SE5a vs Albatros D V Western Front 1917-18 (Osprey Duel 20)

Western Front 1917-18

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR AND ILLUSTRATORS A resident of Leesburg, Virginia, JON GUTTMAN is currently research editor for Weider History Publications. Specialising in World War I aviation, he has written eleven titles in the past including the popular Balloon-Busting Aces of World War I in Osprey's Ai rcraft of the Aces series.

Berkshire-based HARRY DEMPSEY is a talented profile artis1 fighter aircraft of World War I. He has illustrated all of Ospre~ of the Aces titles to date. Harry completed the three-views fl Born in Leicestershire in 1964, MARK POSTLETHWAITE devel passion for aviation history, and first worked as a photograF

ALBATROS DV Western Front 1917-18

his attention solely to artwork. He is greatly distinguished it quality and accuracy of his work, and became the youngest of the Guild of Aviation Artists in 1991. He is a valued Ospre~ contributed to more than 80 of its books. Mark completed t~ artwork for this volume.

JIM LAURIER is a native of New England and lives in New Ha He attended Paier School of Art in Hamden, Connecticut, frot and since he graduated with honours, he has been working the field of Fine Art and Illustration. He has been commissio, US Air Force and has aviation paintings on permanent display at the Pentagon. Jim completed the cockpit views and the cover artwork for this volume.

JON GUTTMAN

First published in Great Britain in 2009 by Osprey Publishing,

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ONTENTS

Page layour by Ken Vail Graphic Design, Cambridge, UK Index by Alison Worthington Typeset in ITC Conduit and Adobc Garamond Maps by BounFord.com

Originated by PDQ Digital Media Solutions, Suffolk, UK Printed in China through Bookbuilders

091011121310987654321

Int roduction

4

Chronology

8

Design and Development

10

Technical Specifications

25

The Strategic Situation

37

The Combatants

43

Combat

54

Statistics and Analysis

70

Aftermath

76

Further Reading

78

Index

80

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Alex Imrie, Alex Revell and Greg Van Wyngarden, as well as the !are \Xlalter C. Daniel,

FOR A CATALOGUE OF ALL BOOKS PUBLISHED BY OSPREY MILITARY AND AV1ATION PLEASE CONTACT:

Gwilym H. Lewis, Robert Leslie Chidlaw-Roberts and

Osprey Direct, cia Random House Distribution Cenrer,

Hans-Georg von der Osten For their assistancc in

400 Hahn Road, Westminster, M021 157

preparing this volume.

Email: [email protected]

Cover Art Osprey Direct, The Book Service Ltd, Distribution Centre, Colchester Road, Fraring Green, Colchester, Essex, C07 7DW E-mail: [email protected]

The third SE 5a-equipped unit, No_ 84 Sqn, had been

wwwoosprcypublishing.col11

and five aeroplanes From his A Flight atracked four

in action for JUSt two weeks when, on 31 Octobcr 1917,

Capt Kennerh M_ St C. G_ Leask in Vickers-built B579 German aircraFt, only to be jumped by 12 more. In rhe ensuing melee Leask and 2Lt John Steele Ralston, in B4853, were credired with scnding down Alban·os 0 Vs

German ranks

French ranks

USAS ranks

RFC/RAF ranks

Rittmeister [Rittm]

Cavalry Captain

Cavalry Captain

Cavalry Captain

out of conrrol over Mcnin at 1540 Ins. This was Leask's rhird vicrory of an cvenrual eighr and Ralston's sccond of twelve. Howcver, 2Lrs Edward W. Powell and Georgc R.

