Gunbus

Friday 30th July, 1915

Flight Sergeant Illingworth peered forward, over the front edge of the observer’s cockpit; the view was amazing. With the engine behind him and no obstructions to the front he had a clear view forward. Behind him, even above the noise of the engine, he could hear Williams singing ‘Guide Me, O! Though Great Redeemer’.

Twisting round in his seat, he turned and grinned at his lieutenant. Williams smiled back, “Enjoying the view, Flight?”, he shouted.

“Yes, Sir”, he called back.

Looking to the east he could see the brown scar of the front line, he shuddered. They were yet to start active operations and this was just a shake-down flight to approve the new Vickers FB-5. He’d not seen any action yet, having spent the war so far in England as a mechanic in the Royal Engineers, and he’d transferred to the RFC because he felt that he wanted to do more.

As he stared at the front, behind him he could still make out Williams singing his hymn, “Death of death, and hell’s destruction, land me safe on Canaan’s side”.

* * *

Henry rolled up his characters last week and this week I got the first planes (nearly) finished, just needing a coat of varnish to be done. Unlike our first Betancourt campaign, this one will have all missions being completed by the core force. In the first Betancourt campaign artillery observation, bombing and photographic reconnaissance missions were conducted by two-seater aircraft from other squadrons, here though our pilots will have to be ‘Jacks of all trades’ and cope with all the dangers that entails.

Henry’s core force is ‘B’ Flight, 76 Squadron, made up of BE-2Cs (disparagingly known as ‘Fokker Fodder’ by their crews) and a pair of FB-5 ‘Gunbusses’, which will be the main fighting force.

‘B’ Flight’s FB-5s on a shake-down flight

Fokker Fodder: The rest of the RFC force is made up of the BE-2C type