Diary notes for Saturday 3rd June 1916

[CaptMoonbeam]

"We again took over the trenches when with a party of bombers I was placed in charge of what was called the "bomb stop", situated in the most advanced post of this post of the section.

Saturday June 3rd was a rather lively sort of day, first a gas alarm was sounded, then artillery and trench mortars came into action while in the air high up, our aircrafts were having a real good scrap with Mr Fritz and Company, they were so high up that they looked like a swarm of bees and their machine guns could just be heard as they flew at each other. Down below this, two German planes were seen evidently trying to escape. At the same time, one of our planes seems to be damaged and falling to the ground turning over and over, but when it got just over these two German planes, it straightened up and put one down in flames and chased the other out of sight. It looked as if we were celebrating, for it was the King's Birthday, and we had a lovely day for it."


The above section is from my father's uncle's dairy - Sergeant Tom to his mates. In 1914 he joined the 2nd South Canterbury Company of the First Battalion of the New Zealand Infantry Regiment, and like others he landed at Gallipoli on 25 April 1915, staying there until the Evacuation. After recovering from severe illness, he was on the front line until the Battle of Messines where he was severely wounded and returned to New Zealand with a wooden leg.


I've recently re-read Tom's dairy with an eye to the aerial battles; he mentions Observation balloons being brought down, and coming under attack from German planes during the Battle of Messines. Amazing and terrifying.

The tactic of feigning damage to fall out of the sky, only to pounce on your opponent would take nerves of steel. Although I don't have any WW1 planes, I can almost visualise the way it would be played out, possibly an illegal manoeuvre of two steep dives and taking an A damage?

[Naharaht]

At the start of WW1 pilots did not know how to recover from a spin, so, if your plane went into a spin it meant almost certain death. When a few pilots found out how to recover from a spin, they would deliberately put their plane into a spin to escape from trouble, because the enemy thought that they were doomed and so not follow them. Then they would pull out of the spin at a much lower altitude and escape.

[CaptMoonbeam]

Thank you for that David, egad that little stunt seems like pushing your luck! Seeing some of the colourful paint work here on the Aerodrome, they would seem like a swarm of bees - angry bees. That, and flying over the middle of an artillery duel would not be my cup of tea.

[CaptMoonbeam]

Apologies I didn't think to look at The Sniper's Times - so much going on, and interesting that the air battle wasn't mentioned; possibly as there was so much else happening at the same time.
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...l=1#post407304

[flash]

...The tactic of feigning damage to fall out of the sky, only to pounce on your opponent would take nerves of steel. Although I don't have any WW1 planes, I can almost visualise the way it would be played out, possibly an illegal manoeuvre of two steep dives and taking an A damage?

Great to have such a family document Terry, I have my dad's diary from his time in India & Burma in WW2, not too exciting but fascinating all the same.
In the WGF game there is an overdive - stall/dive/straight which would dump your altitude.
Years ago I developed a spin manoeuvre to play with stalls/illegal moves - linked here:
https://www.wingsofwar.org/forums/sh...5-Spinning-Out

[CaptMoonbeam]

Egad! That looks more hairy than a hairy thing that hasn't gone to the barber since before Lockdown! Still, it looks like a neat trick to pull out of a tight corner, thank you sir for showing how an Ace does it!