1916 Angels over the Somme (British Ace Book 3) (2 page)

Even when we were over the sea and could see the French coast in the distance, his flying did not improve.  I turned in the cockpit and saw that he was eating while we were flying! It begged the question why but explained his lack of control. Gordy and Ted were more than capable of eating and flying in a straight line but my two fellow officers had hundreds of flying hours under their belts.

When we crossed the French coast I breathed a momentary sigh of relief and then my heart sank. He was heading due east and not south east.  He was taking us over the German lines. I turned and pointed to the south east. I shouted, “The airfield is that way.”

He looked down at his map and shouted back, “Are you sure?”

I nodded, “I am based there!” He glanced down at the map.  Each second wasted was taking us closer to the front and to the German fighters who hunted there.  I shouted urgently. “South east Lieutenant Carstairs!”

He banked the aeroplane and I had to grip the sides to hold on, “You had better be right, Corporal, or you will be on a charge!”

I sat in the cockpit feeling increasingly angry. It was bad enough to be yanked away from Beatrice without a goodbye but to have to suffer this unprofessional pilot was too much to bear. I would have words with this arrogant young pilot when we landed.  I just wanted to get down in one piece. I began to look for familiar landmarks. I saw some of the old damage from early in the war, the burnt out buildings and shell holes.  They began to increase as we neared the airfield. When we passed the church with the two towers I knew we were close.  I risked turning again. “It is two miles ahead.  Keep on this course.” He nodded and I saw that he was gripping the stick with both hands. The shell holes had shown him that we were close to war now.

The windsock fluttered in the wind indicating to the young lieutenant the direction of the wind but he chose to ignore it.  He brought us in too quickly and, as we bounced up a gust of wind caught us and almost upended us. When the front wheels hit the ground and stayed there I breathed a sigh of relief. He did not park the aeroplane, he abandoned it. I leapt from the aeroplane and took off my flying helmet and my greatcoat. I donned my hat and walked around to the rear.  I heard retching and saw the lieutenant being violently sick. I saw the mechanics wandering over. I waited until he had finished and he began to turn.

He was pointing an accusing finger at me when he took in my uniform and my pips. The finger and the hand turned into a salute. “Sir!” I just stared at him and the mechanics behind him were grinning as they saluted. “Sorry sir if I had known it was an officer…”

“You would not have made such an ass of yourself?  I find that hard to believe, Lieutenant Carstairs. I am certain that you would have made just as big a fool of yourself even had you known. When you have helped these chaps to put your aeroplane in the correct place I will meet you in the adjutant’s office.”

The mechanics all saluted as I strode by.  “Good to have you back, Captain Harsker.”

“Lovely photograph sir.”

I smiled at the familiar faces.  They were not the cause of my ire. “Thank you.  Would one of you take my kitbag to my quarters when you have finished? No hurry.”

It was good to be back but this time my return was tinged with sadness. I had left with unfinished business and I knew that I would need to write a letter as soon as time allowed. I noticed, now that we were down on the ground, that the squadron must be flying as there was just one aeroplane standing forlornly at the far end of the field.  All the rest were gone.

Senior Flight Sergeant Lowery looked up and saluted as I entered. “Glad to see you back sir.  Things have been a bit hectic here.” Over his shoulder he shouted, “Captain Harsker’s back sir.”

Captain Marshall came out with a beaming smile on his face.  He shook my hand and then said, as he saw that he had shaken it rather forcefully, “Sorry, how is the wound?”

“Don’t worry Randolph it is fine.  I think they just gave me another week’s convalescence to be safe.”

“Yes it was damned unfortunate to have to call you back but there is an offensive coming up and the Colonel needed you here.” He glanced at Sergeant Lowery and said, “Come into the office.  Get us a cup of tea eh flight?”

“Sar.”

