Tails Up!
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About this ebook
The author was a well-respected and long-serving war correspondent of the air war for such papers and magazines as Cassell’s Magazine, Daily Chronicle, Daily Express, Evening News, Flying, New York Sun, and The Star.
Author — Middleton, Edgar Charles, 1894-1939.
Foreword— Colonel Buchan, John, 1875-1940.
Text taken, whole and complete, from the edition published in London: Simpkin, Marshall, Hamilton, Kent, 1918
Original Page Count – 314 pages
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Tails Up! - Edgar Charles Middleton
TAILS UP
BY
EDGAR C. MIDDLETON
LATE FLIGHT SUB-LIEUTENANT R.N.
HOLDER OF ROYAL AERO CLUB’S CERTIFICATE
AUTHOR OF AIRCRAFT,
"THE WAY OF THE AIR’
GLORIOUS EXPLOITS OF THE AIR,
"AIRFARE,’ ETC.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Contents
TABLE OF CONTENTS 2
DEDICATION 3
PREFACE 4
INTRODUCTION 5
BY MAJOR-GENERAL RUCK, C.B.—(President, Aeronautical Institute of Great Britain) 5
FOREWORD 6
BY COLONEL JOHN BUCHAN—(Director, British Ministry of Information) 6
CHAPTER I—TRADITION 7
CHAPTER II —A CLEAR HORIZON 12
CHAPTER III—FROM DAWN TO TWILIGHT 16
CHAPTER IV—THE AIRMAN’S LOG: SOME RECORDS OF THE SKIES 19
CHAPTER V—A PAGE OF HISTORY 26
CHAPTER VI—THE DAWN PATROL 29
CHAPTER VII—SOME V.C.S OF THE AIR 31
CHAPTER VIII—WATCHERS OF THE SKIES 38
CHAPTER IX—THE NAVY THAT FLIES (Per adua, ad astra) 40
CHAPTER X—FROM SHORE TO SHORE 45
CHAPTER XI—AN AERIAL PUSH 49
CHAPTER XII—WORK AND DEVELOPMENT OF THE ROYAL FLYING CORPS 54
DEVELOPMENT 54
ADMINISTRATION 55
IN THE FIELD 56
CHAPTER XIII — MOONLIGHT OVER THE BATTLE 61
CHAPTER XIV —ACES AND PAWNS 66
CHAPTER XV—MARVELS OF THE AIR 72
CHAPTER XVI—ARMAGEDDON FROM THE SKIES 76
CHAPTER XVII—THE AERIAL DUEL—AND AERIAL DUELLISTS 82
CHAPTER XVIII—SAWBONE SOLILOQUIES 87
CHAPTER XIX—L’ENVOI 92
DEDICATION
TO G.B.
PREFACE
THE development of flying, the work of the pilots and observers, the new, sure shield of the British Empire in the skies, are beyond all comment, and need no explanation. But the doing on’t, the story of it, the dauntless courage of it, have made our hearts leap. The daring and the gallantry of it have made the horrors of bloody war almost worth the while. They have put History to shame, and dwarfed even the Odyssey of Homer to insignificance. Ill befits a feeble pen to attempt to trace the deeds of their Golden Book. In due humbleness has this volume been compiled.
While writing this brief Preface, I have to offer my grateful thanks to the editors of Cassell’s Magazine, Daily Chronicle, Daily Express, Evening News, Flying, New York Sun, and The Star, for their courtesy in allowing me to make use of certain material which has already appeared in their respective journals; also to Major-General Ruck, C.B., for his introduction, and Lieutenant-Colonel John Buchan for his foreword.
E. C. M.
LONDON, 1918.
INTRODUCTION
BY MAJOR-GENERAL RUCK, C.B.—(President, Aeronautical Institute of Great Britain)
IN this volume Mr. Edgar Middleton brings home in vivid fashion the everyday life of our airmen in the field and on the seas, including realistic descriptions of many of those dramatic incidents which are part and parcel of their existence.
It is well that such stories should be written now they are fresh in our minds and in the heat of the struggle: it will hearten us up. They will also serve as a reference for future writers in more peaceful times, when it may be possible to analyse the conditions which have given rise to so great a devotion, so complete a triumph of soul over body.
