February 1916 basement campaign month 8
The allies had been shelling our soldiers non stop for three days now and we still did not know the new gun locations. We were flying in the newly issued Roland that our Jasta had just acquired. The pilot was Dorn Heimer and I was the gunner, leutnant Wulf Hansen. While we flew towards the objective I checked the camera over. This was to be a photo recon and I wanted to make sure everything was in working order. I also checked over the rear gun. I was amazed by the incredible arc of fire the raised gun position afforded me. I was however not happy that I took the wind full in my face and became cold quiet easily when manning the gun. I huddled down in the opening as much as possible and waited for the pilot to yell for me. About 30 minutes later he yelled that we were approaching the target area and that we had company. Two british planes were guarding the target from prying eyes. They were odd shaped aircraft they were flying. Their tail not held on by a proper fuselage but attached by a series of posts. They looked cobbled together and almost comical. We banked right and one of them mirrored our movements while the other angled towards us from the left. Realising our predicament Dorn turned face on into the left plane a light brown version. Dorn was a solid pilot and this move was excellent. It brought the left plane directly into the sights of his gun while keeping us out of the sights of the green plane on the right. This also brought the green plane into my field of fire and I did not hesitate to pour a burst of gunfire into him. Dorn had decided to go straight at the target and he yelled for me to be ready on the camera for we would not get a second pass. I asked dorn what these aircraft were and he yelled that they were called Aricos, a new design and were known to be quite sturdy. The brown plane pulled an immelman and got right onto our tail while the green plane turned away from my gun. This left him directly on our tail and my first burst caught him on fire. That did not deter the brave englishman one bit and on our tail he stayed. For what seemed like hours the pilot of the brown airco and I poured round after round into each others plane. He stayed directly behind us plane aflame with no quarter give and none asked. Dorn stalled the plane to give us a little extra time until I needed to take pictures. Then just as he yelled that I needed to take the pictures fate smiled on us and the airco stopped firing. I did no hesitate and leaned out of the cockpit snapping pictures of the artillery positions. I felt I took excellent pictures and risked a nervous glance at the airco. The fire had gone out and now I could see the pilot was beating on the gun with his fist and it had obviously jammed. In the distance behind him I could see the green plane closing on us as well. I stowed the camera in the metal buletproof box and fed a new belt in the gun. We had gotten in and got the pictures but this fight was far from over. Dorn asked me if we wanted to run or fight. A quick look at our plane showed few bulletholes. The distraction of the flames must have kept the pilot from hitting us much. I told him to make at least one more pass at the brown one who had turned away from our tail to fix his jam. We turned left and the pilot of the green airco found his mark at that point peppering our plane with bullets. Dorn also got off a quick burst and turned away from him. He flew past us and I unleashed a volley into him as well. I think I heard his engine start to sputter at this point. The green plane was now having trouble keeping up with us so we headed right for the brown plane. Dorn pulled a quick left and that brought the brown airco into my sights. I fired and was elated as I shot the funny looking tail section off the brown plane and it plummeted to the ground. By this time our plane was looking the worse for wear so I told Dorn to head for our lines. Despite his engine problems the pilot of the green airco anticipated this and swung in behing us for one last burst as Dorn poured the throttle on to get us home. I took careful aim and fired one last time at the green plane. I saw my bullets hit and heard his sputtering engine stop. The plane lost speed and dove towards the ground. Just as I thought he would coast to a safe landing on the front his tire must have caught a shellhole and his plane cartwheeled sending wrecked flying high into the air. Another brave pilot of the crown met his fate then and there. We returned to our lines safely and delivered the pictures. Only after taking a careful look at our plane did we realize how close we were to falling from the sky ourselves. Luck was on our side and we celebrated with schnapps, schnitzle and fraus that night for who knows if we will meet the same fate as those two brave brits tomorrow.
Reply With Quote
Originally Posted by Flying Officer Kyte
One of my life's goals is to someday get something published. Even if it's just a short story.
Bookmarks