1914 (British Ace) (20 page)

Ted grimaced, “Technically, no.  But the blokes they have servicing them don’t have to fly them so we do it.  They can refuel them and do the magazines.”

Gordy held his hand up, “I do that myself.” He looked at me.  “Your Lewis jammed?”

“It did. “

“Strip it down, clean it and reload the magazines yourself.  That way you know it is done right.”

“The mechanics
have an easy time then?”

Red chuckled, “We make them spin the propellers.  It’s about all they are good for and it saves us struggling into the front.”

We found three tents together and we dumped our gear.  I was glad to take off my warm weather gear now that we were on the ground. I dropped the captain’s bags at the main tent.  I saw him inside with the two lieutenants talking to another captain.

I returned to the aeroplane.  There were a couple of bullet holes in the wing. I would need to get them repaired. I took the magazines from the Lewis and laid them on the ground. I then stripped and cleaned the Lewis gun.  It was still filled with the factory grease. The
ground crew had done nothing but fit it.  I became angry.  That could have cost the lives of a valuable pilot, an aeroplane and me! When it was fixed I went to the engine and checked everything that could be checked.  I heard “Jippo!” yelled. They obviously had no bell here yet. I went to my tent to get my mess tins and nipped into the latrines to wash down a little.  I was hungry.  Fear did that to me.

Ted and Gordy had saved a place for me.  It was a much more crowded sergeant’s mess than the one we had left in England. I sat opposite the two of them. 

“Looks like there are three squadrons here.” Gordy leaned over and spoke more quietly, “Better watch your stuff.  Our lads are all right but these others are thieving bastards!”

I smiled.  It was the same in the cavalry.  No one trusted another regiment. After we had eaten
, Ted and Gordy lit up and I leaned back.  “What happens next then?”

“The next couple of days should be easy until the C
.O. and the rest of the lads arrive and then all hell will break loose.” Ted nodded at me.  “Get his lordship to give you a lesson in the Avro.”

“Hang on Gordy.  The bloody thing is knackered as it is.”

“You’ll get a new one soon enough.  The sooner it is wrecked the sooner they get you a new aeroplane.”

Ted almost brightened, “I hadn’t thought of that.  It’ll be right by tomorrow
, son.”

“Do you think I am ready?”

“Listen Bill, the only way we will survive this war is if we become officers.  That means becoming a pilot.  Ted and I will soon be ready to fly and when someone pops his clogs then we will be made up.  It is cheaper than training a fresh faced young toff in England.”

“You are right
, Ted, and those two Beer Boys will not last a week over here. I thought they were going to fill their pants when those two Huns arrived.”

I wondered what they would think of me.  I had been as a scared as anyone. I had been lucky no one had noticed.

The next day was strange.  I heard reveille and, after my wash and shave, took my mess tins for breakfast. The only people in the mess were our squadron.  I sat next to Gordy and Ted again. “Where is everyone?”

“On patrol.
  That’s why we make the most of this quiet time.  The C.O. won’t be here for a couple of days.  Make hay while the sun shines.”

After I had checked the aeroplane again I sought out Captain Burscough.  He smiled at me.  “It will be quiet for a couple of days.  It’ll give you the chance to get to know people.”

“Thank you sir but I was wondering if I could have a flying lesson.” He gave me a strange look.  “Flight Sergeant Hewitt thought it might be a good idea.” I thought he might say no and so I made something up.  “If I knew how to fly then it might help me to work the gun better as I would know what you were going to do.”

He smiled and I was relieved, “Good idea but the Avro is Kaput at the moment.”

“No sir, Ted, er Flight Sergeant Thomas said it would be fixed.” That was an outright lie but I hoped that Ted would have made the crate airworthy.

He paused and then a smile split his face, “Very well.  It will give me a chance to get the lie of the land.”

Ted had, by the look on his face, only just got the aeroplane ready. “Well done, Flight Sergeant Thomas.”

“No problem sir, it’s what we do.” Ted rubbed his thumb and first finger together.  I knew what that meant- I w
ould have to pay him in tobacco for his work. I nodded. “I even reloaded the guns, sir. If you like I’ll start her for you.”

“Good fellow.”

They had the same rubber pipe system in the aeroplane and when I had connected it up I heard his lordship’s voice in my ear. Before he starts it up I’ll take you through the controls. You have a joystick in front of you.  Push it forwards to go down and pull it back to go up. On the floor in front of you are a couple of pedals: right banks you starboard and left banks you port. That is about it. I’ll take us up and then I’ll let you have a bash eh?”

“How do I make it go faster?”

I heard a guffaw from behind me.  “Let’s just see if you can keep us in the air first eh?”

“Yes sir.”

“Contact!”

I saw Ted spin the propeller and it caught.  This was different for a start.  I had a propeller in front of me.  The F.E.
2 had been open. Captain Burscough took off smoothly enough and headed west towards the sea. I could see that I had dials in front of me and I had some idea of the height of the aeroplane.  It took him some time to get to a height where he was happy but eventually I heard his voice. “Get hold of the stick.  Forget the pedals for the moment.  Let’s just try to fly straight. Just tell me when you are about to do something eh?”

“Right sir.
  I have the stick.”

“You have the aeroplane.”

There was no difference.  We kept on heading west.  This was easy. After a few minutes I heard the tone of the engine change.  It sounded as though it was struggling.

“Flight, you are climbing.  Look at your gauges.  You are about to stall the aeroplane.  Put the nose down a touch.”

I panicked and pushed forward on the stick.  Suddenly we were heading down in a dive and going much faster.

I heard a chuckle.  “
A bit too much stick.  Try to keep it in the middle eh?”