Once in his office I sat down and lit my pipe.  It helped me to think. Randolph pointed to the photograph of me and the King cut from the newspaper. It was pinned to the wall. “Good photograph by the way.  It did morale the world of good to see the King present you with the medal.” He pointed to my uniform. “They look splendid.”

I had been called back and I did not need pleasantries.  I needed to know the reason. “What’s up then?”

He stood and went to the map.  “As you know Verdun was a bit of a disaster for the French.  Well truth to tell it still is.  They are still fighting down there. The powers that be have decided that we should attack in this sector,” he pointed with his swagger stick, “the Somme, to relieve the pressure on our French allies. The offensive looks big.  There are thousands of troops moving into position and we have to keep the German aeroplanes away from the front. We would like the attack to be a complete surprise.”

“Have they any new aeroplanes yet or are they still relying on the Eindeckers?”

“A couple of Fokker biplanes, the D1 but we can handle them. It seems the DH2 and FE 2 are the only British aeroplanes which can handle them.”

“Any casualties?” It was a question I hated to ask but it was an important one.

“ One of the new boys from Gordy’s flight caught it. We are expecting his replacement soon.”

I gestured with my pipe, “The boy wonder is parking his aeroplane.”

“From your tone I take it you are not impressed with our new recruit?”

“He was my ride over.” I chuckled, “I was wearing a corporal’s greatcoat I had borrowed and he assumed I was his gunner.  I went along with it to gauge him.”

“And?”

“And I am glad that he is in Gordy’s flight. He was late to the airfield.  He had been out drinking all night.  He hadn’t planned his route.  He cannot fly in a straight line and he has no navigational skills whatsoever. He tried to fly to bloody Berlin! Apart from that he is perfect!”

Randolph laughed, “Well Gordy is the man to sort him out.”

“How has he been lately?”

Gordy had had a slight drinking problem. It had affected him adversely and the colonel had asked me to have a word with him. It had tested our friendship but he had improved and we had become firmer friends as a result.

“He seems fine now.  Every time he gets a letter from home he is a different man.”

“Aren’t we all?”

“Well if you pop along to see the colonel, he will be pleased to see you.” He nodded to the window. “I think I see our new pilot coming.  He does not look a happy camper!”

I went to the last office in the building and tapped on the door. “Come.”

Colonel Pemberton-Smythe was old school. He ran the squadron by the rules but he was a good commanding officer.  When his son had been gassed he had spent some time at home but, since his return, he had had renewed vigour. He beamed as I entered.  “Good to see you, Bill.” He held his hand out and I shook it. “Wound all healed?” I gave a shrug. “Yes, well we had no choice in the matter.  We are one of the few squadrons which can hold its own at the moment and we have a big push on the Somme.  It begins July the first.  It will make Loos look like a sideshow.”

“But will it succeed?” Loos had been successful but we had only gained a few miles of land.  The cost in human terms was appalling.

“Who is to say but we need to keep the skies clear of German aeroplanes. That is all that we can do; our job. We are doing better.  Some chap shot down that Immelmann fellow; the ace the newspapers in Germany were going on about but they have another ace now, Boelke and he is downing our chaps at an alarming rate. We know we are winning because they are on the defensive.   They intercept our chaps over No-Man’s land or their own lines and they never risk our guns.  With the winds from the west it means the pilots who crash behind enemy lines become prisoners, while the German downed air crew are rescued.  It is a difficult situation.  Still, as I said, our squadron only lost one pilot since you left.”

“I know it is only a couple of weeks but it seems longer.”

He gestured with his pipe at my ribbons. “What is the King like?”

“He seemed pleasant enough but he was only in the ward for fifteen minutes or so.  Just enough time to give me my medal, shake my hand and have a photograph taken.”

“Ah well one problem you may have now is that you are known as an ace.  Some of the Germans seem to like hunting our better pilots.  Seems damned unsporting to me but you should know this. You may find the enemy seeking you out once they know you are back in the air. I daresay they have intelligence chaps reading our newspapers just like we read theirs.”

