The Blood Bath - Sorry - Attack Plane Surprise
Dear Sis
I’m bored, I’ve been in hospital for a week now but it seemed like 2 months at least, I’ve had a wigging from Matron for organising wheelchair races along the corridor, but as I’ve only one useable arm I kept going in circles and running into the wall. I didn’t win any of the races but maybe when my arm recovers a bit I’ll do better, I did find the steeplechase the hardest but I’ll tell you about that another time.
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You may remember I mentioned that Bob was in hospital when I arrived but I was refused permission to see him, no one would explain why but that didn’t daunt me one iota and I snook out of my ward one night with a fine bottle of malt but the bally wheel chair squeaked and I kept running into the wall, the noise brought the staff and I was sent back to my bed, so I didn’t make it to his room.
Anyway Bob came and visited yesterday, he even brought some grapes but was very coy when I asked why he’d been in isolation. He’s been discharged now and so I’m here on my own.
Well not quite, there are some fine looking nurses tending to our every need and this morning I had the surprise of my life when The Honourable Bunty Hamster-Crust, walked into my ward in a nurse’s uniform, you remember the Gloucestershire Hamster-Crusts, I don’t know if you ever met Bunty.
I’ve not seen her for quite a few years, I don’t think I ever told you but when we were young we used to play Doctors and Nurses together behind the servants quarters at Crust Hall. I have to say she’s turned into a jolly pretty nurse and we are getting on famously, she seems to think I am some sort of Flying Ace, maybe I over egged my exploits a little but – well you know a chap has to advance his cause sometime and there’s a lot of competition for Bunty’s favours.
There’s another interesting Nurse here, Eva Schultz, she’s very keen on aeroplanes and asks me all sorts of questions about them, where we keep them, how fast do they fly, do we have many of them, she makes my head whirl with all her questions. She seems jolly well informed on the war, and is very respectful, even to Kaiser Bill, whenever anyone mentions his name she adopts a stiff formal stance almost as if on parade, then she smiles and laughs it off if anyone mentions it. She’s a jolly good sport even if she is a bit of a disciplinarian.
Last night I had a visit from the boys of C Flight and Uncle came along too, it was good to see them walking down the ward but they looked very sombre and came bearing some really bad news. Do you remember my old Flight Commander George Drummond, he’s been recuperating in some hospital in Blighty, well apparently he had something called Neuresthsomething or other, it’s quite common among the chaps but sometimes it can have a very bad effect and – well the long and short of it is, he hung himself in his room one night, couldn’t stand the strain of living when so many of his mates had died. Sometimes I think I can understand what he was going through, not of course that you need to worry about me but all the same, things are tough here at the moment. Unfortunately this was not the only bad news they brought though.
When I saw Uncle, that’s the Adjutant, it’s just what we call him, I don’t really know why, he’s not like any of our Uncles but there you have it, he was walking down the corridor with Taki and Berry. I’m sure I’ve mentioned them before, Taki is Japanese, a very nice chap but he sleeps with a sword, something called a Katana and Berry, well we call him Bouncer Berry because he can’t land a plane without bouncing up and down on the landing strip. Sometimes my heart is in my mouth as he does it, he’s written off more of our planes than the Germans have and that takes some doing.
Anyway I was surprised that Rory and Henry weren’t with them, both jolly nice chaps, Rory took over from me as Flight Commander after my one week in the top job, he and Henry transferred from the French Armée de l'Air very recently and I was hoping to get the latest info from them, but as I said they weren’t there.
As the chaps arrived, Uncle pulled out a bottle of Bunnahabhain you know it’s my favourite malt and I knew something serious was amiss. “Do you have glasses he asked or shall we drink from the bottle”. “Nurse Schultz is on duty tonight and she’s rather strict” I replied, his eyes lit up at that but he just said “well the bottle will have to do then, we have some bad news”. “C Flight were on patrol today and Rory and Henry were both shot down in flames, Rory behind the lines and Henry over the Trenches, we don’t know if they made it or not” My jaw dropped and I felt a constriction in my throat, it might have been the malt or it might not. Good grief, tell me about it was all I could splutter before taking another gulp of the amber nectar to sooth my throat.
Well I’ll let Taki and Berry tell the story because they were on the patrol as well and it’s always better to get it from the horses mouth, he looked hard at Berry when he said that. Sis I don’t think there’s any love lost between Uncle and Berry, probably due to the plane losses although Berry once went up as an Observer in one of the 2 seaters and I think that caused some problems with the paper work. It would have been alright but Berry shot down one or two of the enemy and Uncle didn’t know which column to put the victories in, Pilot or Observer, he’s very strict about such things.
