Helmut von Hammer
2nd field Hospital
Row 2 Bed 4
South Wing. Wimereux Medical


Aug 16, 1917.


Then the Day nurses came on so I will stay.

https://giphy.com/gifs/sasha-grey-pornstar-evil-nurse-Icmq4ZHrnqDIY/fullscreen

Raine, too bad about the pilot. Better luck with the new one!
Robert, hope you can make some time soon.
Carrick, don't give up yet. Perhaps an early hospital break?
Jeff, good choice. I approve. A lot of umlauts in the Otersdorf family.

Jeff and CaptSopwith, nice to see you two join the fray. Looking forward to some more great stories.

Raine, what dreadful luck! Very sorry to hear of your pilots demise but looking forward to another lesson in Hunnish.

Carrick, what hospital did you say that nurse is stationed?

Antön Otersdorf
Jasta 32
April 1917
Morchingen Aerodrome
Alsace Front

21 April 1917. I flew in from Koln to the Jasta 32 base at Morchingen (located southwest of Metz on the Alsace front) on 16 April



...as it turned out, my timing was very good as my new Jasta needed a replacement machine and it was shipped to Koln for me to fly. The Albatros DII is a fine machine, much lighter to the touch than the Talbes and Eindeckers I practiced on, and quicker too.

Not long after I arrived, the rains came and grounded everyone until today. Our commander, Bartholomäus Schröder (Writer's note: ha ha, the umlauts are REAL! Jasta 32 link ) gave me some instructions: “For your first mission, DO NOT follow your squadmates...instead, make two laps around the aerodrome to get acquainted with your surroundings. Just in case you come under attack, land right away.” So I did just that.



Then Schröder said: “For your second mission, accompany your flight to the front, but then COME BACK RIGHT AWAY.” As it turns out, that mission was a patrol, and I did just that.

And then finally for my third mission, I was given the go ahead to join the squadron. This mission was a balloon defense. As we were ascending, a lone Nieuport appeared. I got into position and managed a good burst into him



...but then he headed away with three of the five members of the squad chasing after him.



Leutnant Taboka headed towards the assigned defense target (I knew this because he has a T emblazoned on the side of his craft), but headed into a cloud and I lost him. I decided, already at this early stage of my Jasta career, that I should stay with the plan by myself and I headed to the balloon. This lone Nieuport could have been a ruse! I made the target and patrolled. I caught glimpse of another Nieuport dancing around the archie, but he was too far away for me to reach and headed over the lines....not sure if it was the same one I witnessed earlier. I spent the assigned amount of time at the balloon site and then headed home.



(Writer's note: I actually have four missions under my belt and the journal will reflect this going forward)





Upon fetching the mail, I see that I have a letter from my little sister Käte who is serving as a nurse somewhere along the front...

-------------------------------------

Regards,

Jeff

Ah hah! Intrigue! Fullofit, it looks like you have really stepped into it now, messing around with Herr Otersdorf's little sister!

Ah BuckeyBob, but you are forgetting a very important fact. Little sisters never want to listen to their big brothers.

Jeff, nice report. Great start. Aldi's grounded due to bad weather.

Jeff, glad to see you have joined the fray! We shall now have more great reports to read. I wouldn't be surprised if Herr Otersdorf should run into Aldi while on leave somewhere and then some sparks might fly.

Albert E. Godfrey managed a flight this evening so there should be a report and vid coming up tomorrow.

Cheers folks!

Intrigue indeed! This should be fun!

Stjeffbb: Good jod and welcome to the meat Grinder.

Helmut von Hammer
2nd field Hospital
Row 2 Bed 4
South Wing. Wimereux Medical

Aug 17, 1917.

The hospital staff is busy. I had to catch my doc in the halls to ask about being released soon. Then Nurse Helga came in and led a class in fitness.

https://giphy.com/gifs/animation-flexing-califjenni3-b6zXyl93ZvxCg/fullscreen


https://giphy.com/gifs/buster-keaton-that-coat-tho-CMWe75C25T1M4/fullscreen

Antön Otersdorf
Jasta 32
April 1917
Morchingen Aerodrome
Alsace Front

The letter:



-----------------

Regards,

Jeff

Helmut von Hammer
2nd field Hospital
Row 2 Bed 4
South Wing. Wimereux Medical



Aug 18 1917.

I put in for a short leave so I could recuperate at home, but I don't think it will be approved


https://giphy.com/gifs/someone-muslims-supremacists-378IyHiTEheI8/fullscreen

@carrick58...cracking me up!

Ha ha, this whole nurse thing has sidelined us all a bit to varying degrees

Keep it up everyone, and don't get yourself killed out there!