Hauptmann [Hptm]

Capitaine

Captain

Army Captain

Gray Failed ro rcturn. Powell may have been killed by

Oberleutnant [Obit)

Lieutenant

First Lieutenant

Lieutenant

Lrn Heinrich Bongarrz ofJastfl36, who claimed an SE 5a

Leutnant (Ltn)

Sous-Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Second Lieutenant

Offizierstellvertreter [OffzSt]

Adjutant

Warrant Officer

Warrant Officer

Feldwebel

Sergent-Chef

Master Sergeant

Master Sergeant

Vizefeldwebel [Vzfw]

Mareeha I-des-Logis

Sergeant 1st Class

Sergeant 1st Class

-

-

Sergeant

Sergent

Sergeant

Sergeant

Unteroffizier [Uffz]

Caporal

Corporal

Corporal

Gefreiter [Gfrl

Brigadier

Private 1st Class

Private 1st Ctass

sourh of Roulers ar 1610 Ins (German time). This was his third vierary of the day, and his 20th in an overall tally of

33_ Gray had dived on Albatros 0 Vs of jasta 'Boelcke', whosc commander, Lrn d R Erwin Bohme, climbed to conFronr him, then eluded four or five attacks by Gray. 'At rhe same rime he gradually began ro lose height', Bohme nored, 'and ar an opportunc moment I turncd the tables on him'. The Germans recovered SE 5a B544

~

roughly inract, but Gray died of his wounds, having been rhe 21sr of24 vicrories for Bohme prior ra his own fiery

Flieger [Flgr]

Soldat

Private

Private

demise on 29 November 1917. (Artwork by Jim Laurier)

INTRODUCTION Amid the ongoing quest for aerial superiority during World War 1, the late spring of 1917 saw two competing attempts to refine proven designs. The Royal Aircraft Factory SE 5a incorporated improvements to the original SE 5 airframe, along with an extra 50hp, to produce a fast and reliable 'ace-maker' that proved to be a formidable adversary for German fighter pilots right through to the end of the war. The Albatros D V, a sleeker-looking development of the deadly D III of 'Bloody April' notoriety, was a more disappointing design, for it suffered a rash of lower wing failures once in service at the front. The SE 5 that entered combat during April 1917 was a curious mix of conservatism and misguided attempts at innovation. Structurally, its airframe was little different from the prewar Bleriot Experimental BE 2, though its overalilayour certainly made a difference in combat. The SE 5 was the first British single-seat fighter to mount two machine guns, although the Sopwith Camel was the first to mount twin weapons. Hedging its bets, the Royal Aircraft Factory combined a synchronised Vickers machine gun in the fuselage with a Lewis firing over the propeller arc by means of a Foster mount on the upper wing - a versatile arrangement, perhaps, but one that found little favour in the frontline. And although the pilot had an adjustable armoured seat and a semi-enclosed cockpit, these refinements only added weight and drag at the expense of performance. Fortunately for the RFC, one of the new fighter's recipients, Capt Albert Ball, did more than complain about its shortcomings. An inveterate tinkerer, he set about changing what he thought was wrong with the scout, and many of his custom touches were incorporated in improved versions of the SE 5 just as No 56 Sqn was blooding the fighter in France. Further improvements based on field experience, combined with an 4

additional 50hp, subsequently turned the reasonably good SE 5 into the superb SE 5a.

By the late summer of 1917, SE 5as from Nos 56 and 60 Sqn were starting to show the fighter's potential over the Western Front, and more units were either forming or in the process of being re-equipped with the scout, powered either by French- or British-made variants of the geared 200hp Hispano Suiza 8B engine or the directdrive 200hp Wolsleley W4A Viper. These joined Sopwith Pups and Camels, AlRCO DH 5s, Nieuport sesquiplanes and Bristol F 2B two-seat fighters on a succession of offensive patrols (OPs) into German territory. Restricted only by weather, these flights seemed to lack any purpose other than to lay claim to the sky they currently occupied. This policy, promulgated by the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) high command under Maj Gen Hugh Montague Trenchard, was intended to maintain high morale among the British while downgrading it among the Germans. Such an attitude was apt for the general Allied trend of 1917, marked by a series of offensives on the Western Front that sought to achieve the breakthrough that would win the war.

