The next few paragraphs will show how this manœuvre struck one of the pilots at this time:
“60 Squadron R.F.C.,
“B.E.F., France.
“July 1917.“The tennis-court we made three months ago is now in topping condition, so we decided to get up a tournament amongst ourselves. Yesterday we drew lots for partners. The unlucky lad who drew me is a ‘coloured troop,’ that is he hails from South Africa. He is quite good at the ‘Willies,’[24] and so I think we have got a fair chance. I expect you wonder where all these weird names come from. They are invented by one of our flight commanders, who is also a ‘coloured troop’ and one of the leading lights of the squadron. All jobs are washed out to-day as the weather is ‘dud,’ so two of us are going over this afternoon to the village near-by to purchase articles of furniture for the ‘Hôtel de Commerce.’
“You will be pleased to hear that we are getting a new kind of grid. It is supposed to be a good deal faster than the Hun, and can dive to 300 miles an hour, so I’m told. We shall probably have a quiet time while we are getting used to them, and only do ‘line patrols’ for the first fortnight or so. A French ‘Ace’[25] landed here to-day; he says the Huns are getting a pretty bad time down south. Jolly glad I’m not a Hun airman these days, with men up against me like some of our chaps. Most of them are fairly old hands at the game now, and we are really beginning to properly annoy our friends across the way. The work has been fairly hard lately: two patrols in the morning, one generally at dawn and the other about noon, with ‘wireless interruption’ in the afternoon. The latter is rather a strenuous job. This is how we work it: When a Hun two-seater begins to register on any part of our front, a telephone message, giving his height and locality, is immediately sent through to the wireless squadron. Each scout squadron in the wing takes it in turn. As soon as the Recording Officer[26] receives the message, he sounds a horn. Three of us who are standing by in readiness immediately jump into our machines, and the leader gets hold of the position and height of the Hun. Then we push off as quickly as possible to the lines, and a sort of ‘hide-and-seek’ begins. We try if possible to hide in the clouds and approach the Hun when he is off his guard. He, on the other hand, departs hurriedly into Hunland when he spots us, and as soon as we go he comes back to carry on his job. We then turn on him again, but he is off like a flash, and so it goes on until the next three machines relieve us. It is really quite amusing at times, and, although we do not often bring our man down, we give him such a devil of a time that he hasn’t much of it to spare for his companions on the ground. Our ‘stunt merchant’[27] is good at this game, and continues to add to his score, seldom coming back without firing his red light. He works by himself a lot now, preferring to surprise the Hun by hiding rather than by trying to get him in a scrap. Wish I could do the same. I always feel so fagged after a patrol, that I haven’t got the energy or the patience to sit up in the clouds waiting for a chance to bag a ‘lone Hun.’
“You remember the petrol tank which was so shot up the time I was brought down? Well, I am having it made into a topping inkstand. The souvenirs are coming in in fine style, and I hope to have quite a good collection by the time I see dear old ‘Blighty’ again.”
After the battle had died down the sorely tried pilots were given, whenever possible, one day’s rest in three, and the following letter shows that the device was appreciated:
“60 Squadron R.F.C.,
“B.E.F., France.
“June 1917.“It is funny hearing the war again after being on leave so long. We had quite a good crossing, although I had a deuce of a time getting on to the boat at Folkestone. The silly ass of a porter had carted all my baggage on board, including the leave warrant, which was in my British-warm pocket. I had to persuade the A.M.L.O.[28] I wasn’t a Hun spy, and, after a long discussion, he let me on.
“The Major seemed pleased to have me back, and they all had great stories to tell about our ‘stunt merchant,’[29] who had been putting up a jolly good show by bringing down umpteen[30] Huns. His star turn was the shooting up of an aerodrome. He started off at dawn by himself and arrived over the aerodrome he had planned to attack. Finding that there was nothing doing here, he pushed off to look for trouble elsewhere. Suddenly he saw the hangars of another aerodrome. He attacked these with much gusto, and when the Huns came up to do him down, he crashed two of them and drove another into the trees. He also managed to flatten out a large number of mechanics and put pukka wind up the rest. You can imagine how the fat old Huns ran, as nothing like this had ever happened to them before. I believe his name has been put in for something big in the decoration line.
“It has been arranged that we get one day off in every three, which gives us a bit of spare time. We had ours off to-day. Four of us aviated over to Paris-Plage, near Etaples, this afternoon and tested our grids by firing into the sea. Afterwards we landed opposite the Hôtel Continental and left our machines there under a guard. We wandered about the village for a bit, and then started for home, stunting[31] about to amuse the populace, which had collected on the front to see us off. We all got home safely just as it was getting dark.”
CHAPTER IV
PASSCHENDALE AND THE NORTHERN BATTLES
The centre of interest had now (June 1917) shifted to the North. The Messines Ridge had been taken, though we heard nothing of it till it was over, and many of the Hun Jagdstaffeln, as their scout squadrons were called, had moved up to Flanders.
On July 22, Scott, who had been wounded in the arm a few days before, was promoted wing commander and sent to the XI or Army Wing of the 2nd Brigade allotted to the 2nd Army in the Ypres sector. C. K. Cochrane-Patrick, D.S.O., M.C., who had been doing brilliantly in 23 Squadron on Spads, succeeded to the command of 60, who were at that time being re-equipped with 150 h.p. S.E.5s, this being the newest type of scouts, as the Nieuports were by then rather out of date.