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    Plane Tales From The Sky
    Plane Tales From The Sky
    Plane Tales From The Sky
    Ebook135 pages1 hour

    Plane Tales From The Sky

    By Wing Adjutant (Pseud.)

    ()

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    About this ebook

    “Air Combat over the trenches by those who fought

    The first-hand accounts of the experiences of men in time of war always make fascinating reading. Their stories are, of course, always as varied as the individuals concerned and the eras to which they belonged, whether they were soldiers, sailors or airmen, the branch of their service, their nationalities, the conflict in which they were participants and in which theatre they fought. This is what makes military history so fascinating. Sometimes many men report a common experience that abided for decades. Occasionally we hear, across time, the voices of a few notable men who fought their own war in their own special way and once their time had past history would never know their like again. That is especially true of the pilots of the First World war. The machinery of flight was a new technology. The aircraft were raw, basic, flimsy and unproven machines and both they and the brave men who piloted them were fighting their first conflict while learning and evolving their skills and equipment, quite literally, as they fought and died. The dogfight days of the early biplanes, triplanes and early mono winged fighters would be short, but their images together with those of the iconic airships which they ultimately destroyed will remain indelibly imprinted on the history of conflict and the development of man’s mastery of the air. Heroes to a man, these trailblazers were almost always young, carefree, well-educated and modest young men full of the joy of living and commitment to their aircraft and to flying.”-Leonaur Print Version

    Author — Wing Adjutant (Pseud.)

    Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London, New York, Cassell and company, ltd., 1918.

    Original Page Count – 182 pages
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherLucknow Books
    Release dateJan 15, 2013
    ISBN9781782891192
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      Book preview

      Plane Tales From The Sky - Wing Adjutant (Pseud.)

       This edition is published by PICKLE PARTNERS PUBLISHING—www.picklepartnerspublishing.com

      To join our mailing list for new titles or for issues with our books – contact@picklepartnerspublishing.com

      Text originally published in 1918 under the same title.

      © Pickle Partners Publishing 2013, all rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted by any means, electrical, mechanical or otherwise without the written permission of the copyright holder.

      Publisher’s Note

      Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

      We have also made every effort to include all maps and illustrations of the original edition the limitations of formatting do not allow of including larger maps, we will upload as many of these maps as possible.

      Plane Tales from the Skies

      By

      WING ADJUTANT

      Author of The Royal Flying Corps in the War

      TABLE OF CONTENTS

      Contents

      TABLE OF CONTENTS 4

      DEDICATION 5

      INTRODUCTION 6

      1—V.C.s OF THE AIR 7

      2—PULL HER UP, SIR! 13

      3—BOMBING THE BOCHE 15

      4—THREE O’CLOCK IN THE MORNING COURAGE 18

      5—IN NO MAN’S LAND 20

      6—OUT OF LINE 22

      7—SWITCH OFF! 26

      8—KITE-BALLOON SECTION 29

      9—HUMOUR OF THE AIR 31

      10—THE END OF THE DAY 33

      11—PISTOLS FOR TWO (A DUEL OF THE AIR) 36

      12—OVER THE RHINE 37

      13—AN AIRMAN’S CHRISTMAS 39

      14—NIGHT OBSERVATION 42

      15—THE OUTSIDER’S RACE 44

      16—A MIRACLE IN THE AIR 46

      17—GUNS AND PYJAMAS 48

      18—THE OFF PAT 50

      19—TO THE END 51

      20—IN THE FACE OF THE SUN 53

      21—SOMEWHERE IN ENGLAND 55

      22—THE; SUNKEN ROAD 57

      23—AIRMEN OF THE SEA 60

      24—SIX MACHINES WENT OUT  (HARASSING THE ENEMY) 62

      25—AN INTERLUDE 64

      26—FOUR HOURS OF LIFE 65

      27—A NARROW MARGIN 67

      DEDICATION

      to

       A.G.B.

      and the other Inhabitants of The Ruins,  Aboukir, Egypt,  April—July, 1917,

      INTRODUCTION

      THE series of tales and sketches which make up this book are all founded on fact and are the actual experiences of pilots and observers, chiefly on the Western front.

      Many of the stories will be identified by people connected with the Royal Air Force and the chief actors easily recognised. I regret that, for obvious reasons, their names cannot be given.

      The book was practically completed before the formation of the Royal Air Force, so that the title of the old Royal Flying Corps has been retained in most cases. By the time this appears in print the amalgamation of the R.N.A.S. and R.F.C. should be complete, and sailors and soldiers alike settling down to the new order of things under the common title of Airmen. To old members of the Force this is but a return to old times, for the large majority of the first two thousand pilots were trained at the Central Flying School when it was a joint naval and military school, under the command of a naval officer.

      I wish to acknowledge the permission granted by Messrs. Hulton to republish certain of these tales which have previously appeared in their periodicals.