There is no place here for individual praise —a personal compliment would be almost an insult; but I may perhaps be allowed to add my warmest appreciation of the humanity, the dislike of notoriety, and the light-heartedness which punctuate these records.
This war is but the prelude to still greater developments in our social history. Is it not to be hoped that the qualities shown by our gallant airmen, their courage, chivalry, self-denial, enterprise, and buoyancy, will find adequate expression in the new order of things to which we have to adjust ourselves?
As regards the military value of these deeds of skill and self-sacrifice, it is obvious to all and is of vital importance. If our Flying Services had either failed or had fallen short of the high standard they have reached, our present position would have been a most precarious one; whereas now it is generally acknowledged that the overwhelming .superiority in the air which, with the assistance of our Allies, we have every reason to expect in the near future, will lead, ultimately, to the complete success of our cause.
All honour, therefore, to those who have done so much to make such a position possible, and I trust that before the account is closed some recognition may be given to those earlier pioneers in aviation, or to their memories, who, in spite of every discouragement and much ridicule, held to their opinions, carried out the preliminary investigations and trials (many gave their lives also), and laid the foundation for the splendid work of our Flying Service.
R. M. RUCK, Major-General.
May 25th, 1918.
FOREWORD
BY COLONEL JOHN BUCHAN—(Director, British Ministry of Information)
I AM glad that Mr. Edgar Middleton has put together another collection of his admirable aircraft sketches. He knows what he is writing about, he has himself served in the Air Forces, and he has a sense of drama and the picturesque which can do justice to the amazing romance of the aeroplane in war. Modern science has depressed the human factor in other arms, and soldiering to-day is in the main a matter of masses and the machine. But the same cause has in the Flying Service worked an opposite result. There the possession of one kind of machine takes a man out of the grip of the machine and sets him adventuring in a free world as in the old days of war. No individual exploits of earlier campaigns have ever excelled those of the heroes of our Air Service. The incredible has become the normal, and Tertullian’s paradox is sober truth: Est impossible? Certum est.
J. B.
CHAPTER I—TRADITION
GOOD stories,
said an airman friend of mine, recently home on leave from a hard spell of flying over the lines— to tell the truth, I know very few. At least, there’s one or two stunts that—that fellows in our squadron have put up,
he sheepishly apologised.
He was in dread terror lest I should ask him any personal reminiscences. Yet, to my knowledge, he had brought down fully half a score of Huns, had narrowly escaped death in a flaming aeroplane, and had been badly winged by Hun Archies.
He was willing enough to talk of others, but of himself—not a word.
Thus, unknowingly, he plumbed the spirit that prevails through every rank of our Flying Service. The air of nonchalance with which the most daring raids are accomplished, to those unacquainted with the British temperament, would savour unfavourably of swank
and bravado. Yet it is genuine enough, for it has been developed in every schoolboy sports-field in the country that spirit of doing one’s bit to the best of one’s ability, and keeping one’s mouth shut very close about it.
Before he took his leave, however, I managed to draw him out sufficiently to tell me of one cool pilot of the R.F.C., who, by every theory of logic, should be wearing a brass-hat
and directing an army corps. This enterprising youngster—who, by the way, spoke German fluently—landed one dark night beside a German aerodrome. Leaving his machine near at hand, he coolly approached the sentries, chatted with them for a few seconds, and walked on into the enclosure, where he chanced upon a German officer. The latter he plied with polite questions—particularly whether there were any Gotha machines in the sheds and where they were situated.
Having obtained the necessary position, he thanked his informant politely, and strolled back to his machine. A few minutes later he was in the air, and within three he had fanned-down
sheds and machines to flaming ruins. Not really a bad stunt,
condescended my friend, in conclusion.
Really, not at all bad,
one would agree. In some ways it reminded me of an incident
I had been witness to when I was over there myself. For the sake of flying proprieties we will call him Smith.
Lend your imagination to the scene. A smoke-clouded mess-room; in various recumbent positions, varying degrees of pilots; being British, all silent and painfully shy. As the squadron commander comes in, one —little past schoolboy age—rises from his seat and smartly salutes.
