Lederhosen, your Albatros had its feathers plucked! Good job getting it safely down. I'm away from my PC for a couple of weeks, so I'll continue Corderoy's story on my return. Here is his latest entry...
Diary of Maj. Geoffrey Corderoy, 43 Squadron RFC Part 62: 27 March 1918 – Avesnes-le-Compte
Much of the fighting on the ground today followed the line of the Somme River, and the enemy made some penetration of the Fifth Army front along the river. Our role in the north was to provide cover for the Corps machines to do their work and to keep pressure on the Huns. The squadron flew sixteen patrols today and I was able to join two of them.
At quarter past nine I joined Captain King’s flight on a Distant Offensive Patrol to the area around and behind the enemy airfields around Haubordin. We encountered yet another large group of Fokker triplanes, a type that is now appearing in larger numbers. I circled with one machine for an eternity and finally dipped at the start of a stall, only to emerge with the Hun in front of me. Two good bursts made short work of the EA, which shed its right wings and fell south of Haubordin. Lieut. Alden, who is one of our many new men since a recent rash of postings to HE and other squadrons, did a marvellous job and stayed on my tail the whole time.
"Two good bursts made short work of the EA, which shed its right wings and fell south of Haubordin."
I have begun a series of brief “Tac Talks” after lunch or tea, each only 5 minutes and led by myself or a flight commander. The idea is to transfer as much air-fighting knowledge as possible to the tyros so that we might keep them alive long enough to get competent. We lost two lads in the past week and it distresses me when I have to ask Purdey to brief me on a boy I’ve scarcely spoken with so I can write his poor parents.
In the late afternoon we received orders to escort a DH4 to photograph troop movements east of Arras, as it appears the Huns may open a new offensive in our sector. The DH4s normally do high work, so to order one down to 5000 feet for this work, the mission must be of importance. We saw several large groups of enemy scouts, but they appeared not to notice us in the haze over Monchy. Once we saw our ward safely back over our lines, I turned our flight of seven Camels to the south and began climbing into the late day sun. A formation of six Pfalzes had passed over us ten minutes before, heading south, and I hoped to meet them on their return back north.
It took about ten minutes before we spotted them, a little east of us. That put us up-sun, although we were still a little below the Huns. We began the stalk, but were spotted. Two of the enemy machines turned to engage us. Camels can out-turn Pfalzes nicely if the Hun decides to waltz, and mine did. I got behind and fired 80 rounds from only about 10 yards away, clearly killing the pilot. The machine, a silver grid with the older-style Maltese crosses, crashed south of Monchy.
"I got behind and fired 80 rounds from only about 10 yards away, clearly killing the pilot."
Alden formed up immediately and the two of us headed for Arras, picking up Lingham on the way. Over Arras we found a Pfalz stalking a damaged Camel and gave chase. The Hun saw us and dived for home with three Camels on his tail. I hit him and moved aside for Alden, who closed until he nearly touched the Hun. He had been listening in the last Tac-Talk (led by Trollope). One short burst was enough to finish the EA.
My Fokker and the Pfalz over Monchy were both confirmed, and my tally now stands at 58. I have one more than Jimmy McCudden, whom I expect will be on a tear when he returns to France.
Captain Tipton was an earnest looking man with a toothbrush moustache and a big story. He arrived in the last week of February and had been telling the squadron about his adventures in Turkey and Russia ever since.
“They were marching us back to Kastumuni when we heard shots. I dived onto the floor, not knowing what to think. One of the guards shouted “haydutlar,” which Bishop told me meant 'bandits.' Here I was, unarmed and wondering what bandits might do with us.” Tipton took a sip of his brandy and carried on, “Phillips bolted into the dark. Bullets were flying. By the end of it, one guard was dead, and the rest surrendered. It turned out that our brigands were rebels, fighting against the Turks in Turkey itself. Circassians, Armenians, Georgians and even a Turk who was on the wrong side of the fence politically speaking. They called themselves the 'Comrades.' We never saw Phillips again, though we searched for him after the fight.”
