Banjoman, crossing the lines with the stories! Nice touch.

Dudley Duckett
Vert Galant
Flight C
Dec. 28th 1916

Dudley was a little apprehensive about this mornings mission. As usual the weather was bleak. Snow and heavy cloud. They were to patrol around Riencourt, a Hun aerodrome that is a hotbed of trouble. The three machines lifted off and circled northeast of Doulens. Once at 11,000 ft. they headed almost due east to the patrol area. Robert Compston, whose father was a clergyman and joined the RNAS at 17 was the flight leader. Robert A Little, an Australian, was flying #3. He had learned to fly at his own expense at the Royal Aero Club at Hendon after being turned down by the Australian Army's Central Flying School. After gaining his ticket he joined the RNAS. Little and Compston were great friends and Duckett was relieved to be over Hun territory with 2 very good pilots.



Duckett was jolted out of his thoughts when Compston signaled to head home. What did he see? Duckett could not see anything but turned in formation with the others. They flew in and out of the clouds, loosing sight of one another for a moment. In one break in the clouds Little pulled up in a wide turn. Not really knowing why Duckett followed but Little made a full circle and headed back to the formation. At that time Duckett saw an Albatros heading east about a thousand feet below. On full alert now he scanned around and saw another below. Staying with Little they joined back up with Compston as they entered the clouds again. Coming out of the cloud he had lost sight of his flight. The sight he saw when he looked behind made the hair on neck stand up. An Albatross coming in behind and gaining on him. He turned instantly and he and the Hun started circling. After 3 turns Duckett was gaining the advantage and on his first burst the DII rolled over and headed back home. Duckett climbed out and headed back to Vert Galant without further incident.

Everyone returned to base ok. Duckett received the usual ribbing from his flight mates about getting lost. "I was not lost in the least chaps! If you would have stayed the course we could have taken a Hun at our leisure this morning!" Duckett told them his story and off they went for dry clothes and some warm food.

Colin Urquhart was eating his meal and he and Duckett struck up a conversion. Urquhart was a good pilot and had just been awarded his 6th victory. "For someone who joined up because of one drunken mishap you seem to have found your calling old boy! Duckett said after Colin finished his story of how he had arrived at this point in his life.

Nice stories, everyone. Very immersive.



Sorry about that!

Fritz von Tralenheim
Jasta 8
2 Kette


April 28, 1917.


The Bad and the Good. My D-II caught fire on start up this dawn and burnt to the ground. The Mech's said it was oil leaks a big mess and a few burns. Assigned a Spare D-III and posted to the afternoon flight the kette ran into 5 Spad's I put one in the Bag. Fired 3 42 rd burst and stopped his motor forcing him down by our Zeppelin Sheds. Landed to check hits in my machine and a slight scratch .

Carrick

I'm not sure that Fritz didn't have a hand in on the destruction of the DII in favour of picking up a DIII!!

I hope he covered his tracks!!

Spontaneous combustion and SPAD's, the life of an Albatros pilots is fraught with peril.

Bob, we should all be sorry you haven't done that weather mod earlier.

Mr Wiggins:


Although Fritz did barrow a lighter from the Mess the night before the fire., He swears it was for Spit Shining his boots. He did spend the afternoon re painting his new ride. An Early version on the D-III.

Ah yes, circumstantial evidence.

Nice looking ride!

Fritz von Tarlenheim
Jasta 8


Late on the 28th of April. I was dressed down by Herr Hauptmann and informed that Jasta colors will be used so I did a little re painting with White and Red. He also said my Frenchman was confirmed by Army.

Ah simplicity, it's always the best.

What's that saying, "Everyone complains about the weather, but no one ever does anything about it?"

Now, I guess, everyone can blame me!

Fritz von Tralenheim
Jasta 8
2 Kette


April 29, 1917.

The Jasta's 9 a/c got into a fur ball with 5 Sopwith's 1 and 1/2 er'swith 2 Pups as escort it was Turn ,Boom and zoom. My guns hammered away, but nothing fell. One English machine got on my tail and turned into a fireball going right pass me. Thank goodness for my wing-man.
The Kette got 2 machines, but we had 1 wounded.

Albert Earl Godfrey

28 Dec 1916 08h22 Attack on ballon west of Lens

Lt Graves called me out at briefing today to identify I would be leading the flight for the attack on the Hun balloon. I wasn’t prepared for this event so early after joining the squadron. This was a chance to show that I was capable and not one I wanted to mess up. He stated that Bennet would be on my wing accompanied by Sawrey, Fry and Hill. “You boys are quite familiar with this sector now and it is a relatively short run there and back. See if you can make a bang up job of it!”

We were advised the wind would be 8 kn from the WSW with variable cloud cover and sun up to 10,000 ft. Our craft were outfitted with Le Prieur rockets for the event.

On the line, I gave the signal to run up the engines and did my normal check of control surfaces response. Sawrey jumped the gun and was out in front of me slightly as we took off.

We all got away cleanly and I formed up the flight just north of the field. We were in and out of the soup but cleared above most of it when we reached 9500 ft, at which point I took the flight NE towards Bethune. We reached it within 6 minutes or so. Taking the flight East towards Lens, we crossed the line at 08h51 and soon approached the balloon. Raising my hand I gave the signal to attack, and decided to stay up high to watch for any sign of enemy scouts while the lads made their pass at the balloon. I saw Bennet go in first and then watched as Sawrey and Fry let loose on the gas bag. It went up in flame and smoke. I kept circling, watching and waiting for the boys to rejoin and form up. Black puffs of smoke from the enemy guns burst around the lads as they regained altitude and I was thankful that there wasn’t much of it to deal with. While checking our formation I spotted two dots well above us and far out on our six. They were probably huns and the fact that they were not closing probably indicated they were going home.

We crossed back over the lines with little fuss from the Hun gunners and soon were approaching Savy. I was exceeding happy to know that we had destroyed the balloon without any losses to the squadron. We submitted our report to the RO crediting Bennet and Fry with joint claim for the balloon. Lt Graves stepped in, gave me a quick slap on the back and stated “Good job Godrey. I knew you would make good.” We all headed for the mess for some breakfast.
I had a warm feeling in my gut and I could tell the lads were in good spirit as I listened to their recall of the days events.

Fritz von Tralenheim
visefeldwebel
Rumbeke. Aerodrome
Kette Zwei. Jasta 8.


April 30, 1917.


Long flight, down towards Lens defending Balloons. No contact.

Fritz seems to be having a rather quiet time these days.

Here's the latest status report for last week's action.

Guys, I will be going back to the States tomorrow and will be gone for a month. So, for the next month there won't be any status reports. I hope this doesn't cause anybody any undue stress, but please continue to enter your data and when I return I will post a status report for the entire month.

Banjoman, thanks for the stats. It'll be tough but I think we'll manage somehow. Have a good trip!

Armande Arquette:

April 29, 1917
While engaging a pair of German two seaters, Armande was shot in the head and killed instantly. His nieuport nosed into a vertical dive and exploded upon impact just a few short miles from his home field at Souilly. He will be sorely missed within Esc 23.

Banjoman, I hope you have a wonderful trip. Enjoy the time stateside.

+1 on that.