13 November 1917 – Fall and Wood

Today, a flight from 9 Squadron RNAS were out on a high altitude offensive patrol in their Sopwith Camels when they came across an enemy patrol. The Flight Commander Flight Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Arthur William Wood attacked three Albatross Scouts. The rearmost machine was shot down. They followed the aircraft down, and saw it crash in the floods, hit a fence and turn over on its nose, partly upside down.

An hour later, after returning to replenish his ammunition, Flight Commander Fall attacked an Albatross two-seater, it was last seen at 500 feet spinning on its back completely out of control. For this action and another victory earlier in November he was subsequently awarded the DSC for the third time (the only Canadian to do so).
Joe Fall was the son of a farmer who was rejected from the army due to a childhood head injury.

On 23 August 1915 he was accepted as a candidate for the Royal Naval Air Service. When Canadian authorities abandoned support for a flying school in Canada, Fall left Canada on 12 November 1915 to be trained in England. By late 1916, he was flying the Sopwith Pup in combat with 3 Naval Squadron. He then joined the Montreal School of Flying, but as it had no aircraft he took a preliminary flying training course at Dayton, Ohio with the Stinson School of flying. He then paid his own passage to England and applied to join the Royal Navy. He was accepted and reported to the Admiralty on November 30th 1915. He was able to deceive the naval medical branch. He later said:

“When they asked me if I had any bodily injuries, I said no. They didn’t ask me anything about head injuries and I didn’t offer anything.”

During the interview Joe mentioned he had already taken some flight training and the Navy put him in the Royal Naval Air Service (RNAS). He spent almost a year in training and finally went to the front in October 1916. He served with various bomber formations before joining 3 Squadron RNAS in February 1917, transferring to 9 Squadron RNAS in September 1917. At this point he has claimed 32 victories.

In a service dominated by Canadians, Wood was unusual in being an Englishman from Bradford. He joined the RNAS in October 1916, joining 9 Squadron RNAS in September 1917. This was his 10th victory.

27 July 1917 – Belgian coast barrage

Following the attack on 4 June 1917 on Ostend the weather conditions provided no suitable opportunity for a renewal of the bombardments. Instead, Vice-Admiral Bacon decided to reinstitute the Belgian coast barrage consisting of a twenty-three mile line of net mines, supplemented by deep minefields, parallel with the Belgian coast between Zeebrugge and Ostend.

Three days ago on 24 July, the ships began to assemble, and air patrols were maintained, from 1700 until dark, over the Dunkirk Roads, but no German aircraft appeared.

The work to put the barrage in place began on 25 July and lasted until its completion today. During this time there were patrols by formations of five to seven Sopwith Pups or Camels to protect the ships against attack from the air.

On the evening of the 25 July a German seaplane, which appeared over the Fleet, was driven off and eventually shot down on the sea by Sopwiths of No. 4 Squadron.

William Hargrove Chisam

On the evening of 26 July, there was a clash between a patrol of Camels from 3 Naval Squadron and a formation of Albatros fighters, with the loss of one aeroplane to each side. Flt Sub-Lieutenant William Hargrove Chisam, had the engine of his Camel (B3805) disabled and landed on beach east of Coxyde Bains.

On 27 July the enemy attempted an attack on the ships with four torpedo-carrying seaplanes, and one fighting seaplane as escort, Five Sopwith Camels from 3 Naval Squadron were on patrol – Flight Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Harold Francis Beamish, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Aubery Beauclerk Ellwood, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Louis Drummond Bawlf and Flight Sub-Lieutenant James Alpheus Glen. They attacked the formation and scattered it forcing the German pilots to turn back to their base. One of the enemy seaplanes crashed in the sea off Ostend.

Alexander MacDonald Snook

Around the same time, a Gotha on its way to bomb the Fleet was attacked by a patrol from 4 Naval Squadron including Flight Commander Alexander MacDonald Shook with Flight Sub-Lieutenant John Ellis Langford Hunter and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Bailey. They attacked at long range drove off the Gotha.