Oh, you’ve just come in,
says the commander. I heard you had a fight.
Yes, sir,
replies the boy breathlessly.
B— and I met six Hun machines. But my gun jammed after half a round. B— brought down one, I think. I saw it spinning over their lines.
Where is B—, by the way?
inquires the Commander.
Not back yet, sir,
is the reply; but I saw him cross the lines behind me.
Engine trouble, I suppose?
I don’t know. But I say, sir—they were rabbits. They wouldn’t even wait.
The squadron commander smiles. The boy resumes his seat with a blush; borrows a cigarette, and is soon buried deep in an illustrated paper. Ten minutes before he was 10,000 or 12,000 feet in the air, fighting for dear life, hopelessly outnumbered.
Ball, Bishop, Guynemer, Hawker, Insall, Robinson, Warneford—it is all the same story. Point of view, of course, depends on how one looks at it. The enemy pins his faith in development of machines only to crumple up helplessly before the daring initiative of British flying youth. These knight-errants of the skies have created a chapter of British history, prouder epic than ever Homer sang.
A short-lived four years of blood-agony has startled a watchful world with an Italian airman delivering a letter, by hand, from his Sovereign to the King of England, a thousand mile-odd non-stop flight in a frail biplane; a French airman hovering over Berlin; and giant Zeppelins brought flaming to earth by a tiny monoplane and stouter biplanes.
Of the human element, the unsatisfying fragments which every now and then struggle into print convey the barest inkling of the development of the man. That he has developed in his craft is undeniable. But exactly in what manner, or in what particular phase of flying, it is difficult to say. It must be remembered that the Air Service, both in years and experience, is a youthful corps, attracting youth. And, here again, our standardised theories have been sadly distorted in the searching crucible of blood and shell. Youth, invariably, was held to be irresponsible; with warm imagination, but little thought. How clearly the air has negatived that belief.
From intimate acquaintance of young. airmen, some successful and some otherwise, I can state that flying develops strength of character and powers of reflection almost abnormally. Perhaps it is that the pursuit of the air is so flavoured with conflicting experiences; in a single flight a man will gain more wisdom and more sound common sense than in a whole year living under normal conditions on the surface of the earth. Perhaps it is due to the fact of that long grim tussle—and tussle it surely is—that he must wage with Death from the moment he leaves the ground until he has landed safely again. But I have known youths—irresponsible, light-headed, unthinking youths, when they have first reported at a station—develop in a few short weeks into thoughtful, cautious men. The laughter, the gaiety, and care-free attitude was still apparent; but underneath—in that particular part of his mental anatomy that is as sacred to a man as his life—some wonderful change had taken place. In fact, it is common knowledge amongst airmen that the more hours a man spends in the air, the less daring he becomes, the less risk he takes. You never see an old hand
doing stunts.
I venture a little story to illustrate my point; meaning, of course, to indicate how necessary in war-flying a man’s brain-power has become. Shall we call him Lieutenant B—? There is nothing fictitious about
this story. I daresay B— himself would recognise it at a glance. But there are certain formalities to be observed. During a fight lasting three hours and forty_ minutes he successfully registered two siege batteries on a hostile battery, and observed 100 and 150 rounds respectively.
Imagine the skill and thought required to carry out an operation of this nature for so long a time. Imagine the hundred and one little subterfuges in which he had to find resource, to save himself from destruction by hostile anti-aircraft fire or enemy machines.
And a little later: He made four trips and dropped twelve 112-lb. bombs on two aerodrome objectives. Also he carried out a large number of successful counter-battery and trench registration shoots under exceedingly unfavourable weather conditions
it takes a wise man to encounter Nature in her own province, and to get away with it— and has at all times carried out his duties in a thoroughly keen and able manner, displaying a magnificent spirit of dash and energy.
Amazing are the situations which occur in aerial fighting. And they require all a pilot’s thought to extricate himself. Here is one instance, concerning the manner in which a solitary British seaplane beat off the combined attack of five enemy craft, in open fight. With a companion, this pilot had set out from an English coastal