I pulled back slowly and, gradually, our speed slowed until the engine sounded be
tter. I checked our height and we had dropped about two hundred feet.

“That’s better.  Now fly straight until I tell you to turn.  Have your feet ready on the pedals.”

I saw that there were clouds, seemingly just above my head, and the grey sea looked too close for comfort, but I was flying.  “Jolly good, now right pedal and, ever so slightly to the right with the stick.” I had learned my lesson and did everything slowly.  I must have pleased the captain.  “Excellent. Now centre the stick and foot off the pedal.  Look ahead and you’ll see France.  We are going to take her down to the airfield. Fly straight until I tell you otherwise.”

I began to recognise the land.  I saw the river and knew where we were.

“Start to drop the nose a little.” I did so and saw the altimeter register the fact that we were descending. “Can you see the airfield?  Look for the windsock.”

I peered ahead and saw, in the distance the tents and the green field. “Yes sir.”

“We are coming in the right way and you will be landing into the wind. Keep watching the windsock.”

“Landing?”

“Why not?  You are doing quite well.  I will adjust the engine speed for you.  All you have to do is to take it down slowly and keep the nose up.”

I hoped he knew what he was doing.  The voice kept telling me when to go lower.  The ground seemed to rush up at me far too quickly. “Use the
pedals, you are too far to port.”

I corrected and then I heard the noise of the engine change and Captain Burscough shouted, “Nose up a little and get ready for the bump.”

I moved the stick a tiny amount and we hit the ground and then came up again. “Nose down a fraction and we are there.”

This time we bumped but stayed down.  We rolled forwards and then the engine stopped. I saw Ted and Gordy run over.  We were not in the perfect place.  In fact we were in the middle of the runway.  They began to push us towards
the other aeroplanes.  I disconnected the tubes and, when we stopped, leapt from the aeroplane.

Gordy grinned and said, “Not bad.  You just had the one bump.

Ted sniffed, “Of course I’ll have to check everything now.” I threw him my pouch of tobacco. He grinned.  “Thanks Bill.”

Captain Burscough descended and clapped
me on the back.  “You are a natural, Flight Sergeant.  We’ll have another go tomorrow eh? You had better check our aircraft.  When the C.O. arrives we’ll have to be ready to fly at a moment’s notice.”

Gordy and Ted took me through the basics of servicing our aircraft.  It seemed straightforward but I knew that it was not like servicing a car.  If I got this wrong then we could fall from the sky.

“So the mechanics don’t do anything at all?”

“The officers who fly the single seater jobs, they don’t service their own aeroplanes.”

“They don’t want to get their hands dirty.  The mechanics look after them.”

I could see that, for the captain and
myself, it was better if I looked after our F.E. 2.

It was in the late afternoon when a red faced and angry Captain Burscough strode over to us.  I had stripped and cleaned the Lewis and my Lee Enfield.  I had hand loaded both magazines and the aeroplane was purring like a kitten.  I was feeling pleased with myself.

“Can I see
you for a moment in private, Flight?”

“Certainly sir.”
We walked away from the line of aeroplanes.

“I’ve just had my ears chewed out by the Aerodrome commander, Colonel Pemberton-Smythe.  Apparently I am not qualified to teach you to fly and it is not necessary for you to fly.”

“But Ted and Gordy both told me it is common practice.”

“It is in our squadron but the colonel, who doesn’t fly by the way, wants things done the way they were in his cavalry
regiment.  We have to do things by the book! Sorry.  The lessons will need to stop until the C.O. gets here.  He can argue the case.  I am merely a captain.”

“That’s all right sir.  I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble.  Besides I found the lesson very useful.  The things I learned will help me to be a better observer.  Now I know what you are going to be doing and why.” I smiled.

“You are a good egg you know.  I would have been dreadfully miffed if this had happened to me.”

“I suppose I have been lucky with the officers I have known but I know there are some stiff necked officers out there who are still fighting the Battle of Waterloo.”

“And that is true.”

The colonel, it seems had more rules for us to obey than I had imagined. That evening, as we went for our evening meal, we were stopped from entering by the Colonel and a
Sergeant Major who looked older than George had been. The colonel did not speak but he glowered at us while his wishes were transmitted by his sergeant.

“You men need to change for dinner.”

Even the normally affable Gordy was shocked. “But we never dress for dinner unless it is a special occasion.”

“That may have been true before but now you obey the camp rules and you need to change.”

Ted shook his head. “We don’t have formal clothes, sergeant.  We only have a change of uniform.”

The colonel could not help himself and he spluttered, “That is a disgrace!”

Gordy chose his moment well, “And as the spare uniform is still dirty from the flight over then a change of clothes would not make us any smarter… sir.”

The sergeant
major leaned in to Gordy, “Watch your mouth Flight Sergeant or you will be on a fizzer!”

“Sorry sir.”

The colonel was on the horns of a dilemma.  “Very well, you may go in this evening but tomorrow I want clean uniforms and, as soon as it is possible, formal dress for the mess.”

We all saluted smartly and snapped a, “Sir!”

As we sat eating, feeling like poor relations, I told them what had happened to the captain. Gordy shook his head and waved a fork around at the other diners. “Look at them.  The other squadrons are all dressed in their number ones.  Our lot look like they have been kitted out by the Salvation Army. The wrong people are running this war.”

Ted nodded his agreement, “And that’s the truth, brother!”

Gordy winked at me.  “Don’t worry about the flying lessons.  Me and Ted can teach you.  We might not be as good as his lordship but we can fly and we know the planes.  We’ll just say we are taking it up to check instruments. He’s a cavalryman and won’t have the first clue. When the C.O. gets here, then watch out for fireworks.”

I was not so sure, “He seemed a little young to me.”