1915 Fokker Scourge (British Ace Book 2) (13 page)

Just then we heard the noise of soldiers coming down the street.  I glanced over my shoulder and saw that there were about ten young men strolling and playing around as they promenaded.  They were being loud and the officer in me frowned. Then I turned back to my beer and my pipe.  I was in grave danger of becoming Major
Hamilton-Grant.

I heard a voice as they closed with us.  “Watch out lads some officers ahead.”

“I don’t give a bugger! I am on leave and I don’t have to yes sir to them.”

He was wrong of course; in the British Army you could dress a donkey in a uniform and if it was of higher rank then you saluted it. More importantly I recognised the voice.  I stood and turned as they came near our table.

“Attention!”

They were all well trained and they snapped
smartly to attention.  I saw the bemused look on the faces of Ted and Gordy.  I winked. I turned and glared, “Who is the one with the mouth?”

They all looked at one young private who was trying to hide beneath the peak of his cap. His head came up slowly, “Me sir I… Bill!”

My brother Bert threw his arms around me to the astonishment of his fellows. I smiled, “At ease lads I am, Bert’s brother.  I was just having fun with you.”

The relief on their faces was palpable.  They seemed to see our uniforms for the first time. One of them said, “You are pilots?”

Even as I was nodding another said, “You are the one who shot down all those German planes. You are a hero!”

I sat down and laughed, “I don’t think so. Would you lads care to join us?” I said that as the owner had come out to see what the fuss was all about.

Bert said, “There don’t look to be enough chairs Bill.”

I turned to the owner.  “More tables and chairs and beer for th
e boys.“ I held out the money.

He smiled and took the notes, “Of course sir.”

Bert took a chair from a nearby table and sat down. “This is my little brother Bert of the Royal Engineers and this is Gordy and Ted, two of the officers from my squadron.”

He suddenly saw my extra pip.  “You have been promoted! Well done, our Bill.” I saw that the hero worship was still there and it explained the comments of his comrades.

Gordy asked, “Where are you stationed, Bert?”

Bert pointed north, “We are in a holding camp north of here, sir.  We go up the line tomorrow.”

“It’s Gordy, son.  You are our mate’s little brother.  Where are you off to then?”

He looked around furtively, “We aren’t supposed to say.”

Ted laughed, “I bet if I asked the owner here he would know.”

Just then the owner came out with the foaming beers. “Where are these lads off to tomorrow then?”

He grinned, “Brebis, not far from Lens and Loos!”

Bert looked dumfounded.  “There
, I told you.”

Bert grinned and began drinking his beer.  “Go steady with that little brother.”

Gordy said, “If he is old enough to fight he is old enough to drink.”

“Oh we don’t fight.  We dig holes and we tunnel.”

It was my turn to be dumfounded. “I thought you were a driver or a mechanic?”

He shrugged as he took out a cigarette, “So did I but they decided I was small enough to tunnel and I would still be able to drive the lorry with the equipment.”

I looked at my little brother who had grown up overnight.  He was in the army, smoking and drinking yet, to me, he was still the little lad who followed me around at home. He had a more confident look about him and was assured. His mates all shouted cheers when their beers were brought and Bert acknowledged it as though he had paid.

Gordy and Ted allowed the two of us to fill each other in on our lives since we had joined up.  Inevitably we spoke of home. During one of the silences I heard Gordy telling Ted of his plans for him and Mary once the war had ended. Now I understood his pessimism.  He wanted a life with Mary so badly that it had changed his outlook on life.  I hoped it would not cloud his judgement once we were up
in the air.  Aerial combat was not a forgiving environment.

One of Bert’s mates shouted, “Eh up, Bert we best be getting back. T’sargeant major’ll have our bollocks if we are late.”

Bert stood and shook my hand.  “I’m right glad to have seen you, our Bill.  And I am proud of you too.” He shook his head, “A captain no less.”

His mate who had chivvied them to return said, “Aye, you’re alright for officers.”

Gordy laughed, “Well thank you for that; you cheeky little bugger.”

They trooped off towards their camp.  I noticed that the afternoon had worn on. “Come on you two, let’s see a bit of this place.  We’ll be back at the airfield the day after tomorrow.”

We made the most of our two days.  We ate well.  We drank well.  We bought knick knacks for home.  We bought wine for the mess tent and we bought some fine leather coats for the aeroplanes. I had a good one but it was showing the signs of wear and tear.  If we were going to fly at altitude then I wanted to be warm. I also took the opportunity of buying some good tobacco.  The tobacconist happily allowed me to try a few new blends I had not smoked before. I found one I really liked and that I was certain dad would like.  I bought a few ounces for me and had a quarter of a pound sent to the Burscough estate; our Sarah would see that dad got it.  It would be a pleasant surprise.

By the time we were heading back to the airfield my pockets were almost empty but the colonel’s car was filled with our purchases and none of us regretted a single
item. We had seen how swiftly death could come.  It was better to live for the moment and worry about the bills later on. I did reflect that I would have to find out how much more pay I would be getting as captain.  I was not mercenary, but it would be nice to know.

We had only been away for two days but things had happened which had major implications for us. As soon as we had returned the col
onel’s car we were summoned to an emergency briefing.

The colonel nodded as we entered; we were the last.  “A timely return gentlemen for I have some serious news to impart.  I have just returned from a briefing of all squadron commanders. It is, indeed, fortunate that we have only had one patrol out and that involved the whole squadron.  It seems that the Hun has managed to fi
t the Fokker Eindecker with a machine gun which fires through the propeller.”

He sat down.  There was little point in trying to talk over the hubbub of noise from the younger officers.  We three sat and said nothing. Talk would not defeat such a fearsome weapon.  Eventually the colonel stood after Major Leach had attained silence throughout the tent.

