be killed; in the dog-fight that followed this betrayal, Nugnesser shot down two of his enemy (Paul Schweizer and Ernst BiuorO, and the rest scauered. His health continued to deteriorate. Now two mechanics had to carry N ungesser into his cockpit for he could no longer manage even with his crutches. Throughout August

Eagle'. One of the

when he was returning by car to Paris With his faithful me