Regards,

Jeff

Albert Earl Godfrey

16 Apr 1917 @ 06h01 Patrol to our lines east of Thelus

Scott called a briefing at 05h00 to identify the nature of the morning mission.
News had come in from the 1st Canadian Division, 2nd Can Inf. Bge, 2nd Can Machine Gun COY around the vicinity of Thelus, that three enemy Obs aircraft were observed plying up and down their lines reconnoitering. Given that the Vimy offensive had just completed, the 1st. Canadian Division was anxious to keep the Huns blindsided while they consolidated their position. Our task was to drive them down or off.

We were advised that we would have wind of 8 kn from the SSW with thick billowing cumulous cloud cover from 3,000 to 13,000 ft. The chances of spotting enemy craft would be slim to none unless conditions improved.

“A” flight was assigned top cover and composed of Caldwell, Bishop, Rutherford and Youg. “B” flight leader was to be Godfrey and composed of Clinton on wing, Scott, Fry, Horn and Pope.

Both flights set out at o6h01 to form up north of the field. Upon achieving an altitude of 12,800 ft at 06h34, Godfrey lead the flight on to Neuville-Saint- Vaast, still not above the prevailing cloud cover and therefore in and out of the muck, trying to maintain formation. At 06h39 they were over Saint-Vaast and approaching the Lens-Arras road. Observing a good sized pocket of clear weather below, Godfrey began a descent. As they crossed the Lens-Arras road, Godfrey noticed “A” flight beating a hasty descent on his port side. Glancing over and down he spotted three specs on a southward course about 2000 ft below. He quickly waggled his wings and joined the chase that “A” flight had begun.

Godfrey latched on to the rear most craft that turned out to be a Roland CII, strafed him from the rear on a diving pass, came up under him again and continued the pursuit. He sent several more volleys into the elusive pray as the Hun threw his craft into evasive maneuvers and dove towards the clouds below. Godfrey was not so willing to give up the chase and entered into the cloud bank straining his eyes for a sign of his foe. As he broke out of the clouds he was down to 2900 ft and circled, searching anxiously for a sign of the Roland. He spotted Saint-Vaast close by and then caught a glimpse of movement below. It was the Hun spiraling down. Godfrey maintained eye contact, ready to pounce if the Roland should level out and make a run for it. It did not. It crashed into the earth below sending up a billowing brown cloud of smoke and dust. Godfrey glanced around, took note of the time 06h39, and then began a climb out. During the climb he noted two aircraft mixing it up only a short distance away and so he investigated. It was another Roland and one of his squad mates, Scott. As the Roland began to fly in his direction, Godfrey turned into the Huns port side and strafed him. He was about to pursue in earnest when he heard Scott’s gun firing, so he pulled up and to port to avoid any possible collision and just watched as Scott dispatched the Hun.

Godfrey became somewhat concerned when he observed that Scott did not immediately pull up to rejoin. He seemed to be having some difficulty with his mount. Godfrey pursued Scott, saying close until he was able to determine that Scott could properly regain altitude. The rest of the flight was beginning the circling to reform and so Godfrey and Scott rejoined and headed back to base. It was 06h53 when the flight passed over Camblain L’Abbe at 9,700 ft.
They all made it back to Filescamp at 06h57 safely, albeit Scott had suffered light damage to his craft in combat with the Roland and it would require 2 days to repair. Horn’s craft was in worse shape with heavy damage that would take 3 days to put back in flying order. Both Scott and Godfrey put in claims.

Bishop of “A” flight shot down the last Roland of the three and both Caldwell and Rutherford confirmed the kill.

All three Rolands fell close to Saint-Vaast near our balloon installation and the wreckage of the three was investigated.

There was considerable celebration in the mess that night and very few clear heads the next morning.

I'm not listening. La! La! La! La! La!

Robert, great report. Very detailed, as always.

21 April, 1917 Halluin

Today was a great day to fly - clear skies and incredible visibility. Those were the factors which decided that today's morning mission will be one to escort bombers over enemy territory to try and knock out the army base south of Bailleul. Aldi was leading Schwarm Zwei with Grieffenhagen, Klein and Strähle in tow.



The ground battle was still raging on below while up top it was peaceful with only the roar of the engines disturbing it. Aldi flew alongside the Emil und Franz Flugzeug noting the pilot (Emil) concentrating on navigating to the target while the gunner (Franz) took a more relaxed approach and waved to Aldi having nothing better to do.



This will change very soon. They were nearly over the target. The two Rolands dove to attack their designated targets below, while Aldi's flight stayed high waiting for the inevitable. As on command three Nieuports showed up for the fight. They would have to go through the Schwarm to get to the bombers. Easier said than done. The furball was vicious, Aldi shot at one of the N23's which in turn dove steeply to avoid further damage.



