Helmut von Hammer
Jasta 4, JG 1.
Marcke, Flamders.

16 Sep 1917.


What a Brawl. Up 2 times in lite rain and mixed it up with N-24's. On the 1st flight, our top cover tangled with 2 e/a my kette turned into the fight with 5 a/c the out of nowhere 3 or 4 more N-24's jump in 1 Sled in front of me so it was Hammer down and more the 80 rds slamed into him ( well at least 24 hit him) The e/a went into a uncontrolled spin as I watched him. The second Flight: spotted and flew under 5 N-24's then cork screwed up as they dove as everyone chased everyone an Albatross in a loud noise touched my Wing Tip. The a/c became hard to fly pulling to the left. cut power and carefully lost altitude out of the fight then put down at closest friendly field

Losses for the day. 4 Albatross Scouts Damaged + 1 Destroyed by the French N-24's Claims 2 N-24's destroyed ( one is mine ) + damage.

Now I know why those excretias are in bloom.

Raine, Holzhauer should count his lucky stars that the Jasta was gifted Heini and Rieke and not a pair of lions. Excellent story. I must say I experienced a few times what you've described in looking back and being surprised by the enemy who had his thumbs hovering over the triggers and trying to get just that little bit closer before opening fire. Congrats on promotion.

Helmut von Hammer
Jasta 4, JG 1.
Marcke, Flamders.
6 Kills


Oh the shame of it all. I just got a Post from the Family giving the Bad news. It seems that my Uncle the General Eloped with the Countess. Just up and ran away in a Motor Car. He truly became the Black Sheep of the family. The Shame of it all. wearing Civies no less.

https://giphy.com/gifs/dina-rigg-nX2Weqq62zc4g/fullscreen

Albert Earl Godfrey (in the following airfield attack, I targeted a hangar facility and gave the attack command but none of my flight used their rockets, only their guns!)

19 May 1917 @ 06h00 Attack on Douai Airfield

The C.O. briefed us on the morning mission, indicating we would be paying a visit to Douai aerodrome. We were told to use our Le Prieur rockets to raise as much ruckus and damage as possible to the installation and it’s aircraft.

There were a few mumblings in the ranks about “appropriate ordinance” instead of “flash and smoke” but the C.O. hardly paused long enough to take notice, and if he did, he wasn’t acknowledging any comments of that nature.

In stead, he went on to add that the weather would be cloudy with mist and fog at varying altitudes between ground and 7000 ft; and light winds between 4 and 8 kn from the SSW.

“A” flight composed of Molesworth leading, and accompanied by Jenkins, Caldwell and Horn, would be providing top cover for “B” flight. Godfrey was again assigned the lead with Scott, Lloyd, Rutherford and Young accompanying and their task was to undertake the attack.

The flights formed up north of the field as usual attaining a height of 6500 ft having climbed through various stages of mist and fog until they were pretty much in and out of cumulus. It was 06h15 when Godfrey turned the flight SW towards the Athies Junction and the lines. The plan was to make the run look like another attack on Athies as a diversionary measure and then to directly turn NE towards Douai airfield.

At 06h23 the flight crossed the lines at 2400 ft and was immediately greeted with occasional flak. At 06h29, still at 3400 ft, the flight was just on the outskirts of Athies Junction and turning NE when it began to take some heavy flak. The Huns had obviously been on alert, having been hit pretty regularly by 60 Sqn in the past couple of weeks. Godfrey was happy to be avoiding the railyard this time.

At 06h36 they were approaching Douai and Godfrey gave the signal to attack, while he steering his N23 further east, intent on striking some aircraft that looked ready to take off. Godfrey put his bird into a shallow dive approaching the north end of the field from the east and lined up on four aircraft on the field. He loosed his rockets when he was down to about 100 feet and watched as they hit right in the middle of the line. He pulled out quickly banking to starboard and observing where his rockets struck and then quickly turned to port to make another strafing run on the other two craft in the line. As he began to pull up from his run he took another hit from ground fire and watched the two end craft begin to takeoff. Godfrey realized these were DFW C.V. and that gaining a protective position on their stern would be difficult given how low they were but he tried nevertheless, raking the rear of the left most aircraft and receiving like kind from its gunner. He swung around and tried again, and again received some lead for his efforts. Both the upper and lower wings of Godfrey’s craft had been sieved and he had heard a round hit metal. Fearing the worst Godfrey climbed out gaining altitude and watching while his squad mates pummeled the field with lead. Watching his gauges for any hit of trouble and listening for signs of engine problems, Godfrey stayed high and waited for the flight to finish it’s attack and reform. Another flight of DFW’s were forming up to land when “B” flight climbed away to reform.

On the way back to the lines Godfrey took out his frustration on a Hun gas bag and sent it down in smoke and flame. They landed back a Filescamp and reported in on the days mission. Godfrey had sustained one days worth of light damage, Scott had heavy damage requiring three days and both Rutherford and Lloyd had two days worth of damage to their machines. Young got off scott free. Little damage was done to the airfield and the mission was declared a washout.

