Air Stories — page 64: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AIR STORIES from Staffel 27, who brought with him a record of twenty-one ’planes destroyed and the reputation of a brilliant organiser. His arrival, however, was ill-omened, and coincided with the deaths, in curious circumstances, of two Circus pilots. The first to go was Leutnant Friedrichs, an ‘‘ace’’ with twenty victories. He was on patrol on July 15th when sud- denly his machine was seen to burst into flames. Friedrichs jumped with his parachute, but like many of those early ’chutes, it failed to open and he was killed. Later, it was found that his machine had been set on fire as a result of the tracer bullets in his ammunition belt being ignited by the heat of the sun. The second victim was claimed the very next day when Leutnant Kirschstein, a twenty-seven-victory ‘‘ ace,’’ flew his camouflaged Fokker over to Fismes Aircraft Park for some repairs to be done. He arranged to return as a passenger in a two-seater Hannoveranner, but the pilot misjudged his take-off and crashed, killing both himself and his more distinguished passenger. The Squadron were now stationed at Champry and their records of that period show a heavy toll of Nieuports and Spads flown by American pilots, as many as nine and ten victories being recorded on several days. They were expecting to be moved northwards at any moment, but before any definite orders were received, grave news came to hand from the headquarters of the 2nd Army. The Allies had broken through the lines at Villers-Brettoneux, and the German troops were in urgent need of air pro- tection. At Loewenhardt’s suggestion, only the more experienced pilots were chosen for this task. Their machines were hurriedly prepared and, led by Loewen- hardt, they set out for Peronne, some forty minutes’ flying time distant. As this band of picked pilots neared their objective, they spotted high above them, a flight of D.H.9’s. At once they climbed to the attack but, losing the bombers in a cloud-bank, were forced to give up the chase. Shortly afterwards, the Squadron landed again to refuel, and while engaged in this work, five Bristol Fighters came down low and thoroughly ‘‘ shot-up ’’ the aerodrome, much to the mortification of the ‘‘ grounded ’’ aces. Later in the day, however, the Circus was in the thick of the fighting and were able to take a heavy toll of revenge. Both Loewenhardt and Lothar brought down three British single-seaters, and Udet also accounted for two Sopwith Camels. As the daylight faded, Leutnant Wenzl of Staffel 11 brought down a two-seater of new type—the first D.H.12 to fall into German hands, The Last Dogfight HE air fighting waxed fierce in those August days, but though the Squadron scored many victories, they also suffered some severe losses. Per- haps their most serious loss was that of Loewenhardt on the roth. He had just shot down an S.E.5, and as he turned to attack another he came into collision with a pilot from Staffel 11, and the two ’planes fell locked together. Both men jumped with their parachutes, but Loewenhardt’s failed to open and he dropped like a stone into the German lines. Three days later, Lothar von Richthofen received another wound. He managed to bring his triplane out of the dogfight and to land within the German lines before loss of blood caused him to faint. He was still in hospital when the War ended. In September, first at Metz and later at Marville, the Squadron found itself opposed to raw American pilots who were easy game for the experienced pilots of the Circus. Such names as Notlenius, Neckel, the new leader of Staffel 6, and Udet now became prominent in the records. The last-named added two D.H.4’s to his record on the 26th of the month, but in this engagement, in which five American ’planes were brought down, he received a slight wound which put him out of action for the remainder of the War. Wenzl of Staffel 11 has left on record an amusing experience that occurred about this time. Whilst engaged with 158 comiclooolks (©