Sis I’ll tell you about the combat I know it’s pretty boring stuff as a rule, you know “I flew at 8,000ft met 3 enemy, shot one down and returned to base, that sort of thing. However it will help if I write it down because Nurse Schultz has asked for a first hand account of an aerial combat and I can refer to this to jog my memory.
Anyway Sis this is what Taki and Berry told me.
Taki started, “We were flying using the old hammer and anvil tactic, Rory was in the centre flying in Gladys and Berry and I were on either side of him in the Nieuport 11’s. I think mine was a cast off French postman’s plane because it was painted red white and blue with a French Horn, on the side, you know the symbol they have on their Postman’s bags and boxes, Berry had one painted a sober green camouflage.
We were the hammer and Henry was the anvil and we had caught a pair of Rumplers between us, it just remained for our hammer to smash them against Henry’s anvil.
I interjected at that point asking why Rory was still flying the Morane monoplane when we had better planes available now. Berry took up the tale, “Well Henry had pretty strong words along the same lines and Rory as you know has a soft spot for Gladys.” “Yes, named after his mother” I interrupted “but even so.” “That’s pretty much what Henry said he even reminded him about the fault on the machine gun but you know Rory, he can be stubborn at times”.
I remembered the time he had let me fly Gladys and I had brought her back in pieces, he was not pleased at all, but she had saved my life if I remember correctly although it seemed like a long time ago and she had been through a lot since then.
Well Taki continued we dove down on the Rumplers, all three of us, and gave an accusing glance at Berry who went red in the face.
With the extra speed from the dive we were catching the Rumplers and I opened fire, it was quite long range but I was pretty sure I could get him.
It was pretty good shooting said Berry and then I realised why Rory had been waving his left hand in my direction.
I’d not seen him because of the clouds but there was a brown Halberstadt high up and off to our left, Rory obviously wanted me to hold him off while Taki and he went for the Rumplers. I pulled to my left and started to climb.
He was way above me but as you know the Bebe climbs like an angel ascending to heaven, and I think he saw me as easy meat and so was coming down on me like the devil himself. I remember trying to convince myself this was a good thing and that it took the pressure off Rory and Taki but it was a hard sell.
To make matters worse there was another of them coming straight for the melee around the Rumplers, but I could see Henry turn in his direction and concentrated on my man.
Taki took over the story “I saw Henry and the CDL plane exchanging shots but then we were into the last Rumpler”.
I could see that my shots were hitting home but there didn’t seem to be much coming from Rory, and the Rumpler gunner seemed to be concentrating his fire on the Morane, what I didn’t see was the Rumpler pilot was side slipping his plane without using much rudder so I assumed he has still moving in a straight line.
He completely fooled me and before I knew it I’d overshot him, he was still firing on Rory but his gun must have jammed but I could see that Rory wasn’t doing any damage to the blasted Rumpler, I couldn’t understand it because he’s normally such a good shot and I thought back to Henry and Rory’s conversation before we took off.
Up ahead of me I saw Henry and the CDL plane almost collide, it turned out the pilot of the CDL plane was “Crasher” Rosenfeld, someone to stay well clear of in a dog fight.
Give him his due though he can fly, he’d Immeled and was on Henry’s tail fast as lightening. Mind you so was Berry, and Berry beamed. “Yes” Berry said “the Brown plane and I didn’t get to fire on our first pass although we nearly collided but I Immeled as soon as he had gone and was on his tail, getting a clear shot. I was pretty buoyed up by that until I saw that Rory had smoke coming from Gladys, never a good sign.
There were planes all over the sky said Taki, it had resolved into 3 separate fights, Henry and the CDL plane were duelling it out highest where Henry was getting a reprieve because he’d thrown the Hun off his tail.
Then there was the low level fight with Rory and I trying to stop the Rumplers getting home. Their pilots were good, they were throwing the big planes all over, first right then left and the gunners were crack shots. By this time in the action the one we had attacked first had sold us the dummy and was clear of us but we had managed to get within striking distance of the lead plane I’m sure Rory hadn’t hit anything at all but whatever was wrong his gun jammed at the same time as mine.
It’s not a good feeling reaching for the mallet to find it’s not there, but I could see Rory using his energetically.
Then there was the middle level fight with Berry chasing after the Brown jobby, pouring an effective fire into it. Berry beamed again.