SE 5 MB50 shows the custom touches applied by Capt Albert Ball, No. 56 Sqn's A Flight commander prior to the unit heading to France in April 1917. Many of these modifications were subsequently incorporated into production SE 5s to the type's betterment. Ball went on to be the first of about a hundred pilots to 'make ace' flying the SE 5/5a during the course of World War I. (Alex Revell]

In direct contrast, Germany's stance on the Western Front throughout 1917 was primarily defensive, thus containing, or at least limiting, Allied gains there, while focusing its offensive effort towards knocking the eastern threats posed by Rumania and Russia out of the conflict. The German Jagdstafflen, or fighter squadrons, acted well in line with that strategy, employing tactics that sought to challenge Allied intrusions on their terms with a minimal expenditure in fuel, materiel and trained personnel - resources that were all far more limited for the Central Powers than for their Allied adversaries.

5

In the aurumn of 1917, efforrs ro reinforce rhe Albarros 0 V's srrucrure and increase rhe compression and ourput of irs Mercedes engine produced rhe 0 Va, which somewhar, bur never fully, alleviared rhe flaws inrrinsic ro its sesquiplane wing configurarion. Neverrheless, pending deliveries in quanriry of rhe superb new Fokker

o VII in rhe spring of 1918, Albarrosen were rhe mosr numerically imporrant fighrers available when the Germans launched their final offensive on 21 March 1918. And in spite of rhe scour's shorrcomings, German racrics and piloring skill meanr rhar rhe Albarros 0 Va remained a dangerous foe rhar aviarors flying rhe SE 5a dismissed ar rhei r peril. A good many Germans who mastered the Alban'os 0 V and managed ro survive rhe fighring over rhe Somme and Flanders in 1917 wenr on ro rruly excel when rhe Fokker 0 VII arrived in 1918. Ir is of more than a lirtle significance rhough, rhar even in rhe new Fokker, rhey had rheir hands jusr as full rackling rhe srill-formidable SE 5a as rhey had had when flying rhe old Albatros. Viewed in hisroric hindsighr, borh rhe SE 5a and Alban'os 0 V share an image as rhe workhorses of rheir respecrive fighrer arms during rhe second half of 1917, dominaring rhe growing aerial encounrers of rhar period as rheir unfairly more famous srablemares, the Sopwirh Camel and Fokker Dr I rriplane, would rhose of rhe firsr half of 1918. If rhe aircrafr were relarively prosaic, however, posreriry's remembrance of rhe

An evocative - and suitably colourful - line·up of 12 Albatros 0 Vs and two 0 Ills assigned to Jasta 5 at Boistrancourt in late July

Albatros 0 Vs of Jasta 3 at Wyngene a.erodrome in the winter of 1917-18. The

SE 5a and rhe Albarros are richly coloured by rhe men who flew rhem. As renowned

markings worn by the scouts

as Achilles, Oiomedes, Hecror and Aeneas - ar leasr ro Brirons - are rhe names of

seem to have been strictly personal, including 0.4460/17

While SE 5a pilors on OPs faced problems endemic ro carrying our rheir missions

Alberr Ball, Jimmy McCudden, Arrhur P. F. Rhys Davids and Richard Aveline

in enemy rerrirory, such as rhe prevailing wind usually being againsr rhem on rhe

Maybery, as well as Manfred von Richrhofen, Erwin Bohme, Frirz Rumey and rhe

by Ltn Joahim Rogalla von

rerurn leg of their flighrs, rheir foes in Alban'os 0 Vs were primarily engaged in

once-anonymous, but oursranding, Albarros pilor rhar McCudden immorralised as

Bieberstein, and the 'M'·

working around rhe inherenr shorrcomings of rheir own aircraft. All orher facrors

'Greenrail', Orro Konnecke. The Albarros, for rhar marrer, has enjoyed a lirerally

Hilde in the foreground, flown

marked machine at left, probably camouflaged in

1917. The third aeroplane from

being equal, rhe SE 5a was intrinsically rhe berter aeroplane. Alrhough less

colourful image rhanks ro rhe kaleidoscope of unir and individual schemes rhar rhe

the foreground, with a green

manoeuvrable rhan rhe Albarros, ir was faster in level flight and excelled in a dive,

Germans gave rhem. Aside from a few shorr-lived and officially disapproved-of forays

and mauve, flown by Ltn Karl

whereas rhe 0 V pilor had always ro be mindful of rhe very real possibiliry of his

inro similar decor, rhe SE 5/5a's colourful repurarion lies not in its appearance, bur in

Menckhoff. [Greg

single-spar lower wing rearing loose.

rhe heroic deeds perperrared by rhe occupants of irs cockpit.