Carrick, looks like Helmut is doomed. He'll have to see the Countess every Christmas for family reunion.
Robert, I find airfield attack missions frustrating, with the missions mostly failed due to little damage. Airfields need more soft targets. Airplanes don't count. Then again if the brass expects an airfield to be destroyed only with guns, then they are in for a surprise. Mission fail even before the start.

Raine,

Thanks for the praise of Albert's flight handling, and yes, I'm experimenting with new approaches to recording take-off and landings. It gets boring otherwise. I am loving the new clouds and ground mist that JJ65 and BuckeyeBob have made available though.

Another fine piece of work on the adventures of Holzhauer.

Me thinks it is time for Rieke and Heini to dance a jig to the tune of the new Leutnant's P.08 at 25 paces!!
With respect, it also would appear that his twin spandau's are in need of an alignment! Some gunnery work on the range might be in order!
I really like the last screen capture you have there. It's a keeper. I wonder if you can send me the pic in full resolution?

Cheers

Close calls, promotions and near misses! Great stories Gents, and always enjoyable videos Robert.

Edgar Everheart
8RNAS
Auchel

There was a big celebration in the mess tonight as Edgar got confirmation on his 28th victory, a DIII near Houplin airfield which went down smoking and crashed. He has also passes the 100 hour mark!

Congrats to Edgar, MFair!

Albert Earl Godfrey

20 May 1917 @ 05h03 Patrol of our lines to Loos

Scott, the C.O. called “A” and “B” flights to briefing for a run up the lines looking for marauding Hun OP that have been making a point of crossing over rather regularly in the last 48 hours. Reports have been coming in from the front lines that between Lens and Loos the Hun OP have been rather active.

The weather forecast was for overall cloudy/misty skies with poor visibility and wind between 4 and 8 knots from the west.

“B” flight lead by Godfrey and composed of Molesworth, Fry, Young and Pope, took off at 05h03. “A” flight composed of Lloyd, Jenkins and Rutherford, quickly followed and we tasked to provide top cover.

The flights formed up north of the field at 3300 feet at 05h11, at which point they headed due north towards Bethune.

At 05h14, flying at 3800 feet, the flight arrived over Bethune and turned east towards Lens, climbing out.

At 05h22, flying at 5500 ft., Godfrey spotted two specs well above them heading west. “B” flight was just north of Lens near the lines at the time and not seeing any other craft about, Godfrey decided to take the flight up to investigate. It didn’t take too long to close on the two craft and it soon became evident they were 2 DFW C.V.’s. Godfrey moved the flight into position and lined up with the left most DFW firing as he moved in closer, breaking away as his mates double teamed it in front of him and then continued his attack as the DFW broke left diving away. Godfrey had been unable to confirm the demise of the DFW he had been chasing but felt that it had been sufficiently chastened. By the time he had reclaimed his altitude his flight was dispersed but within range and he rejoined them to continue the flight north towards Loos.

At 05h33 flying at 7000 ft. “B” flight ran into a schwarm of 7 DIII’s. They were yellow and black striped tails of Jasta 28. Godfrey had a good round with two of them and felt he had put them down but in the process failed to pay attention to his six and was set upon by another DIII which did significant damage to his right aileron. So much so that he was unable to level out his N23. It wanted to veer to starboard and he could see that considerable cloth on the end of his upper plane had been shredded. Godfrey put his nose down and throttled down the engine, spiraling towards the ground and ever watchful for a possible landing zone while glancing back to see if the DIII that had done him in, was convinced that the N23 was out of control. Godfrey noted the Hun following him for a time before finally breaking off. Godfrey was now down to 500 feet and just about over the Lens-Bethune road. He couldn’t have asked for any better possible landing area. H struggled to level his machine as he came down quickly in a side slip and at the last moment put power to his engine just in time to force it to pull to port and level out as the wheels touched the ground just off the road edge. He had stumbled into a patch of solid ground surrounded by shell holes and his craft came to a stop safely. At least he was on the right side of the lines and it wasn’t long before he was picked up by a convoy of troops which had just passed him as he came down. There was some lively chatter with the men as they took him with them on their way to Arras.

When Godfrey arrived back to Filescamp late in the afternoon, he discovered that all of “B” flight had suffered light wounds and Fry, Young, and Pope
Had destroyed their crafts in forced landings. Only Molesworth had made it back to base with three days of repair necessary to his machine and one claim put in. Godfrey put in two claims for DIII’s but doubted that they would be confirmed as he hadn’t been able to confirm their demise.

It had not been a good day with 4 our of five pilots of “B” flight injured and three destroyed N23 and two badly damaged. Godfrey’s craft would need to be recovered and repaired and he suspected it would take a few days to fix it up. Nevertheless he was lucky to be alive, and made a conscious note, not to be so stupid again by failing to check his six.

Throughout all of this action, “A” flight had gone unnoticed and returned to Filescamp safely without encounter with the enemy.

.

Raine, congratulations on the promotion of Franz to the ranks of the officers. But remember, with such rank comes greater responsibility and the powers-that-be will be expecting him to demonstrate a high level of leadership as well. As to Heini and Rieke, I'd personally take them out at dawn and shoot them both, securing their final service to the Kaiser as carrion for the eagle.