Tipton had been captured in Egypt, escaped in Turkey. Recaptured briefly before joining these comrades for a month. Then the group had captured two boats and crossed the black sea to Russia, just in time to witness the Bolshevik revolution. This had been topped off with a private interview with the King before Richard Tipton rejoined the RFC and came back to the Front.
“Good grief!” Gwilym Lewis laughed as he nodded at the mess waiter who had signalled him. “My car is ready, and just when you've got going!” He stood up and and picked up his valise. “Look after my flight, old boy. And be careful. They are experienced air fighters, but you've been out of it. Get your eyeballs in before you cross that line!”
“Have a good leave Noisy,” Tudhope chimed from his chair beside the fireplace. “Will do, Tud! Toodle-oo chaps!” And Lewis was through the door and one his way to Blighty.
A few days later, Stanley was on an escort mission with C flight when the SE5a next to him burst into flames. Stanley watched in horror as the fire engulfed McBride's cockpit and the aeroplane slowly fell away from the formation. Unbidden, Stanley heard Mannock's voice in his head, “you don't want to burn. Take a revolver and blow your brains out before it gets to that!”
Stanley hoped that McBride could find his gun.
The rest of B flight had better luck. Tipton had ignored Lewis' advice and taken Wallwork, Harrison, Tudhope and Napier over the lines. After months of little to no contact with the enemy scouts, Tipton had led his pilots into a furball with Pfalz and Albatros scouts. The results had been good for 40 squadron. The flight came home with six claims and no loss. Everyone had got one kill, and Harrison had two.
“Things are getting hot up there!” Major Tilney declared at lunch. “I'm going to tag along this afternoon. See if I can't bag myself a brace of Huns too.”
Stanley was manning the recording office, and saw two SE5as land and taxi in. It was Wallwork and Bion. He saw them climb out of their machines and greet each other before making their way into his shed.
“Hullo Stanley. We had quite a fight. Tipton brought us down on a flight of Albatri. He got the rearmost machine in the first pass. It all got a bit messy after that. Quite a scrap! I got one.” “Me too!” Lt Bion smiled. Wallwork frowned. “Not all good news. I saw an SE breaking up in the air. Too far away to see who.” Stanley gave the Lancastrian pilot a frown. “Someone's a goner. We'll have to see who comes in.” “Yes. Give me that report sheet.”
No other SE5a did land at Bruay. Shortly after 5 the telephone rang. It was an artillery officer.
“We've had one of your pilots land behind our billet. Nice landing, but the man is wounded. He says that his name is Captain Tinton... Tipton? Oh, so he is one of yours. He's quite the cheerful chap, but I don't like his belly wound. I've sent him up to clearing. You'd better send someone for this machine.”
By nightfall two pilots were still missing. A new chap called Foster and the commanding officer, Major Tilney.
It was very quiet in the mess that evening when Gwilym Lewis came back from leave. “Hullo chaps,” he said. “What's going on?” “We lost three pilots in a scrap yesterday. One of them was the old man.” Lewis frowned at the news,“what happened?” One of the survivors of the combat, Lt Wallwork, recalled the encounter with the black Pfalzes and Albatri.
“What do we do now?” Napier asked. The room was quiet for a few minutes. “Inform Wing. That's obvious,” Tudhope said. “They will send us a new CO.” “Perhaps we can have Mannock back?” Napier wondered. “No, no. I heard he's just come back out with seventy four. They won't want to give him up.”
Captain Lewis took over the CO's duties over the next few days and 40 squadron continued to fly as normal. The improving weather led to increased enemy air activity and the pilots were anxious to 'get at them.'
Two days after Tilney and Foster went missing, Stanley shot down a white Pfalz. It was running for home after shooting down a lone RE8. Stanley's SE5a had altitude and speed on the German scout. After Stanley loosed a long burst from both guns, the Pfalz pilot slumped in his chair and the machine dived away until it crumpled into a small stand of trees.
Stanley had a grim satisfaction. This was the first aircraft that he had shot down since January.