VanWyngarden]

fuselage and red· bordered black and white chequers, as well as Jasta 5's red nose and green tail, trimmed in red, was flown by ace Vfw Otto Kbnnecke. (Greg VanWyngarden]

patches of olive green, brown

With their respecrive measures rhus raken, rhroughour rhe summer and aurumn of 1917, rhe SE 5a and Alban'os 0 V uni rs squared off for some of rhe year's mosr in rense aerial conresrs over such key Allied objectives as Messines Ridge, Ypres, Passchendaele and Cambrai. Thar rhe German Jagdfliegerconrinued ro rake rhe roll rhey did on the RFC ar thar rime was regarded - on borh sides - as a reflecrion of rheir skill and cunning, rarher rhan rhe qualiry of the aeroplane in which rhey had ro rake on all Allied comers. While rhe SE 5a shared rhe sky wirh a variery of other Brirish and French fighrer rypes, German pleas for an Albarros 0 V replacement resulred in it being joined by Pfalz 0 III biplanes and Fokker Dr I rriplanes from rhe aurumn of 1917. Neirher rype proved ro be enrirely sarisfacrory, however, with rhe Pfalz being judged more sluggish rhan rhe Albarros in aerial com bar and rhe rriplane slower. As a resulr of rhese shorrcomings, borh rypes were produced in numbers rhar supplemenred, rarher rhan

5

replaced, rhe 0 V

7.

..

,-

~.-

.. Kenworth~

.. .. .

and

..

.

• ••

.

• I

I

combat with jasta 2,

. t'

•.

'

..

demonstration of

.. t • •

..

~'.

..

..

Suiza 88 engine ROy'al Aircraft

.. . .

• '4' •

.. I..

stood at 32 when he was shot 1 June by Ltn Hans Werner of Jasra 14, flying a Fok [Greg Va Wyngarden)

...

and gets first order

..

.

•• I. .

I

'It's a pixie" Maj Frank W. Goodden declared to Henry P. Folland after his first flight in SE 5 prototype A4561 on 22 November 1916. Probably seen at Hounslow in January 1917, A4681 reveals continuing development in the form of a modified windscreen and exhausts. [Greg VanWyngarden]

DESIGN AND DEVELOPMENT

When the first 21 French-made Hispano-Suiza 8A engines were delivered to the RFC on 20 September, most were slated for installation in license-built SPAD VIIs, but two were used to power the first and second SE 5 prototypes, A4561 and A4562. On 28 November the Royal Aircraft Factory received its first example of the new

Even while the AIRCO DH 2 pusher scout was helping to end the 'Fokker Scourge'

geared 200hp Hispano-Suiza 8B, which it subsequently installed in the third prototype, A4563, thereby creating the first SE 5a. SE 5 A4562 broke up during a test flight on 28 January 1917, killing Maj Goodden. Simple modifications corrected the aeroplane's structural problems, however, and the first production SE 5, A4845, cleared its final inspection on 2 March

by countering Germany's first fighters to be equipped with synchronised machine guns in the summer of 1916, Britain's RFC was aware of the ultimate superiority in performance that tractor biplanes such as the Bristol and Sopwith Scouts had over a

