As Major Stanhope and Captain Osborne entered the mess the young pilots sprang to attention.
“Is there any hope, uncle?”, asked one.
Osborne, a deep frown set across his face, pushed tobacco into his pipe, “No. I’m sorry, gentlemen.”
Stanhope drew breath. He wore no expression, but his eyes gave him away. “Listen up”, he said, “Lowery – you are to join ‘B’ flight as of tomorrow to even up the numbers”.
Lowery nodded, “Yes, Sir.”
“We’ll be getting a new pilot in the morning”, Stanhope continued, “I’ll decide where he’ll be assigned tomorrow.”
* * *
So, another day of action and 76 Squadron’s first casualties. As predicted, the Germans had decided on an artillery spotting mission following their successful reconnaissance of the North Foudroyé sector yesterday. A Halberstadt CL.II was to spot for a battery of 5.9″ guns which were deployed southeast of Railway Wood, while the top cover was provided by Kette I of Jasta 85, led by the Jasta commander Major Heibert von Eching.
To meet them was ‘B’ flight.
Stanhope’s ‘A’ flight was down by one machine as one was being repaired following yesterday’s combat and I wanted to field a full team to take on the Germans on this mission. My plan was simple; I split my flight into two sections: Capt. Osborne and 2/Lt. Algy Forbes-White were low, ready to take on the German two-seater, while Raleigh, Hayes and Trevelyan were flying high to keep the German scouts busy. As with last time, I hoped that hitting the Germans head-on would carry little risk and the boys ‘up top’ could then put their noses down and head for home.
I was wrong. Very wrong.
There was a fair amount of low cloud about and only my central zone was clear, so I knew where Henry was going to head for with his A/O. He obviously wanted to even things out, though, as Obltn. Lindenberger peeled away in his red and blue Albatross and dived down to protect the Halberstadt. Osborne and Algy, flying at level 1, split up to catch the German ‘plane in a pincer, the idea was for one of them to come up from underneath where they would be safe from the rear gunner. Unfortunately for Algy, he entered cloud and quickly had to climb out of it – clouds were no place for an inexperienced pilot with no artificial horizon to be.
Meanwhile the ‘three musketeers’ had turned southeast and then northeast and were heading directly towards the German formation. I hoped that approaching the line from an oblique angle would mean my SE-5s would be able to turn back for home quickly and exit the battle area.
I thought luck was with me – as we closed I got the first shot in. All missed.
The German pilots shot back; when Raleigh looked about after the pass he was alone.
Trevelyan and Hayes were dead.
This was it for me; it was a short game but there really wasn’t any point in continuing as I was outnumbered and two of my three remaining pilots were green. I headed for home. Left to carry on its work without molestation, the Halberstadt worked its way up and down the lines. It was eventually shot down by ground fire without having guided the artillery to the target. I wondered at that point why I’d bothered even trying to stop it.
* * *
So what went wrong?
Not much, and yet everything, really. Those head-to-head exchanges only have a one in six chance of scoring a hit, and when they do there is still only a one in three chance that it will be fatal. For this to happen two times out of three was not something I could really anticipate. The fact that Henry had rolled two consecutive sixes on his firing dice did trigger a random event, though: we rolled and the engine in von Eching’s D.V coughed, spluttered and died. It had no impact on the game – he was at high altitude and had plenty of energy, so he was able to glide back to his lines without any drama.
Elsewhere on the front a German photographic reconnaissance plane crossed the line and scouted out the northern Bois de Jacinthes sector. Tomorrow I’ll be expecting artillery or bombing missions in both of these sectors.
Bloody Betancourt 