The next morning started with a shocking scene. Stanley was on a mid-morning patrol with Tud, a new man called Hind and John Wallwork. The SE5as were lined up on the field warming their engines when a lick of flame came from underneath the exhaust pipe on Wallwork's machine.
In moments the whole engine was covered in fire. Wallwork hurriedly released his seatbelt and stood, an arm raised to ward off the flames. Then he clambered over the side and leaped out of the stricken aircraft.
-------------------------------------------------- On the Tuesday, Stanley was escorting an RE8 from 9 squadron. It was three days after Major Tilney had gone missing, although the consensus was now that his SE5a was the one Wallwork had seen break up.
Four Albatros scouts attacked the RE8 and the SE5as dived against them. The Germans broke off and a melee began while the RE8 sped away westwards.
As things started to dissipate, Stanley found himself alone. A rattle of machine gun fire alerted him to two new German scouts diving on him. They were triplanes! This was the first time that he had seen them. He twisted and dived for speed. A burst of Spandau fire shredded his wing.
Stanley continued to dive for as long as he dared. The SE5a still seemed to be flying, rather than falling, but he could no longer be sure of out running the triplanes. They didn't follow, but instead turned away eastwards.
“That's lucky,” thought Stanley as he nursed his machine back to Bruay.
The SE5a wanted to roll and yaw to the right all the time due to the shattered wing, but Stanley made a gentle landing. After he shut down his engine he reflected that it had in fact been one of his better ones.
“What happened to you?” Harrison asked as Stanley approached the recording office hut. “I had a run in with a pair of tripehounds Harry,” Stanley replied. “What fun they are!”
The evening was sombre. First word came that Stanley's Pfalz claim had been rejected. Then that was knocked into insignificance by the news that Tipton had died of his wounds.
“I went to see him in the infirmary this afternoon.” Captain Lewis reflected. “He was clearly halfway between life and death, but showed such wonderful pluck. Said that it was alright, as he'd gotten his Hun.”
“Yes,” Stanley nodded. “That's all a man can hope for. To get his Hun before the Huns get him.”
It was a hard week, and although Stanley hadn't scored any more victories, the air war was clearly heating up with the improving weather.
On the Friday, six days after Major Tilney went missing, Captain Lewis addressed the officers before dinner.
“I'm sure you have all heard that 1st Brigade has been doing very well this week. Eighteen Huns in one day. We ourselves have not been slouching, with fifteen confirmed victories! Easily heading the list. Well done chaps.
“I know that this has been a hard week, with the loss of several men and most notably our commanding officer. I can now tell you that a new commander has been appointed.” Lewis looked around the room. “And it is commander. Squadron Commander Dallas is coming to us from the RNAS.”
The room was filled with a murmur of surprise. “What?! A bloody sailor!” “It doesn't make sense!” “Why?”
“Why?” Lewis answered, “is not for us to reason. Although if you ask me, it probably has something to do with the merger we have coming up.” “No reason for him to come here. I'll keep my brandy and the rum can …” “Language,” Lewis cautioned. “Commander Dallas does come with an impressive war record. I believe he has accounted for twenty-three enemy aircraft.”
“Well, that's all very well,” Stanley commented to Wallwork. “The question remains; what kind of man is he?” --------------------------------------------------- ---------------------------------------------------
Its been frankly boring for Bob Stanley for months. Railyard attacks and bad weather. Now things are hotting up. This story doesn't even bring us up to date. The next story will cover Dallas' arrival and the first few days of the offensive.
I'm glad I found out about Captain Richard Tipton. He's one of those people whose life reads like a spy novel. See Graeme's post on the aerodrome for a good summary of his story. http://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/showthread.php?t=40863
That picture of a crashed SE5a is reportedly Tilney's. Two members of Jasta 52 claimed him, Paul Billick the CO and Wilhelm Hassenbeim, who can be seen standing in front of the wreck, marked with an x. It's worth noting that British reports have Tilney's SE5a breaking up in the air, but this crash looks like the aeroplane reached the ground largely intact. The parts are close together.