Aldi left him for "later" and stayed high with the other two attackers. He was able to get on the tail of another one fairly quickly as the Nieuport driver was already preoccupied with the rest of the Schwarm engaging him. Schwarzkopf sent a few well placed rounds in his direction, but decided to abandon his attack as the sky was getting crowded around him.



His wingmen smelled blood and were eager to finish the job. He disengaged and looked for the last of the enemy scouts. He found him just above getting ready to make his attack run on one of the Rolands. Aldi wasn't going to allow it. He dove after the Nieuport and this time gave him no quarter. He pressed his attack all the way to the deck, spinning behind his prey while causing greater damage to the enemy's machine. Finally the crippled sesquiplane drove into the ground and the Albatros begun a turning climb to gain some altitude. While performing this maneuver, he noticed a Nieuport following Grieffenhagen just below. Must have been the one he let go earlier, who now turned the tables and was a thorn in the C.O.'s backside. The luck was on Schwarzkopf's side - they were flying just in front of him, which made it easy to get in position and send a quick volley. The French plane jerked and spiraled down to ground smashing into a thousand pieces.



Aldi looked for Grieffenhagen but the boss was already on his way back home, no doubt nursing a battered plane. Hauptmann decided to follow him and set his course for Halluin, as the air above them started to get thick with Flak and new enemy planes arriving on the scene sniffing after easy kills. He left the battle scene behind and cleared the Flak with his machine trimmed for cruising speed on the return leg. He noticed two dots high above also flying steadily in the direction of the base.
"Must be the two Rolands returning home" he thought to himself. "Wonder if they've hit anything."
Suddenly the one in front exploded in a ball of fire and plummeted straight down followed by a black trail of smoke.



The other dot began to dive and turn in his direction. Aldi realized, the Roland wasn't returning home, but trying to run away from his attacker, which currently was bearing straight at him. Aldi began to climb to meet his assailant. The initial pass was a draw, with the exception that Aldi was now high and the Nieuport low and quickly heading for an airfield. Schwarzkopf gave chase being sure he can easily catch him long before he can reach the safety of the anti-aircraft guns. He was gaining and nearly in range, when bullets started hitting the canvas of his machine. Two more N23's on his tail were enjoying Aldi's inattentiveness. He spun quickly to get his plane out of the harm's way. "Where the hell did they come from?" The two Nieuports worked well together and kept him in pincers. He was able to get one of them in his sights for just a second, but that was enough. The enemy was hit and decided to abandon his flight mate to fend for himself. Aldi took advantage of that and went on the offensive now that the odds were even. They both kept circling each other losing height. Eventually there was no more altitude to maneuver and the enemy pilot duped Aldi with a fake move and broke for home at treetop height. Schwarzkopf followed and was gaining but wasn't sure he could reach him before the airfield guns would make Swiss cheese out of his machine.



He clenched his teeth and pressed on. The airfield was in sight and so was the enemy plane. Aldi unleashed the twin Spandaus and that was it. That's all it took.



The Nieuport's engine stopped and then immediately erupted into a ball of fire.



At this low height there was nothing that could be done. The scout snagged the tree branches and ploughed into the ground leaving a burning crater. Aldi's tail was already facing the enemy airfield when the airfield's ambulance bell began to clang frantically. He was sure the medic will not be needed. Schwarzkopf was eager to get back to his own aerodrome. The rest of the return trip was completed without further incidents which suited him just fine. After landing he made three claims, but owing to the confusing mess over the target only one of them was witnessed and confirmed. It didn't matter to him. He was still thinking of that Franz waving to him earlier. He is now lying down there all mangled in a heap of charred wood and twisted metal, probably being photographed as yet another trophy.

wow such good pics and stories. Keep em coming

Helmut von Hammer
2nd field Hospital
Row 2 Bed 4
South Wing. Wimereux Medical


Aug 19, 1917.

I was given a 24 hour pass before heading back to the front. Took in the local sights.

https://giphy.com/gifs/barbara-stanwyck-CR5XUZaf3COgU/fullscreen

https://giphy.com/gifs/1955-the-night-of-hunter-1950s-movies-JvhCoR12HC0Jq/fullscreen

what a night, there were times when I couldn't even look up

https://giphy.com/gifs/charles-laughton-robert-mitchum-the-night-of-hunter-nEu6V0St2AuvC/fullscreen

Fullofit, it's getting so I can't decide which I am enjoying most, the stories or the pics. Those are great screen captures you are posting!!

Carrick, Helmut may well need to go back to hospital to recover from his night out on the town! There is a fine line between which is worse, the dangers of combat or the dangers of city night life.

Carrick, how do you come up with all these gifs?



Robert, I thank you for the compliment. The good news is that there is no reason to decide between the two. This thread is full of great stories and excellent screens from everyone. Keep them coming all. We enjoy them all immensely!