      W. T. B.

      Leamington

      25-6-1918

      PLANE TALES FROM THE SKIES

      1—V.C.s OF THE AIR

      SINCE August, 1914, no fewer than twelve Victoria Crosses have been won by officers and men of the Royal Flying Corps, previous to the formation of the Royal Air Force. Of these one was gained by a N.C.O., the others by commissioned officers. In addition three of those who have won the V.C. have also been awarded the D.S.O. and M.C., whilst Major McCudden received the M.M. before he was awarded a commission.

      The first officer to win the Victoria Cross was 2nd Lieut. Rhodes Moorhouse, who received the honour on 22nd May, 1915. On April 26th of that year this officer was ordered to fly to Courtrai and bomb the station and railway there. To those accustomed to present-day work in the air this may not sound a very difficult order to obey, but when one realises the machines flown in those days, and the difficulties under which all flights were made, the affair assumes more serious proportions. The writer has vivid recollections of flying in the beginning of 1915. Our best machines, probably of the B.E.2c type, were capable of flying about 75 miles an hour when in good condition. They were bad to fight from, slow in climb, and only capable of reaching about 12,000 feet. Some few aeroplanes were armed with the Lewis gun, which was then far from perfect and liable to many jams at critical moments. The bomb-dropping apparatus was of a most primitive type and acted occasionally, though it was impossible to drop bombs with anything like accuracy. Engines were liable to peter out without much warning, and, lastly, the art of aerial manoeuvre was not then understood.

      In spite of all these handicaps, Lieut. Moorhouse set out to bomb a place some twenty-five miles behind the enemy’s lines. He reached his objective, dropped his bombs, damaging the railway and station, and set out on the return. In order to place his shots accurately, he had descended to within a few hundred feet of the ground, and as he commenced to regain altitude he was badly hit from the machine-guns which fired on him from below. His engine was also damaged, and he was unable to climb out of reach of danger. With blood pouring from his wounds and a groggy engine, he flew the journey home. Thirty-five miles of pain, fired at continually, fearing the machine might fall to pieces at any moment, he covered them, and reported the successful accomplishment of his mission. Then he fainted from pain and loss of blood, and soon expired in hospital.

      The next officer to win the V.C. also died of the wounds he received in winning the decoration. Capt. Liddell was severely wounded when carrying out a long reconnaissance, his right thigh being broken. The shock deprived him of consciousness for a time, during which the machine, fell steadily earthwards out of control, the helpless observer meanwhile trying to revive the unconscious pilot. After a fall of nearly 3,000 feet, Capt. Liddell regained consciousness and checked the fall of the aeroplane. His control wheel was smashed; many wires were cut; holes appeared all over the planes; splintered ribs peered through the fabric; the under-carriage was shattered. It seems incredible that the pilot should have succeeded in bringing home his machine, and still more incredible that he landed without doing much more damage. For half an hour after he was wounded the pilot controlled the aeroplane, retaining his senses until he had safely crossed the lines and saved his observer’s life. A month later he died of his wounds.

      Capt. Hawker, the next officer to win the distinction, is still alive, and is not the famous aviator of pre-war days, but an officer of the Royal Engineers, and one of the very earliest members of the R.F.C. Even in the early days of July, 1915, he proved that one Englishman is worth three Germans by attacking three enemy machines at the then great altitude of nearly 12,000 feet. Though only armed with the most primitive of guns and an automatic pistol, he drove off the first Hun, who fled for home and safety. Formation flying was unheard of then, or possibly Hawker might have had a rougher time with the three well-armed aeroplanes, all of which carried machine-guns and observers. The second German put up a tougher fight than his comrade, but was eventually sent to earth, out of control, with the engine damaged. The third and last was dealt with still more effectually, the pilot being killed at 10,000 feet, and the whole machine falling earthwards and crashing within our lines.

      Looked at from the standard of to-day, this seems a very small affair for which to give the highest honour a soldier may receive, but when one pauses to reflect on the immense strides made in the air since that day, the combat assumes greater magnitude, and one realises the tremendous bravery of the man who would take on such odds, in an almost unknown element and with very much inferior weapons.

      For most conspicuous bravery, skill, and determination, reads the Gazette announcing the award of the V.C. to 2nd Lieut. Insall. This was the last cross to be won in 1915, and even to-day the story of his achievement bears comparison with any which has since gained an officer the award For Valour.

      Lieut. Insall was patrolling in a Vickers Fighter, a primitive pusher aeroplane driven by a rotary engine which has long since gone out of date for service overseas. It may be of interest to note that this machine was the forerunner of the F.E.2b, the fighter which was evolved to combat the Fokker when the Germans were making their greatest bid for aerial domination. In this machine the pilot and his observer sighted an enemy when some way over the lines. Insall promptly gave chase, and his Mechanic-Observer, Donald, awaited the opportunity to deal with his opponent. The Hun did not wait, but turned and fled. Gradually the British machine overtook the enemy, and in the excitement of the chase neither pilot nor observer noticed where the Hun was leading them. The first intimation they received that all was not well was when a terrific storm of shot burst around them. They had been entrapped into following their prey over a rocket battery, one of the most effective weapons against aircraft which existed at that time.

      Despite the heavy fire which was brought to bear on them, Insall dived, got to close

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