The news that a naval man was coming to command them was received at 40 squadron with dismay. However, 'Breguet' Dallas was a charismatic and capable leader and the tune soon changed. But that's to come.
Carrick - SPAD XIIIs are great when you get them off the ground and hopefully keep them there. I speak here as Johnny Goode. In the game they're pretty great but the Americans had a hard time keeping them going, partly because of inexperience. Rickenbacker finally got most of the technical problems worked out satisfactorily and by the end of the war the 94th, at least, was getting 100 hours out of an engine.
Of course, John Goode will have to live long enough to be flying a SPAD.
Case: Cooler Master Storm Trooper PSU: Ultra X3,1000-Watt MB: Asus Maximus VI Extreme Mem: Corsair Vengeance (2x 8GB), PC3-12800, DDR3-1600MHz, Unbuffered CPU: Intel i7-4770K, OC to 4.427Ghz CPU Cooler: Cooler Master Seidon 240M Liquid CPU Cooler Vid Card: ASUS GTX 980Ti STRIX 6GB OS and Games on separate: Samsung 840 Series 250GB SSD Monitor: Primary ASUS PG27AQ 4k; Secondary Samsung SyncMaster BX2450L Periphs: MS Sidewinder FFB2 Pro, TrackIR 4
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. 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.
Cyril Woolly, DFC., DSO Maj , Rfc, Instructor Pilot B Flight Commander 17 Victorys, 40 Sqn, Bryas, AF Flanders France.
July 28 ,1918.
Bit of bad luck. I was posted to the afternoon Patrol. As the flight reached 10,000 ft , My kite lost power. The prop was still turning. but I wasn't going anywhere under full power. The flight shot pass me so cut motor, cut fuel and nosed down to make a hot landing. A little rough on the a/c ,but a safe landing. The C.O. said not to fret about it. He had heard that Wing was looking for an Acting Commander for an under achieving Squadron. My name was one of three talked about in the dispatches.
Big doings in the 95th today. They got in a fight with a bunch of Fokkers. A new guy of theirs named Avery, in his first fight, brought down one of the German’s big dogs, a bird named Menckhoff who commanded their 72nd squadron.(1) He was forced to land with his manifold shot away and was really ticked off when he discovered he had been shot down by a green American in his first fight. Avery cut the big “M” off the side of the Fokker and brought it in for a trophy. Davy got a Fokker as well.
Seven man patrol this morning. They had no business sending us up, the clouds were very low and most of our flying was limited to 300 meters. Even at that altitude most of the time we were in the clouds. Several times we were in the rain. The only activity on the ground is artillery fire. The Germans are steadily pulling back. Lines greatly advance N and NE of Chateau-Thierry
Flying so low we saw much of the damage done by the big guns. Every city and town was nothing but a mess. Much of Chateau-Thierry is a heap of stones and there is evidence of terrible street fighting in that place. Archie was pretty hot and machine guns rattled at us the whole time we were over the lines. Luckily, the Archies had trouble making their shrapnel burst at our low altitude so they did little harm.
NW of Dormans, 3 Hannover bi-place were spotted, just off our starboard wings. One of them streaked for home, but two of them stayed together. Whitey and I attacked the two while the rest of the boys chased the single Hannover. I put about 200 rounds into one of them and he went down, turning end over end. I took some hits from the back pew but no serious damage. Whitey wasn’t so lucky, he had to make for Champaubort. The rest of us reformed and escorted him until he landed.
Meissner took command today.(2) (1) Ltn Carl Menckhoff, Pour le Me'rite, 39 aerial victories
(2) 1st Lt. James A, Meissner, previously of the 94th Aero. 8 aerial victories, 4 of which were while serving with the 147th.
Note: On 25 July 1918 Frank Luke reported for duty with the 27th Aero.
Cyril Woolly, DFC., DSO Maj , Rfc, Instructor Pilot B Flight Commander 17 Victorys, 40 Sqn, Bryas, AF Flanders France.
July 29, 1918.
