1st Lieutenant Andrew Murphy, DSC 22nd Aero Toul airfield
22 confirmed kills
8th September 1918
Morning sortie
Captain Bridgeman grabbed Andrew again as they headed to the briefing room. "Hey pal, we've got another balloon busting mission request. That #%&*$# balloon is back up! Are you in?". asked Bridgeman.
"Am I in? Of course I'm in, if it has to go it's got to go. Clearly it's very important to the Huns otherwise they wouldn't keep putting it up again so quickly". replied Andrew as they walked.
"Thanks Andy, I don't want to just assume that the same people will go every time." said the Captain.
"You're in charge sir, I'll go where I'm ordered....and like I said. It clearly needs to go." said Andrew.
As Bridgeman took the briefing and explained the balloon bust, Ray Brooks put his hand up too. The rest of the squadron were due to patrol over Malzeville airfield.
The weather was just as bad as it was yesterday and the airfield was taking a battering as Murphy, Bridgeman and Brooks took off and headed out north. Visibility was virtually non-existent as they climbed up. Eventually they topped out above the main cloud layer.
Keeping a close look around and on the ground below as the lines appeared, the trio began their descent towards where the balloon should be.
As Andrew came back under the clouds he saw the balloon up ahead.
He lined up and blasted the balloon with a long accurate burst..... nothing happened.
He came around again and put another accurate burst right into the heart of the balloon..... nothing happened.
Bridgeman and Brooks tried their hands with long bursts...... nothing happened!
It wasn't even deflating due to the holes, nevermind blowing up.
One last pass by Andrew, which also had no effect and the trio formed up and headed home.
They stayed relatively low and made it back safely.
As they climbed out, the three pilots came together. "What the hell was that? I hit it with everything!" said Andrew.
"I know and so did we!" said Bridgeman.
"Did they not load the guns with incendiaries?" asked Brooks.
"Well if they didn't I'm going to roast that chief mechanic's butt!" exclaimed Bridgeman.
A short while later and everyone walking near Bridgeman's office gave it a wide berth.
The Captain had Staff Sergeant Chuck Conway in there and was ripping into him. "You loaded our aircraft with normal ammunition!! We were attacking a #%&*$# balloon, what did you want us to do, flick cigarettes at it!!" shouted Bridgeman.
"I can only apologise sir, we didn't get the change of mission notification until just before your briefing." said Conway.
"But you did get it Sergeant Conway! You got it!" said Bridgeman.
Conway looked sheepish, "yes sir".
Bridgeman took a breath, "If you or your ground crew ever do something like this again Sergeant, I will personally see to it that you're transferred to a labour battalion digging latrines and feeding horses. Do I make myself understood?".
"Yes sir, it won't be repeated" said Conway who then emerged from the office and walked over to the hangers, head bowed.
The rest of the squadron had been far more successful thankfully and Jacques Swaab had grabbed himself a hat trick.
Afternoon sortie
Needless to say, the afternoon sortie was a repeat attempt at the enemy balloon. This time the whole squadron would be taking part.
The weather was still awful and if anything, getting worse.
The squadron took off, formed up and headed out north. The trip went as well as it could in the atrocious weather.
'B' flight nosed down as they reached the lines and Andrew now saw the balloon once more.
He lined up and put a long burst into the gasbag. This time a plume of smoke erupted from the tail of the draken. As Andrew climbed away he heard a loud bang and as he looked over his right shoulder, the balloon was a ball of flames.
The squadron formed up and headed home. The landed safely 20 minutes later.
Later on Captain Bridgeman called Andrew into his office. "Well done today Andy, I'm just sorry we had to go and do it twice." said Bridgeman.
"These things happen sir. We heard you giving the chief an earful." said Andrew.
"It can't happen, not at this level and this close to the front. In a French Escadrille he'd be facing a court martial." said Bridgeman.
"I don't think he'll ever do that again sir." said Andrew.
"He'd better not. Anyway, that's not why I brought you hear." said the Captain.
"Your performances have been attracting more attention Lieutenant, particularly our French allies." said Bridgeman.
"Yes sir?" enquired Andrew.
"They've decided to award you the Croix de Guerre." exclaimed Bridgeman.
Andrew was shocked, "That's very kind of them."
"Not only that but the local French General wants to present it to you himself." explained Bridgeman.
"We'll be taking a trip to Toul the day after tomorrow, I'll be having a briefing with the General and his staff as well. We'll be staying over, I've asked the Adjutant to sort the arrangements out" continued Bridgeman.
"It sounds great to me sir!" finished Andrew.
NB - The first balloon was clearly impregnable, as you can see from the last picture we hit it with 363 rounds.
"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."