23 May 1917 – Back to normal

18 Squadron RFC were escorted by 3 Naval Squadron on a photo reconnaissance mission at around 1300.

Giles Noble Blennerhasset

They were attacked by seven aircraft from Jasta 5. 2nd Lieutenant David Marshall and 2nd Lieutenant Giles Noble Blennerhasset (in FE2b 7003) from 18 Squadron and Flight Sub-Lieutenant William Edward Orchard from 3 Naval Squadron claimed an Albatros Scout crashed east of Eswars.

On the other foot, 2nd Lieutenant Wilfred Ferguson MacDonald and Lieutenant Frank Charles Shackell from 18 Squadron were shot down in their FE2b A5502 by Leutnant Werner Voss. They crashed in trenches and were both killed.

3 Naval Squadron pilots also made three further claims – Flight Sub-Lieutenant James Alpheus Glen, Flight Commander Lloyd Samuel Breadner, and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall.

This was Giles Blennerhasset’s last victory as he went off to train as a pilot and spent the rest of the war on home defence duty. His log book is available to view at http://www.europeana1914-1918.eu/el/contributions/3348#prettyPhoto.

1 May 1917 – 18 and 8

C Flight from 8 Naval Squadron left this morning to escort an 18 Squadron mission. Near Izel, 18 Squadron’s FE’s were threatened by 5 enemy scouts but these were chased off by two of the flight, Flight Lieutenant Charles Dawson Booker and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Edward Duncan Crundall.

Donald Mitchell Shields

Following this, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Donald Mitchell Shields in Sopwith Triplane N5434 found himself alone and attacked a enemy two seater. He was then in turn attacked by seven enemy aircraft from Jasta 4. After a 15 minute fight his controls were shot away by Oberleutnant Kurt-Bertram von Döring. Shields crashed in no-mans-land near Vimy breaking his leg and dislocating shoulder. His aircraft was shelled and he hid in a shell hole until rescued the next morning.

Edmund Daniel Roach

Also lost during the fight was Flt Sub-Lieutenant Edmund Daniel Roach In Sopwith Triplane N5474. Kurt Wolff from Jasta 11 claimed the victory.

18 Squadron escorted by the remainder of 8 Naval Squadron fought their way back to the lines. Three crews claimed to have driven down enemy aircraft:

• Lieutenant Charles Gerschel Shaumer and Lieutenant Frank Charles Shackell
• Lieutenant Charles Parkinson and Lieutenant John Trafford Anglin
• 2nd Lieutenant Albert Critchley and 2nd Class Air Mechanic W G Jones

Another aircraft was also claimed by Flight Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall from 8 Naval Squadron and 2nd Lieutenant Marcus Michael Kaizer and Sergeant F Russell from 18 Squadron.

11 April 1917 – 3 Naval Squadron hit back

JST Fall

Later in the day a bombing attack on Cambrai was carried out by five BE2s from 4 Squadron RFC, with an escort of Sopwith Pups from 3 (Naval) Squadron and SPADs from 23 Squadron RFC.

On the way to the objective an Albatros two-seater which unhesitatingly attacked was sent down in flames by a pilot from 3 (Naval) Squadron.

Over Cambrai, Albatros and Halberstadt fighters attacked the bombers. Flight Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall, reported as follows:

“When B.E.’s were attacked at Cambrai I attacked H.A. head on at about 8,000feet. I saw many tracers going into his engine as we closed on one another, I half looped to one side of him, and then the H.A. dived with a large trail of blue smoke. I dived after him down to about 4,000 feet and fired about fifty rounds when he went down absolutely out of control. I watched him spinning down to about 1,000 feet, the trail of smoke increasing. I was immediately attacked by three more Albatros which drove me down to about 200 feet. We were firing at one another whenever possible, when at last I got into a good position and I attacked one from above and from the right. I closed on him, turning in behind him and got so close to him that the pilot’s head filled the small ring in the Aldis sight.  I saw three tracers actually go into the pilot’s head; the H.A. then simply heeled over and spun into the ground. The other two machines cleared off. I saw two other H.A. spinning down out of control and while fighting saw two B.E.’s being attacked by H.A. Having lost sight of all the other machines and being so low, I decided to fly home at about that height (200 feet). A company of German cavalry going east along a small road halted and fired on me; also several machine guns opened fire. After flying west for about five minutes I was again attacked by a Halberstadt single-seater and as he closed on me I rocked my machine until he was within fifty yards. I side-looped over him and fired a short burst at him. He seemed to clear off, and then attacked me again; these operations were repeated several times with a slight variation in the way I looped over him, until within about five minutes of crossing the lines (flying against a strong wind), when he was about 150 yards behind me, I looped straight over him and coming out of ‘the loop I dived at him and fired a good long burst. I saw nearly all the tracers go into the pilot’s back, just on the edge of the cockpit. He immediately dived straight into the ground. I then went over German trenches filled with soldiers, and I was fired on by machine-gun, rifles, and small field guns, in or out of range. There was a lot of small artillery firing and many shells bursting in and about the German trenches, somewhere in the vicinity of the Cambrai-Arras Road. I saw many small companies ‘of infantry and cavalry of about ten to fifty in each going east along small roads. I noticed no convoys or movement of artillery. I landed at the first aerodrome I saw, No.35 Squadron, R.F.C. My machine was badly shot about.”

Despite the efforts of 3 Naval Squadron, 2 BE2s were lost and one of the escorting SPADs. Lieutenant Francis Leslie Kitchin from 4 Squadron was shot down and killed in BE2d 5849 by Leutnant Adolf Schulte from Jasta 12. His colleague 2nd Lieutenant Frederick Matthews was hot down and taken prisoner by Leutnant Georg Friedrich Roth also from Jasta 12.

2nd Lieutenant Stephen Roche from 23 Squadron was shot down and taken prisoner in SPADVII A6690 by Leutnant Hermann Frommherz, from Jasta 2.

6 April 1917 – Heavy Losses

Today saw one of the heaviest days of fighting in the air of the war so far. The RFC suffered 28 aircraft shot down, whilst claiming to have destroyed 15 enemy aircraft and forced down another 16.

At this point in war, the British pusher types were now completely outclassed by the new German fighters.on 3 April, IV Brigade had ordered that FE2bs were not to be flown over the lines. However necessity entailed there use at the cost of many losses. For example, 57 Squadron equipped with the marginally better FE2d, was attacked by a number of Jastas and five of its aircraft shot down.

Thomas Frank Burrill

First, Jasta 5 got in on the act with Leutnant Heinrich Gontermann shooting down Lieutenant Thomas Frank Burrill and Private F Smith in FE2d A1959, and Edmund Nathanael shooting down 2nd Lieutenant Hugh Douglas Hamilton and Private E Snelling in FE2d A6388. All four were taken prisoner.

A few minutes later, Jasta 12 arrived and Leutnant Otto Splitberger shot down Lieutenant Douglas Clarkson Birch and Lieutenant Jonathan Keith Bousfield MC in FE2d A21, followed by Hauptmann Paul Hennig von Osterroht shooting down Captain Arthur Claud Wright and Private R Sibley in FE2d A1952. Birch and Bousefield were taken prisoner but Wright and Sibley limped back over the lines before crashing. Wright was wounded.

Finally, Lieutenant Raymond Terrance Brymer Schreiber and 2nd Lieutenant Martin Lewis in FE2d A22 –were shot down and taken prisoner by Obleutnant Adolf von Tutscheck from Jasta 2.

During the battle Oberleutnant Hans Berr and his wingmate Leutnant Paul Hoppe collided and were killed.

Theophilus Chater Vernon

On the plus side, a five-man patrol led by Flight Commander Theophilus Chater Vernon, 3 Naval Squadron were carrying out an offensive patrol in their Sopwith Pups when they met four enemy aircraft attacking a BE2 formation, and shot them all down. Those claiming victory were the other four – Flight Commander Lloyd Samuel Breadner, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Joseph Stewart Temple Fall, Flight Sub-Lieutenant Alfred Williams Carter, and Flight Sub-Lieutenant Frederick Carr Armstrong.