2nd Lt. John B. Goode
147th Aero Squadron, USAAS

Wednesday, July 24th 1918

Yesterday evening, all the pilots and most of the other officers drove to Melun to have supper with Major Bonnell. The 4 new guys just assigned came along to meet him.(1) He had little to say during the evening, except that being with his officers was wonderful and he would keep in touch and visit when possible. I think he kept what he was feeling to himself to avoid starting a mutiny. He’s one in a million! Mickey wasn't with him, so I didn't get to say goodbye. We didn’t have anything to present to him, so I gave him my 75mm shell with Mickey on it, I can get another.

Hambleton's not going to be our C.O. after all. He was reassigned to the 213th Aero and now 1st Lt. Meissner from the 94th is coming to take over the Squadron. I think He’s going to be Okay, he’s shot down 4 Huns so far and has been in it since the beginning at Toul. We're still leery of how his French training is going to affect how we do things. He's, of course, big on the SPAD and is bringing his with him. Whitey did a test flight in one today, wasn't impressed, wrote on his flight log, "Give me my Nieuport!"

Two patrols yesterday, 6 plane patrol, Dormans/Chateau T, and photo plane escort, Tardenois. No HA.

New orders are to destroy enemy balloons wherever possible to keep the Huns from observing the progress of our ground units.

Took out our frustrations on the Huns today, 7 confirmed kills.(3)

Went up with a patrol led by Whitey at 5 pm. Patrolled at about 4,000 meters west of Chateau-Thierry. Whitey dropped out and, of all people, I took over. My first patrol lead.

Just beyond Chateau-Thierry we spotted 4 Rumplers attacking our troops on the ground. I signaled an attack and we piqued at them, breaking up the attack. I made passes at 3 of them without observable results. Dewey got one of them, I saw it’s wings break off as it went down in flames, a long trail of smoke behind it, a very exciting site to see. I saw another one crash land near the Marne.
[Linked Image] [Linked Image]
Whitey, in the meantime, got his engine straightened out and came back looking for us. Instead he found two Hun scout machines, snuck up on them with the sun at his back and took them both down. He got confirmation on one already and there is a good possibility the other will be too! The claim on my Albatros was rejected. I'm still going to paint a rat on Babygirl, but put it at Mickey's feet like Abe did. (2)

Went up on a 2nd patrol, 6 planes, but dropped out. I believed Babygirl's engine had a knock, a trace of smoke on the nacelle and a few other things so I left the others. Her engine smoothed out so I turned back to rejoin the formation. I saw 5 planes below and behind me and approached them, only to find that they were Fokker monoplace. I goosed the motor and went straight at them, firing at one as I passed. I kept on going in as steep a dive as I dared, straight south. Three of them turned back but two followed me over the lines where I took them near the balloon positions to give them a nice taste of shrapnel. They kept after me for a short time finally but turned around. The patrol ran into a dozen Huns, Pfalz and Fokker mono-place and brought down two.




Becoming harder to get replacement parts for Nieuports, the mechs have to scrounge. There's a large bone pile behind the parts tent. Big fights like the ones today take a tole. Everybody involved had damage. Pip had 40 holes in his left wing.

(1) Four new pilots were assigned to the 147th between the 22nd and 24th of July.

1Lt. James P. Herron, B Flight
1Lt Walter P. Muther, B Flight
2nd Lt. George G. Willard, B Flight
1Lt. Lansing G. Holden - reassigned to 95th Aero next day

(2) Unconfirmed victories, about which a pilot in the 147th and his Squadron mates was certain, were painted at the feet of the planes terrier insignia rather than being hung by their tails as confirmed victories were. 1st Lt. James 'Abe' Abernethy mentions having done so.

(3) 6 victories were confirmed for the 147th on 24 July, the 7th belongs to 2nd Lt Dwight Rothchild,my fictitious wing man in the game.

2 Albatros' credited to Wilbert 'Whitey' White
1 Fokker DVII credited to 'Pip' Porter, Arthur 'Alk' Jones, and James Healy
1 Fokker DVII credited to 'Pip' Porter, Arthur 'Alk' Jones, Francis 'Simmy' Simmonds, Ralph 'Snake' O'Neill, and Thomas 'Abe' Abernethy.
1 Fokker DVII credited to Jame Healy
1 Fokker DVII credited to James Healy and Joseph 'Doc' Raibly.
Attachments
John cs.jpg John ct.jpg John cu.jpg John cv.jpg

Last edited by jerbear; 09/17/18 11:36 PM.