Captain Kevin Carroll, DSO, MC, DFC 41 Squadron Conteville
56 confirmed kills
18th July 1918
The thunderstorms had relented and the warm temperature had helped dry the airfield. The rain continued to fall however the airfield was considered usable. A flight briefing was due around lunchtime.
At about 11.30am Kevin was getting his flying gear together. At that moment the airfield alarm sounded. Kevin grabbed his gear and ran out onto the airfield shouting for the mechanics to start the engines.
A few minutes later he was airborne and climbing for all he was worth, up towards the enemy bombers who were now being pounded by local flak batteries.
He was directly below the enemy aircraft now and could see they were DFW's. Four of the bombers had now formed back up and were heading home. Kevin positioned himself underneath these and came up slowly.
It worked and he came up directly behind the lead Hun. He poured bullets into the enemy who belatedly tried to evade. Another burst must have hit the German's controls as the aircraft lurched over and spun down into the ground west of Bruay airfield.
Kevin came around for another target. As he lined up again the DFW's swung around in order to evade and give their gunners a shot. Kevin swung behind one of them and fired into the Hun. Just then bullets whacked into his fuselage and Kevin saw the fuel line had been cut.
He now blasted the DFW with his remaining lewis gun ammo and vickers and finally the German went the same way as the first one did, in an uncontrollable spin down into the ground.
Kevin now switched off the engine to prevent a fire and glided down.
He wondered if he would land alongside his victim but he was actually struggling to find a suitable spot to set the SE down.
Everything seemed to be trees or fences. He eventually found a couple of hundred yards of flattish land and set the aircraft down safely.
Other SE's flew over so he had been seen. About 30 minutes later a car and a Crossley came trundling down a path.
"Everything alright sir? Are you hurt?" asked Sergeant Edwards.
"No I'm perfectly fine Sergeant thank you. Just get me back to Conteville will you" said Kevin.
Another 30 minutes later and Kevin was safely back at Conteville and went to freshen up and make his report.
Kevin went to see Major Bowman a little later.
"Glad to see you made it down alright Captain. At least it was a fuel line and not your controls." said Bowman.
"We'll have to wait for confirmation of your claims Kevin, no doubt the flak boys will have something to say about them" he continued.
"That's fine sir and yes I was lucky in a way although trying to find a strip to land her on was the tough part" said Kevin.
"I was meaning to ask you sir about the arrangements for Tuesday. Is the presentation at lunchtime?" asked Kevin.
"Yes it is. Why do you ask?" said the Major.
"Once it's finished, if you don't mind sir I've arranged to meet with someone" said Kevin.
Bowman's face betrayed a faint smile as he said "Oh, I see, Captain McCall and I are not considered sufficient company then?"
"Well sir, obviously under normal circu......" Bowman interrupted Kevin before he could finish his sentence.
"I'm joking you idiot, who is she? The nurse you met the first time? Good show. Yes I'm sure McCall and I can be discreet" said Bowman.
"Yes sir and thank you" said Kevin who saluted and left.
"A great deal of an aeroplane could be holed without affecting its ability to fly. Wings and fuselage could be—and often were—pierced in 50 places, missing the occupants by inches (blissfully unaware of how close it had come until they returned to base). Then the sailmaker would carefully cover each hole with a square inch of Irish linen frayed at the edges and with a brushful of dope make our aircraft 'serviceable' again within an hour."