1917. The first production batch of SE 5s did not make a promising impression on their pilots, who complained of poor lateral control - a shortcoming that was alleviated somewhat, but never entirely, by shortening the wingspan and reducing the

pusher. The latter design would always be hampered by its drag-producing latticework structure of struts and wires that held the empennage aft of the engine and propeller. By the time the RFC received its first SPAD VII to evaluate on 9 September 1916, the Royal Aircraft Factory at Farnborough was engaged in designing its own Hispano-

rake of the wingtips in later production SE 5s and SE 5as. Early SE 5s featured an overhead gravity tank, a large half-canopy that was soon dubbed 'the greenhouse' and a mechanism that could raise or lower the pilot's seat. Armament consisted of one 0.303-in. Vickers machine gun faired into the upper left side of the fuselage in front of the cockpit, synchronised by means of a new

SE 5/Sa

Suiza-powered fighter with a synchronised forward-firing machine gun. In fact, company engineers John Kenworthy, Henry P. Folland and Maj Frank W. Goodden already had two ideas in the works as early as June of that year. One, designated the FE 10 (Farman Experimental No 10), was an impractical-looking contraption with the pilot and his machine gun perched in front of the propeller in a nacelle braced to the undercarriage and upper wing in a manner similar to that used by the gunner of the SPAD A2, the unsuccessful ancestor of the SPAD VII. The other design, designated SE 5 (Scouting Experimental No 5), was similar in overall layout, but with the engine in front and the pilot seated aft of the wings essentially a smaller, more compactly proportioned single-seat version of the Royal Aircraft Factory BE 2c. Not surprisingly, the conventional design was selected for further development, but the FE 1O's vertical tail surfaces were retained in lieu of the 10

smaller fin and rudder originally conceived for the SE 5.

CC Fire Control Timing Gear. This system had been developed by Maj George B. Colley and Rumanian George Constantinesco, who had come to Britain in 1910. His 'Theory of Sonics' lay the foundation of continuum mechanics - the transmission of power through liquids, gases and solids by means of vibrations or pressure pulses. The CC gear applied Constantinesco's theory to a hydraulic interrupter gear, which initially used oil. This early version, introduced in the de Havilland DH 4 in March 1917 and subsequently used in the SE 5, was prone to frequent failure. However, a later development, using a mixture of90 percent paraffin (kerosene) and ten percent oil, eventually proved to be more reliable, and in fact superior to the mechanical interrupter gear that had predominated on both sides of the frontline before it. For the time being, however, the Royal Aircraft Factory hedged its bets by giving the SE 5 a second weapon in the form of a 0.303-in. Lewis gun on a Foster mount

11

LEFT A close·up of Capt Albert Ball in his modified SE 5 A4B50 shows his Avro windscreen and the complete absence of the Vickers gun forward of the cockpit. Echoing Ball's initial impression of the fighter, future ace Cecil Lewis later declared, 'The SE Sa as the Royal Aircraft Factory turned it out was an abortion. It was the pilots of No. 56 Sqn who turned it into a practical fighter.' (Alex Revell)

BELOW Also photographed at London SE Ss of No. 56 Sqn are

upper wing and insralled long SPAD-type exhausr pipes co rhe engine. Finally, an

Colney on 7. April 1917., Lt Cecil A. Lewis poses beside SE 5

lined up at London Colney

early French Nieupon lIs and RFC Nieuport 17s. This made rhe SE 5 rhe firsr single-

cxrra Lewis gun was insralled, firing downwards rhrough rhe floor of rhe cockpir. Ball

aerodrome before departing

sear Brirish fighrer designed co use rwo - albeir nor rwin - machine guns.

nored rhar his alrerarions resulred in a considerable improvemenr in performance,

example of the first

alrhough he srill considered rhe SE 5 co be 'a rotten machine'.

production batch fitted with

for France on 7. April 1917. (Imperial War Museum 056015)

12

on rhe upper wing rhar could fire over rhe propeller, similar co rhe arrangemenr on

The first SE 5s were assigned co No. 56 Sqn under Maj Richard Graham Blomfield,

MB53, which was a typical

the 'half-greenhouse'

a new unir rhar neverrheless had rhe benefir of a handpicked cadre of experienced