I might have bagged a Tri-plane this morning. The fight was a Buzz-saw and over enemy territory so don't know if the kill will be confirmed. The flight was on escort when we ran head on into the 3 wingers. I got numerous hits with the 3rd or 4th burst the smoke poured out of the e/a. As an enemy dropped on my tail and I took 8-10 hits so did a Wing over. Running for home, I did not see if my kill went down. The Sqn claimed 3 e/a for 1 SE destroyed ( a flamer ) + 1 SE forced down ( POW ) and 3 Lightly damaged.
All 7 of the claims from the Wednesday fight were confirmed, as was mine and Whitey's Hanoverian.
Went up at 11 am on a low-level for strafing of enemy troops and supply convoys in the area of Fere-en-Tardenois, Jack Stevens leading.
While we were searching for troops to strafe we saw a big fat horse c@(k hanging in the air just west of where we crossed the lines. We all went straight at it, right through the Archies and machine guns. The thing burst in a huge fireball almost instantly with all of us firing at it at once. Simmy, Healy, Wanamaker, Deuce McDermott and myself made a shared claim on it.
After we cooked up the sausage we broke up, looking for targets. I found a large supply dump and made a low strafing pass on it, firing the whole time. I took very heavy ground fire and just didn’t have the stomach for a second pass, went home alone. Black and I counted 40 holes in Babygirl's wings and fuselage. There were two dents in the metal plate in my seat. Thanks to the Major's foresight my jewels and posterior are safe for posterity.
Saturday, July 27th 1918
Dud for flying, grounded all day except for a few test hops.
It came down that Billy Mitchell is Chief of Air Service, 1st Army. He sent congratulations down to the Squadrons Commanders on our work at Chateau T, said it had been "remarkable."
Went nosing around the field at the end of the landing field. Didn't find anything remarkable in the way of relics, just a lot of rusted metal and wire, but I did find something. I heard low whining from an old shell hole and looked in. At the bottom was a mud covered pup, too tired to try to get up the slick side anymore, just laying there whimpering.
She's laying here in our room asleep on a blanket dry and more or less clean. Ate so much from a can of goldfish (1) that I had to stop her before she busted a gut. I'm calling her Pup for now. I have an arrangement with one of the orderlies, Cheeseman, to make sure she gets fed when I'm not around and taken out so she doesn't dirty up the place. Dewey's not crazy about having a dog in our shack with us but he's not giving me any trouble over it. I think she's a Spitz, which makes her a Heinie. So maybe I'd better call her an American Eskimo Dog (2) so no one will thin she's a spy.
Sunday, July 28th 1918
Went up on a big patrol led by Alk, 15 planes from all three flights. Covered an 18 mile stretch from Tre’loup, NW to Beuvardes and then Oulchy-la-Ville. We flew at 4500 meters in a heavy mist, very poor visibility, stayed up only a little over an hour. Red Simon had motor problems and had to land at Cre’teil. He damaged his Nieuport to such an extent that it was written off.
Rick is back but he looks awful. Can barely turn his head.
No confirmation on the sausage.
Monday, July 29th 1918
Was Operations Officer all day today, 7am to 21:00. Patrol went out but I couldn't get a substitute. Busy day, answered the phone, made sure patrols got off, reports made and turned in, wouldn't want to do this all the time. Got to drop in to check on Pup a few times. Cheeseman is living up to our bargain. She's still sleeping most of the time but got pretty lively at eating time. I'm going to get her over to the vet at the Artillery Battery refitting up to the North of us, have her look her over. Need to worm her but she needs to get a little stronger first, gonna be a mess.
2 patrols for our outfit today. One led by Alk with all 4 newbies and Meissner in his SPAD. Whitey led the 2nd one.
Meissner dove on a bi-place but his telescopic sight fogged with moisture and he couldn’t get a good shot, so he chased the HA over the lines, firing about 100 rounds at random with no apparent result. Still, he impressed those present with the excellent diving qualities of the SPAD, they said you could never have done anything like it in a Nieuport and lived.
(1) Canned Goldfish - tinned Salmon rations.