“They are flying in Jastas and pouncing on any aeroplane flying alone.  This has been going on for a week.  The squadrons who lost pilots and aeroplanes put it down to bad luck but one pilot managed to land his badly damaged aeroplane and told his commander of the problem.”

He smiled.  “It seems I reinstated the flight system just in time. However, in light of this situation I believe that we just divide the squadron into two. Major Leach will lead one half and Captain Harsker the other. We will have to hope that our six aeroplanes can stop the rot.”

One of the younger pilots, Lieutenant Lightfoot asked, “Sir what difference does it make?  I mean they had a machine gun before.”

Major Leach looked at the colonel who nodded.  He stood. “You are correct Mr Lightfoot. However the gun was mounted on the wing and aimed above the propeller.  Now whatever the pilot sees he can hit.  He aims his monoplane and he is aiming his gun.  He moves his aeroplane he moves his gun and he only needs one hand to do so.  In addition he will remain seated too.  We all know how difficult it can be to stand and fire the Lewis.  He does not have that problem.” He scanned the room.  “We are all lucky here.  In my last squadron we had Bristols and they had a gun on the top wing.  At least our gunners are in a good position to counte
r the attack.”

Ted stood, “Yes sir but this also means that our blind spot is an even greater weakness. They can just aim their Fokkers at our engines and fire until they have no bullets lef
t.  We have no answer to that; even with six aeroplanes and twelve machine guns.”

For once Ted had not been the pessimist.  He had been the realist.

The colonel stood.  “Gentleman the other news I have to give you is that we are about to start an attack at Loos. This squadron will be supporting that attack.  Tomorrow we will see just how effective these Fokkers with the new machine guns are.  Get a good night’s sleep; you will need it.”

As we walked back to our tent Gordy said, “Loos, isn’t that where young Bert and his mates were headed?”

I nodded.  As soon as I had heard the name my heart had sunk.  I wondered now just what tunnelling engineers did, apart from tunnel obviously.  How close did they get to the enemy?  Would they be under fire? I had never heard of the unit until Bert had mentioned.  However I now had different issues.  I had Gordy and his flight under my command and I had to make decisions.

“Gordy, do you think your lads could manage the defensive circle we talked about a while ago?”

“I had forgotten that.  Major Leach said he was going to practise it so they should have an idea.”

“We may need to use that sooner rather than later.  My lads are happy about using it.  They will just follow me.”

“In that case I will follow your number three and tell my men to follow my tail.  How will we know that you are using the formation?”

“Actually Johnny Holt pointed out that if I was flying in circles they would have to follow me.  The trick is going to be to move the circle forward. Anyway mention it to them tonight and I will see my lads and Sharp now.”

The two Beer Boys had found the experience of flying with so many other aeroplanes exciting and frightening for it was very easy to misjudge height and distance. When I told them that we would be flying with Gordy’s flight they felt reassured.  “At least I will have Lieutenant Hewitt watching my tail.”

Sergeant Sharp had come up with a novel way of protecting the front. He had found that the cooks and the Quartermaster were throwing away corrugated cardboard
boxes once they had emptied them.  He had packed the front of the nacelle with four inches of them.  He had opened and flattened Bully Beef tins and put those between the layers of cardboard, and finally he had bound them together with the baling wire they used to keep the ammunition boxes closed. They were all light materials but there was some metal with the cardboard.  I thought it was ingenious. “I don’t think they will stop a bullet but they might slow it down.  It is not heavy and it is cheap.”

He had shrugged his shoulders. “It is worth a try.”

“It looks like we might need them sooner rather than later.  Some bright spark in the German Army has fitted a machine gun which fires through the propeller.  The next time an Eindecker comes at you he will be firing at you with nothing in the way.”

He shook his head.
“I’ll just find a few more pieces of cardboard, sir.”

I smiled as I went to check the aeroplane.  Since Major
Hamilton-Grant had gone I felt much more comfortable checking my own aeroplane.  I trusted Sharp and the mechanics but I felt better knowing I had given it the once over too.

Our patrol was in an area we did not know well.  It was only fifteen miles or so southwest of our airfield but Loos was in France and we had only patrolled Belgium hitherto. As I taxied I realised that the pilots we had fought before had known us.  The fact that they had kept to their sides of the lines meant that they feared us a little.  The pilots we would be facing over Loos knew nothing of us but they did know that they had an aeroplane which could fire through the propeller. That would make them confident. When Gordy had asked me could we win the war I had not thought of this outcome.  A gun which could fire through a propeller could win the war for Germany.

I forced myself to concentrate.  Our task was to stop fighters attacking the
Avro 504 reconnaissance aeroplanes which would be spotting for the artillery. The Avro was unarmed but could keep station for a long time.  The observer could transmit information to the gunners on the ground without worrying about firing a gun.  But they were vulnerable to an attack of any type.

Major Leach had decided that we would fly south to north over the battlefield and keep five hundred feet above the Avros. It gave us the advantage of height and kept a kind of umbrella over our comrades.
It was good to be ordered around by a flier once more.

When we saw the shells begin to land behind the German lines I warned Charlie to be on his toes.  We were the lead aeroplane and we would see
the enemy first. The Fokkers did not let us down. A whole Jasta fell upon the Avros which flew west as fast as they could; they had heard of this new Fokker and did not wish to be fodder. They were a slow aeroplane and two Avros were hit almost immediately. The major and his flight were closer to the stricken aeroplanes and they dived in to attack. Three Fokkers went after the Avros while the other nine climbed to engage the major and his aeroplanes.  The Germans would be attacking from below.  They had the advantage.