Nor all of Ball's modificarions mer wirh RFC approval, wirh rhe obliquely mounred

pilors, including flighr leaders Caprs Alben Ball, Cyril M. Crowe and Henry Meinrjes. The mosr famous ofBlomfield's 'old hands' was 32-viccory ace Ball, an eccenrric bur

downward-firing Lewis gun deemed co be a bad idea. The Royal Aircrafr Faccory adopred many of rhe ace's revisions for furure producrion aircrafr, however, and rhe

brilliantly aggressive loner whose exploirs as a Nieupon pilor in No. 60 Sqn were

SE 5 was rhe better for ir. The undercarriage wheels were also moved furrher forward

fame for his classic book

already legendary in the RFC. Ball had high expectarions for the SE 5, bur afrer giving rhe firsr procotype a ren-minure resr flighr on 23 November 1916 he remarked wirh

and rhe exrernal overwing tank replaced by inrernally firred fuel and warer gravity

Sagittarius Rising, as a 1938

tanks behind rhe leading edge of rhe upper wing cenrre secrion. The latter was also

Academy Award-winning

biner regrer rhar rhe new scour had 'rurned our a dud'.

srrengrhened and covered wirh plywood co wirhsrand rhe Lewis gun's recoil.

On 7 April 1917, 13 SE 5s of No. 56 Sqn landed ar Ven Galanr aerodrome, joining

Snow and bad wearher delayed resr flying in rhe modified aircrafr unril 13 April.

No. 19 Sqn's SPAD VIIs and rhe Pups of No. 66 Sqn. The unir and irs new fighters reached rhe fronr ar rhe srarr of rhe Bartle ofArras, which was a Brirish offensive meanr

Thar anernoon, Ball learned rhar Trenchard had aurhorised him a Nieuporr for his personal use, alrhough he srill had co

co serve as a diversion for French Gen Roben Nivelle's push, which would be launched

fly his SE 5 on squadron parrols. Ball

along rhe Aisne on 16 April. Ball had made no secrer of his dislike for rhe SE 5, and when rhe RFC's commander

Sourh African Capr Meinrjes flew

Maj Gen Trenchard visired rhe secror, rhe ace flew co Le Hameau and enrreared him

Nieuporr 17 Scour B1522 in from

co replace rhe new fighrers with Nieuporrs. Trenchard lenr him a symparheric ear and

Candas, while Ball broughr back his

Ball wenr away convinced rhar rhe SE 5s would be replaced. Nevenheless, by then rhe

modified SE 5.

windscreen. Lewis would score eight victories, all in M853, and went on to greater

screenplay writer and a founding father of the BBC, among other things. (Jon Guttman)

was delighred, and rhar evening

ace had already taken the liberty of modifYing his personal machine, A4850, while

No. 56 Sqn desparched irs firsr

waiting for No. 56 Sqn's disembarkation orders at London Colney in March. Ball replaced the 'half-greenhouse' with a small Avro windscreen, which reduced

operarional parrol ar 1018 hrs on 22 April, rhe pilors' enrhusiasm being

drag and gave rhe pilot better access co the Lewis gun. He removed the adjusrable

somewhar rempered by orders rhar

armoured sear and replaced ir with a board unril a simpler seat could be insralled. The

they were on no accounr co cross the

lower slide on rhe Lewis' Fosrer mounr was lengrhened by rwo inches co make ir easier

frontlines. Ball led his A Flight in

for rhe pilor co replace rhe ammunirion drums, and Ball discarded his synchronised

A4850, but Lt Gerald]. C. Maxwell

Vickers gun enrirely. He also removed rhe petto] and warer gravity ranks from rhe

developed engine trouble due to oil

13

Some of No. 56 Sqn's initial

machine's belly. Its pilot, Vfw Egert of Flieger AbteiLung (FLAbt) 7, retired in a steep dive,

complement gather for a

made a good landing and then aided his observer, Len Berger, who had suffered a severe neck wound.

photograph at London Colney prior to heading for France.

