Terror of the Autumn Skies by Blaine Pardoe

Author:Blaine Pardoe
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2011-01-26T16:00:00+00:00

Frank returned to Rembercourt on the 24th of September, after only five days in Paris. Most men, when granted seven days leave in a war, would cherish being away from the front. When he was asked why he had come back early from his leave, his answer was simply, “There was nothing to do.”10 For a young man who gave his gambling winnings to the church, for the pilot who was committed to his fiancée back in the States, for the man who was focused on one thing and one thing only—busting balloons—his statement is painfully honest. Only Frank Luke could go to Paris in the middle of a war as a new celebrity and not find anything to amuse him.

While he had been gone, very little had been happening at the 27th Squadron. Lieutenant Grant rolled out the pilots and enlisted personnel at 5:00 a.m. for reveille, drill, and inspection. The enlisted men had schemed to steal a piano from the Knights of Columbus hall to add to their entertainment. Several Liberty Parties had taken place, trucks loaded with personnel out seeking covert fun. Lieutenant Rickenbacker organized an evening show with a local entertainment troop and the 27th’s officers were invited to attend. To remind the squadron that they were, indeed, a part of the Army, Grant ordered general inspection of the day-to-day garbage around the field. When rain struck on the 23rd of September, the men finally had enough down time for the entire squadron to take baths, a happy and welcome diversion.11

There was a general sense of calm, but it was the calm before the storm. Infantry and artillery were massing again, the signs of a big push. With the St. Mihiel offensive already a fading memory, the Allies were turning north. The operation was called the Meuse-Argonne Offensive. The American thrust was to drive north along the Meuse River with the French on the flanks, driving into the Argonne Forest region. This would take the U.S. forces right into the heart of the Prussian 5th Army. It was hoped that the forests of the Argonne were less reinforced than the rear areas of St. Mihiel had proven to be.

Upon his return, Frank indicated that he was ready to get back into the air again even if Grant was hesitant to put him back in the cockpit. The day he returned, Grant and Hartney had devised a plan to get the B Flight under the command of Lieutenant Vasconcells closer to the action. There was an abandoned field and possible hangar north of Verdun. Russell Pruden and Jerry Vasconcells drove up to the field. They found that it had been the home to a French cavalry unit, and had a number of stone stables and a large barracks. Some heavy naval cannons used by the Americans had been brought into the area, and the best facilities had been taken over by the artillerymen. The two thirteen-inch guns shook the nearby buildings violently when fired.

The advance airfield could work for the 27th, but there were some risks.

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