Carrick, Helmut and his kette seem to be having a bit of a rough go of it lately, hope things improve. And the Countess appears bound and determined to be part of Helmut's life in some way, shape, or form - but what a form.

Robert, those airfield attacks don't ever seem to accomplish much more than coming home with a flight of shot-up machines, further proof of the general lack of intelligence among the Red Tabs. Also, I agree with Fullofit, Albert handles that Nieup very well indeed. But that landing in No Man's Land with only one flap? He had a very large amount of luck on his side to have walked away from that in one piece.

MFair, 28 confirmed victories and 100 hours for Edgar, those are some impressive numbers Sir. Well done!

Great stuff as always folks, made my morning cuppa' just that much more enjoyable.

.

Robert, that was a close one Bud! Be careful.
Lou, thanks for the gong bling. Can't wait to get my 100 hour medal as I have never received one.

Edgar Everheart
Mont-St-Eloi
It was supposed to be a routine flight transfer to our new airfield. Sunny day with a few clouds. Took off climbed to 4000' and headed south to our new location. I saw two Hun bombers but they were too high and headed back across the lines so I ignored them. Approaching the new field I did one quick scan around the sky's then started to circle the new field looking for any landing hazards. I heard something, Archie it turns out, and looked behind me and my blood went cold. I was looking at the nose of an Albatros scout! I dove and turned and quickly got behind it. It went down in flames. About then bullets hit my machine and I again went into evasive mode. I chased another and it went down smoking. I landed and everyone else came in shortly. We claimed 2 machines. My flames was unconfirmed.

It was a close run thing. I had 6 holes in my machine a foot back from the cockpit.

And so I will pass along a quote a friend gave me: "MFair, that was a close one Bud! Be careful."

Here you go gents, last weeks activities.

Banjoman, thanks for the new stats. When are you going to give us a new taste of your pilots' adventures?
Lou, Same thing. When are we going to hear from your pilot?
MFair and Robert, that was a close one Buds! Be careful!

19 May, 1917 Halluin
Jasta 18

Five red and blue aeroplanes arrived over Erkegem-Oostend airfield at 04:20 and begun circling like buzzards above a decomposing carcass. Aldi led the airfield defence detail and thought to himself it is way too early to properly wage war at this hour. Apparently the enemy did not think much of his opinion as three specks dove down on them spitting hot lead.



Nieuports 24 dispersed the formation looking to increase their kill tallies. During the tight turning fight Aldi and Runge helped protect each other from the more maneuverable scouts. When Schwarzkopf parked himself behind one of the Nieups, another one would try and hit Aldi from behind, but ever vigilant Runge would in turn chase him away.



This continued for some time without anybody gaining an advantage. Eventually the enemy had run low on fuel and turned for home. Aldi followed one of the retreating machines, but was outdistanced and outclimbed. Same happened to Runge, but at lower altitude. Aldi decided to "help" his wingman. He swooped down like a hawk, caught up and shot Runge's Nieuport.



It spiralled down to crash south-east of Aertycke aerodrome. They reformed and returned to finish their patrol over Erkegem-Oostende. To Schwarzkopf's displeasure another flight of 7 N24's appeared. Must be the B-flight. Aldi looked back to check on his Kette. Only two fliegers still remained in his formation.



"Verdammt! They'll have to do." He thought to himself and prepared for a grand battle. He tried to keep his altitude high, but with the turning fight it wasn't possible. The fight devolved into a veritable mess of aircraft flying in all directions. Aldi chased 3 Nieuports at a time, then they chased him.



They were losing altitude quickly. Suddenly everything was quiet and the Nieuports were retreating. Aldi gave chase, but again the French machines outpaced his Albatros. It was right over Aertycke airfield that he noticed another N24 flying near the ground on his port side. It was easy to spot because of the aerodrome's Flak batteries pounding the air around the hapless scout. He found himself swooping down on his pray again from above.



The Nieuport suffered critical damage and was forced to land in the field, barely avoiding nearby trees. He nearly made it but unfortunately for him, he was stopped by a fence.



Aldi circled the wreckage and waved to the pilot below who was surveying the damage. It was apparent from above that he will not be able to get this wounded bird back in the air.



Aldi returned to Halluin alone and put in a claim for two Nieuports.

Fullofit, soon. I'm working on something for Ahren but not near as involved as my last entry.

Banjoman,

Great stories guys. Fullofit yours is becoming Epic.

My Pilot got Rained out today.

Carrick, thanks but I don't think epic is the right word. I don't think they sing any songs about Aldi yet.
You on the other hand are in luck for a change. Any day at the Front and away from the Countess is a good day, even if it rains.

Fullofit, they are always fantastic but that first screen shot is the cats meow. You need to get them on canvas and sell "fine aviation art."

Robert, yep, I need to heed my own words. I made the post, sent in my pilot update then climbed into the cockpit and bam! Almost went south myself.

Fullofit: Ah the countess, now thats a story. Sipping from a glass of champagne Vintage 1902.