Meintjes led a five-aeroplane patrol at 1315 hrs that afternoon, but 30 minutes

Standing, from left to right, are Lt Gerald J. C. Maxwell, 2Lt

later Lt William B. Melville turned back with engine trouble and his SE 5, A4852,

William B. Melville, Lt Henry M.

overturned while landing. The rest of the flight chased a German two-seater south of

T. Lehmann, Lt Clarence R. W.

Lens but failed to bring it down. In the final sortie of the day, Ball led 2Lts Clarence

Knight, Lt Leonard M. Barlow

R. W. Knight and John O. Leach in search of enemy balloons, but they returned cmpty-handed at 1735 hrs.

and 2Lt Kenneth J. Knaggs. Seated, again from left to right, are Lt Cecil A. Lewis,

o ended the SE 5's first 48 hours in combat. Only the redoubtable Ball had shot

Lt John O. Leach, Maj Richard

anything down, but squadron morale was high nevertheless.

G. Blomfield, Capt Albert Ball

During one of several combats on the 24th, 2Lt Maurice A. Kay and Lt Leonard

and 2Lt Reginald T. C. Hoidge. [Greg VanWyngarden)

grave reads, 'Fallen in air

their attacks on two two-seaters. Aided by Crowe, they brought one aircraft down

battle for his fatherland,

Crowe, whose Vickers also jammed, and Kay subsequently engaged some red-marked seater over Adinfer, and although he fired three drums of ammunition into it at ranges OVERLEAF SE 5a B2 of Capt Geoffrey H. 'Beery' Bowman, No. 56 Sqn, based at Droglandt in December 1917 Born on 2 May 1891, Bowman had served in the Royal

as close as 150ft, the German managed to dive away. Another enemy aeroplane was seen

Although the results achieved in these early actions

at noon, but it was too far away to engage. 'Duke' Meintjes led C Flight on a second

had been disappointing for the unit, the SE 5s had

fruitless patrol that afternoon.

not done badly. Even Ball came to appreciate the

Capt Crowe led the squadron's first offensive patrol the next morning - St George's

modified fighter, and used it to add 11 victories in

Day - but encountered no enemy aeroplanes. Ball, meanwhile, had taken off alone in

his final total of 44. Inevitably, the squadron suffered

his Nieuport at 0600 hrs, hoping to catch German aircraft en route to or from their

its first fatality on 30 April when Kay was shot down

20 March 1916. He scored his

cast of Fresnoy by Len Edmund Nathanael ofJasta 5, after which Leach claimed to have despatched Kay's

first two victories in DH 2s

at which point he pulled up his wing-mounted Lewis gun and fired at his quarry from

killer in flames, in spite of Jasta 5 suffering no losses

with No. 29 Sqn, and was then

below. The first German eluded him, but Ball slipped under the second, fired half a

that day.

before joining the RFC on

posted to No. 56 Sqn as C

drum of Lewis into it and then pursued his diving prey until it crashed near the road

A far more serious blow to No. 56 Sqn's morale

added 11 victories to his tally

between Tilloy and Abancourt. Thus, No. 56 Sqn's first official victory was not scored

occurred on 7 May when it lost two flight

in SE 5 A8900 by 27 July. He

in its officially authorised aircraft!

commanders. After downing an Albatros D III in

Flight leader. Bowman had

downed another eight enemy

Ball dived on another Albatros C a few minutes later, but its pilot throttled back,

concert with Lts Melville, Cecil A. Lewis and Reginald

causing him to overshoot. With the tables thus turned, the German observer put 15

T. C. Hoidge, followed by a solo victory that probably

17 August and 23 December

bullets through Ball's lower wing spar. The ace dived away and landed safely at

wounded Len Wofgang Pliischow ofJasta 11, Meintjes

1917, but on Christmas Day

0845 hrs. The Nieuport's lower wing had to be replaced, however, forcing him to fly

was outmanoeuvred by a third D III pilot who shot

the fighter was written off in

his second patrol of the day in his unloved SE 5.

