Aces High by Alan Clark
Author:Alan Clark
Language: eng
Format: epub, pdf
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 1973-09-27T04:00:00+00:00
Chapter Six
Circuses
I am a hunter. My brother, Lothar, is a butcher. When I have shot down an Englishman my hunting passion is satisfied for a quarter of an hour.
Manfred von Richthofen
It was a particularly unfortunate coincidence that the decline of the RAF from exhaustion in the Battle of the Somme coincided with the arrival of the Albatros. Throughout the winter of 1916–17, their numbers multiplied at a frightening rate. After taking into account combat losses and wastage (accident damage, unserviceability) German operational strength, in Albatri alone, had risen from 7 in September, to 78 in November, 270 in January and 305 in March. By May of 1917, it was to stand at 434. A total of thirty-seven separate Jastas of fourteen aircraft each controlled through the Flugmeldedienst or Flight Report Service which liaised by telephone, from the ground troops and observation through to the duty officer, at the Jasta airfields. In June of 1917, the principle of concentration was carried still further when the Germans began to amalgamate Jastas into Jagdgeschwader (JG). For example, Jastas 4, 6, 10 and 11 were amalgamated into JG 1 under Richthofen with instructions ‘to attain air supremacy in sectors of the front as directed’.
Now the enemy had simultaneously attained superiority in equipment, in numbers (by virtue of his concentration), in skill (the Jasta pilots were all picked) and, resulting from these, in morale.
The brief period of superiority which the RFC had enjoyed during the early days of the Somme offensive – and which had been largely due to its enormous numerical preponderance and the DH 2 fighter, and to the dash and courage of a few picked groups, notably that led by Hawker – was gone. The skill and bravery of those experienced pilots were useless against the superior speed, armament and rate of climb of the Albatros. Only the Sopwith Triplane could give the Germans a fair fight. And the enemy always avoided the Triplane formations – which was not difficult as they were all grouped in the far North under RNAS command.
One other aeroplane had a chance. The tiny Sopwith ‘Pup’ could still, on account of its light weight and perfect manœuvrability, get the better of the Albatros at extreme altitudes. Nos. 54 and 46 Squadrons had a song of their own sung to the tune of We’ve Come up From Somerset:
Oh, we’ve come up from Fifty-four,
We’re the Sopwith Pups, you know,
And wherever you beastly Huns may be
The Sopwith Pups will go.
And if you want a proper scrap,
Don’t chase BEs any more,
For we’ll come up and do the job,
Because we’re Fifty-four!
There, at 17,000 feet and over, the pilots gasped for lack of oxygen as they struggled with the controls. It was an unknown land whose towering banks of freezing cloud and bitter temperatures denied entry to any but the bravest in the winter months. The Pup took nearly an hour to climb to its maximum. During that period, or when descending, it was prey to the more powerful German single-seaters whose twin machine-guns had nearly three times of the rate of fire of the Pup’s single Vickers.
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