“I see.” I shrugged.  I can’t see how it makes life harder.  As far as I was concerned every German was trying to kill me anyway.”

We both heard the throb of Rolls Royce engines. “Looks like the chaps are back. No rest for the wicked I am afraid, Bill.  You will be up in the air tomorrow.  It is the twenty seventh of June.  The big show kicks off in a day or so.  We need to drive the Hun from the skies.  Tomorrow we have to keep an umbrella of wings over our infantry.”

I could see from the look on his face that he was thinking about his son and the men he had fought alongside.  “We won’t let our lads down.  I saw enough of their injuries when I was in the hospital in Blighty. The nurses were like angels caring for them. We will become the angels in the skies and watch over them.”

I went to the field to watch my comrades land their aeroplanes.  As I passed Captain Marshall’s office I could hear Lieutenant Carstairs getting a ticking off from Randolph.  Young pilots had to learn. This was neither a public school nor a university.  The air war was far more brutal and unforgiving than the newspapers made out.  If you read the reports we all had a lie in, flew for an hour or so, shot down a couple of German aeroplanes each and had a nice meal when we landed. The reality was that if we landed safely without losing an aeroplane we felt we had succeeded.

I noticed, as they landed, that a couple of the Gunbuses had suffered some damage. I counted just eight returning.  It was selfish of me I know but I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Johnny Holt and Freddie Carrick land safely. I recognised the rotund figure of Lumpy Hutton as he clambered from the front cockpit.  My gunner was safe. I looked astern and saw my old gunner, now a pilot, Charlie Sharp. With the new pilot and me we had just ten aeroplanes and no spare air crew. I could see this offensive being more difficult than Loos had been.

I waited until the pilots and gunners had checked their buses.  It would determine the work schedule.  I was lucky, I had no doubt that Lumpy would have been keeping an eye on our bus and we would just need an hour or so to make sure everything was as it should be.

They strolled over together.  I tapped out my pipe on the heel of my flying boots and put it in my pocket.  When they saw me Lumpy, Freddie and Johnny ran over to me.

Flight Sergeant Hutton looked delighted to see me. “Great to see you sir!” He turned to Lieutenant Holt, “Looks like you’ll need a new gunner Mr Holt.”

Johnny shook his head, ruefully, “I know Lumpy.  I hope you will give him some of your sage advice.”

“Of course sir.” Lumpy looked at me.  “I’ll get changed out of my flying gear and check the bus sir.”

“Get something to eat first.  There’s no rush.”

Freddy pointed to Major Leach, “We have been in the major’s flight.” He hesitated, “But we will be glad to be back with you sir.”

“And I am glad that you are both in one piece.”

“It has been a little hairy sir but, from what we hear, we are having an easier time of it than many others.”

“You are right.  I think we have got the best of the aeroplanes here.  They might look a bit strange but they have the beating of the Fokker.”

“Yes sir and they have a new one; a biplane. It is a little faster than us at lower altitude but it turns better than the Eindecker.”

“You are seasoned pilots now boys.  I am lucky to have you in my flight.”

They went to the mess with their heads held high.  Major Leach waved as he and Sergeant Sharp passed.  “We’ll catch you later, Bill.  We have to do some paperwork now.  Charlie here has just made Second Lieutenant.”

“Well done Charlie!”

“Thank you sir.”

Ted and Gordy had crept up behind me and both of them slapped me hard on the back, “Well done Captain, sir! A medal from the King!”

If the day ever came when my success started to give me an ego my two friends would soon puncture that particular balloon. “You know I could have you two on a charge of assaulting a senior officer.”

Gordy rubbed his hands, “Lovely stuff.  A week in my tent waiting for a court martial would be just the job.”

“And now you are reminding me of my court martial, I don’t know with friends like you two who needs enemies!”

They both put their arms around me and Ted said, “Seriously it is good to have you back.  We lost two more new pilots today.  It is getting serious.”