Oberflugmaat Sigmund Winterhart Seefrosta II Vlisseghem Flanders
13th August 1918
The lorry carrying Sigmund and the other new pilot Flugmaat Andreas Wissmann had been meant to pick them up from Brussels at midday, but due to several reasons, it hadn't arrived until 5pm.
Then, due to shear weight of military traffic on the roads, they were only just pulling into Vlisseghem at 8pm.
The orders said to report to Leutnant zur See Werner Huecker and on collecting their belongings the two pilots made their way into the office. The Adjutant told them to wait and then called them into the Leutnant's office.
"Well, this is a fine time to call into your new CO's office" said Huecker, only half jokingly.
"Well you're here at last and traffic jams are hardly your fault I suppose" he continued.
He then stood staring at the two youngsters for quite a while, so much so Sigmund felt rather uneasy.
"My god, how old are you?" the Leutnant finally asked.
"I'm 19 sir!" said Wissmann.
"and you?"
"18 Herr Leutnant" said Sigmund.
"Really? You look about 14" said Huecker.
"My god, now they're sending us kinder, dragged from their mother's breasts" said the Leutnant.
Sigmund was getting rather peeved at this point, whatever age he looked (he did look young, with his moppish blonde hair and blue eyes), his papers gave his age and his orders had sent him here.
"Steady on meine junge. Don't be getting annoyed. I'm half pulling your leg....only half mind you" said the Leutnant with a grin.
"Hold on....." Huecker checked the paperwork.
"This gives your birthday as 13th August??.... today?? Your 18 today??" said the Leutnant.
"Aye, aye sir" said Sigmund.
"My god, they couldn't even let you have your birthday in peace. Come on" said Huecker.
"Sir?" both new pilots said simultaneously.
"Forget your gear, we can sort that out in due course. Let's go and celebrate this young.....'Seekundschafter' becoming an adult" said the Leutnant.
They went over to the kasino and the Leutnant bought the pair a beer and ordered some champagne.
Sigmund learned that Seefrosta II was not yet operational and another few pilots were expected to arrive tomorrow. They were expected to become operational very soon.
They were introduced to the pilots already here.
"What did you train on?" asked Huecker.
"Pfalz's during Jastaschule Herr Leutnant" answered Sigmund.
"You're lucky, they took our last Pfalz today. We've got 6 Fokker DVII's, 4 Albatros DVa's and 3 Fokker EV's" said the Leutnant.
"EV's sir?" said Sigmund, as someone filled his glass.
"Our latest invention meine freund. I say 'our', Herr Fokker's really" said Huecker.
Sigmund looked excited, "What are they like sir?" he asked.
"Scheisse.....totaler scheiss" said the Leutnant.
"You'll be glad you've got an Albatros" he finished.
Sigmund was told he'd be practice flying for the next few days, not too much however, thanks to the chronic fuel shortage.
After a couple of hours pleasantness Sigmund and Wissmann were given their leave and found their quarters.
"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."