Yes Berry said, I don’t think I’ve ever flown as well before, even when he Immeled I was ready for him but then my gun jammed but I was sure I had the measure of him and as soon as we passed each other I Immeled and was on his tail, if only I could have fired I would have had him I’m sure.
I looked at Berry and was surprised by his new found confidence, he had always been the runt of the flight, the one who could never do anything right, I wondered what had made the change happen.
The Rumplers continued weaving said Taki, Rory was ahead of me, he was still beating on his gun when they caught him in a crossfire. They were working brilliantly as a team, whoever they are I don’t want to mix it with them again. The smoke from Rory’s plane turned to crimson flames licking the whole length of Gladys body or should that be fuselage
He had no where to go, they just continued to pour fire into him and Gladys just gave up the ghost and fell to earth.
Crashing in a ball of flame.
The Rumplers continued to streak for home.
High over head the duel continued going badly for Henry.
I’d finally cleared my jam said Taki when the blasted Rumpler gunner put more rounds into my plane and she caught fire.
Then the engine took a direct hit, but rather the engine them me he said, at that I turned for home, but took more hits as I turned away, weaving about, being more worried about the fire than enemy bullets and that was the last I saw of the Rumplers and good riddance to them.
I’ll let Berry finish because the only good thing to come out of this sorry story belongs to him. Berry beamed again and I wondered anew what had come over him.
Berry picked up the story in a strangely excited tone, well I was chasing after the brown jobby but he was proving a slippery customer, our planes were too closely matched in speed and I couldn’t gain an inch on him, I could see over my shoulder Henry still battling it out with the CDL chap who seemed intent on ramming him.
They broke apart and then flew back at each other, I think I was looking more at their fight and not my own.
Because the chap I was chasing suddenly Immeled and was coming straight back at me. We both fired but I didn’t feel any bullets hit my plane, and then we collided, just a slight touch and I didn’t feel anything slack or lose and so I Immeled again, but so did he.
Flying back on a reciprocal course I knew this would be my last chance because if I didn’t down him on this pass he would continue to run for home now that the Rumpler's were safe and I’d never catch him.
I could see my bullets boring into his fuselage but then my plane caught fire, I think it was that damn potato alcohol we are taking up with us. My flask was leaking as usual and I think that’s what caught fire rather than anything on the plane but it gave me a fright. As you can see I’m here and with a lot of praying and flopping back and forth the fire eventually blew itself out.
When I looked back I could see the brown jobby on the floor and I must have got him with that last burst.
I could see Henry still battling with the CDL chappie and even though I was more interested in my flames and not barbequing myself I was impressed with the way the Hun was flying, he seemed to be having the best of it and then all of a sudden Henry’s plane caught fire, it’s those damn leaky flasks I tell you, I’ve ordered new ones for the whole flight.
Henry didn’t seem to be firing back and was taking a hammering. I was urging my Nieuport to go faster but the stubborn thing wouldn’t.
Then it didn’t matter because I saw Henry’s plane fall, landing in the trenches, I’m not sure which side because I was consumed by hatred for the pale plane of death and could only see him in my blurred vision. I was shaking with rage.
The fire had gone out on my plane as I reached the pale plane of death and I opened fire at long range.
I had the advantage of position but we were passing each other so fast that I couldn’t get a good line on him and I knew my bullets were missing, but I pulled up straight away into an Immelmann turn.
And there was a satisfying explosion as I hit something vital and at that Berry just sort of choked up. I don’t think I’ve ever felt such a rage he muttered.
I flew over to make sure no one emerged from the pale plane and if they had, I do believe I would have dived down and murdered him, I just don’t know what came over me.
Looking back I could just see burning planes, I didn’t know Taki had made it back, I saw his plane catch fire and assumed I was on my own.
Just then Bunty appeared at the end of the corridor and I gave her a wave, but so did Berry and she waved back. Looking quizzically at him I asked “do you know Bunty” he turned with a big smile on his face, “oh yes” he said, “we met yesterday when I was sent by the MO for a check up. We got on famously and she’s agreed to go out for dinner with me tomorrow night” “I couldn’t be happier” “Right oh, could you pass me the Bunnahabhain I need another drink” was all I could manage in reply.
Well Sis I’m sorry it was a bit of a rambling letter but there was some good news later, apparently the Hun dropped a letter on the Drome informing us that Rory and Henry were alive and in one of their hospitals and would we like to drop some clothes off for them, I believe Berry did that, so a good show in the end.
Well apart from Berry and Bunty, but there’s always Nurse Shultz and I’m here for another 4 weeks .
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