off the top of his control column and wounded him in

aeroplanes - all Albatros D Vs - in SE 5a B2 between

a crash whilst being flown

Taking off at 1045 hrs and climbing to 12,000ft, Ball attacked an Albatros C III over

the wrist. Meintjes dived away and managed to land

Adinfer, only to suffer a gun jam. After landing to clear his weapon at Le Hameau

near the headquarters of the British Army's 46th

aerodrome and then resuming his patrol, at 1145 hrs he sighted five Albatros DIlls

Division before passing out from loss of blood. The

of No. 41 Sqn, with whom he

over Sevigny and again dived, firing 150 rounds into one opponent, which fell out of

South African's score stood at eight, but he was out of

scored his last eight victories,

control and burst into flames before hitting the ground. The remaining four German

the war.

by fellow ace Capt Louis W. Jarvis. On 6 February 1918 Maj Bowman was made CO

for a total of 32. Retiring from

aircraft put some rounds into Ball's aeroplane, but he used the SE 5's superior diving

Soon after that Albert Ball went missing. Although

Bowman died on 25 March

speed to escape. Three-quarters of an hour later, Ball encountered yet another Albatros

early German propaganda credited his demise to Lrn

1970.

C III north of Cambrai, dived underneath it and fired half a drum of Lewis into the

Lothar von Richthofen - the Red Baron's brother in

the RAF in December 1941,

14

Ibatros D Ills with their Lewises in No. 56 Sqn's first, but hardly last, run-in with von Richthofen's Jasta 11.

aerodromes at Douai or Cambrai. Two Albau'os C two-seaters duly appeared at 8,000ft over Cambrai and Ball carried out his usual tactic - a dive and then a pullout,

Warwickshire Regiment

erected at the first SE 5 ace's

M. Barlow both suffered jammed Vickers but used their Lewis guns to press home

ncar Bellone, whose crew, from Flieger Abteilung (Artillerie) (FLAbt (A)) 224, survived. circulation failure and had to drop out. At 11,000ft, Ball spotted an Albatros two-

The original German marker

English flier Capt Albert Ball, Royal Flying Corps, killed 7 May 1917'. [Imperial War Museum 027283)

15

jasta 11 - in spire of Lorhar himself claiming a Sopwirh Triplane rhar day, German eyewirnesses reporred seeing Ball's SE 5 emerge from a rhick cloud ar 200fr, inverred, wirh irs propeller srarionary, before crashing. Once his body had been removed from the wreckage, Ball was found ro have a broken neck and leg, bur no buller wounds. It is possible rhar he had become disorienced in rhe cloud, and while flying inverred lhe Hispano-Suiza's large floar-chambered caburenor flooded rhe air incake, causing the engine ro srall. To rop off a melancholy day, 2Lr Roger M. Chaworrh-Musrers was shor down and killed by Lrn Werner Voss of Jasta 'Boelcke'. In rhe wake of7 May's serbacks, Ball's misgivings abour rhe SE 5 re-emerged wirh .1

vengeance. B Flighr leader Crowe was having none of rhar, however, for he

recognised rhe scour's posirive qualiries and irs poremial. Umil successors could be [()lind for Ball and Meincjes, Crowe led all rhree flighrs, helping ro keep irs pilors flghring while simulraneously rebuilding rheir confidence in rheir aeroplanes. The replacemem of rhe SE 5's 150hp Hispano-Suiza wirh a more powerful 200hp model, along wirh funher refinemencs, produced rhe SE 5a, rhe firsr of which began .Irriving ar No. 56 Sqn in June 1917. Fasr, rugged and almosr viceless, rhe SE 5a hecame a mainsray of rhe RFC and larer of rhe RAF over rhe Wesrern Fronc righr up unril rhe end of rhe war. The firsr unir ro employ ir, 'Fighring Fifry-Six' was also rhe mOsr successful, being credired wirh 401 vicrories by rhe end of rhe war and producing Ilumerous famous aces, rwo of whom - Alben Ball and James Thomas Byford IcCudden - were awarded Brirain's highesr milirary decOl·arion, rhe Vicroria Cross.

ALBATROS D V Si nce rhe summer of 1915, Germany's firsr single-sear fighrers (Fold