(2) American Eskimo Dog - German Spitz dogs were referred to as American Eskimo Dogs due to anti-German sentiment in the US prior to and during WW1.
Cyril Woolly, DFC., DSO Maj , Rfc, Instructor Pilot B Flight Commander 18 Victorys, 40 Sqn, Bryas, AF Flanders France.
July 30, 1918.
Wing wanted a Show the flag flight across from Arras. I nearly got the Chop. I led B flight ( 5 a/c ) up to 11,000ft and we we able to mix it up with a flight of Fokkers ( 6 a/c ) I had one in my sights ,but the e/a just skidded away. It was at this point my motor spurted to a stop. as the e/a's closed in on me. Nosed over in a screaming dive, Some fabric ripped and made a terrible noise. I was over 200 mph in that dive, but was able to pull out at 100 ft and do the Blue Max routine bleeding off speed then landed. I got a wagon ride from a farmer to a village with a phone The C.O will send a repair party an said my Tri-Plane Kill was confirmed # 18.
Fifteen plane patrol today. The Lines have moved so far North that we run out of fuel. Most of us made it back on fumes but Whitey, Alk, Snake and Herron had to land to beg fuel off the French to get home.
The Group is opening a refueling station at an aerodrome abandoned by Germans near Coincy
Recommended for another Croix de Guerre for the lone attack on the enemy camp. Lots of recommendations for Croix de Gs and DSCs going up the ladder, when they come back down is anybody's guess.
Found time to get Pup over to the Army Vet. Extremely nice bird. She's got a spot of mange. Glad I got her over to him before it spread and we had a problem like the 27th had with Scabies. Could've been a Court Martial for me and, I guess, deserved. The Vet. Captain is quarantining her until he can get it cleared up, so he'll worm her and do a rabies vaccination and look her over some more. Very nice of him, he could have reported me and put Pup down. Have to burn the box and blanket she was using for a bed. I don't see any signs of mange on me and neither did the Cpt. but he said to keep an eye out for it. I'll tell Cheezeman and Dewey to do the same. Hope they both don't take my head off.
Cyril Woolly, DFC., DSO Maj , Rfc, Instructor Pilot B Flight Commander 18 Victorys, 40 Sqn, Bryas, AF Flanders France.
The Sqn was assigned to a Rail yard Jct Attack. B Flight had the bombs and A Flight would cover us ( 5 a/c ea ) C flight had a diversion Patrol near St Vasst as we crossed over to Oppy. A couple of bombs hit the target and others near by. We climbed to 8000ft and headed home. Looking back, I spotted our Cover flight in trouble with a flight of Huns with another Flight near by. I peeled off with Chilrow my wingman and jumped in the melee. My wing man cracked on a Blue colored Fokker then Nothing ? Gun Jam ? He broke right so I dropped on the Huns tail and at 100 yards Smoke and fire puked from the e/a. By then we were alone so RTB. I landed with 20 % fuel.
Jack Stevens is missing. Alk Jones led a 14 plane escort for a 1st Aero photo ship. We were supposed to meet it at Francheville but it didn’t show. We continued on to patrol near the new lines at Fere-en-Tardenois but it was of little use because of poor visibility. Five of us had to leave the formation because of mechanical problems. We had to land at Francheville for fuel before heading back to Saints, hope they get Coicy up and running soon.
Jack went missing somewhere around Mareuil. We're waiting for some news of him.(1)
12 SPADs ferried in for us. Meissner his being diplomatic about it and hasn't assigned any of them to us while their being put in shape but it's obvious he's anxious to begin transitioning us into them. If the Major was still here there'd be fireworks, but then, I guess that's WHY he's not here, can't fight city hall.
Packing up my 75mm shell casings and souvenirs to ship them home and my personal belongings in case we move soon. We Americans are getting thick on the ground. 2, 3, 4, 5, 26, 27, & 87th US Divisions on the Front now.
(1) 2nd Lt. John H. 'Jack' Stevens, C Flight, victim of Ltn Emil Rolff, Jasta 6. His plane was found on 8 August but no grave was found until after the war.
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