i

ii

ContentsInstalling Red Baron II ........................................................................................................ . 2

Uninstalling Red Baron II ............................................................................................................. 2

Historical overview .............................................................................................................. 5Introduction: April 21, 1918: Amiens Front ............................................................................. 6Chapter One: Europe In Flames ................................................................................................ 11Chapter Two: The Rise of The Aeroplane .............................................................................. 16Chapter Three: The Birth of Air Fighting .............................................................................. 19Chapter Four: Deflectors and Interrupters ...................................................................... 21Chapter Five: The Swing of the Pendulum ............................................................................ 27Chapter Six: Verdun ...................................................................................................................... 29Chapter Seven: Germany Resurgent ....................................................................................... 33Chapter Eight: April Massacre ................................................................................................. 39Chapter Nine: The Year of Exhaustion ................................................................................... 46Chapter Ten: The Americans ...................................................................................................... 56Epilogue: The Air Wars Legacy................................................................................................. 63

Flight Reference .................................................................................................................. 65A Brief History of Flight ............................................................................................................. 66The Physics of Flight.................................................................................................................... 68

Flight Maneuvers ................................................................................................................. 73

iii

Battle Tactics of the Great War .................................................................................... 83Tactics En Route ............................................................................................................................ 83

Engagement ...................................................................................................................................................... 85Battle ............................................................................................................................................................... 86Turning Versus Hit-and-Run ............................................................................................................................. 86Make the Tactics Suit the Aircraft ................................................................................................................ 88Disengagement ................................................................................................................................................. 90Ground Attacks ............................................................................................................................................... 91

Specialized Attack Tactics ......................................................................................................... 98Attacking Two-Seaters .................................................................................................................................... 98Attacking Observation Balloons ................................................................................................................. 101Standard Fighter attack on an Observation Balloon ................................................................................ 102Firing Arcs for Standard Two-seater Aircraft .......................................................................................... 103Firing Arcs for Heavy Bombers .................................................................................................................... 104

Flight Formations .............................................................................................................. 106

Mission Types.........................................................................................................................114

The Aircraft of World War I ...........................................................................................117

Medals and Awards ........................................................................................................... 141

iv

Game Play .............................................................................................................................. 157Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 158Getting Started ............................................................................................................................ 158The Main Menu Screen ................................................................................................................ 158Flying A Single Mission .............................................................................................................. 159

Selecting a Mission ....................................................................................................................................... 160Viewing the Mission Briefing ......................................................................................................................... 161

Playing a Campaign ...................................................................................................................... 161Starting the Campaign ................................................................................................................................... 162Creating and Changing Pilots (New Pilot and Pilot Log buttons) ............................................................. 163

Pilot Rank and Position ................................................................................................................... 164Learning About Your Squadron (Squadron Ops button) ............................................................................ 165

Requesting a Transfer ...................................................................................................................... 166Painting Your Plane ........................................................................................................................... 166

Learning About the Enemy (Intelligence button) ........................................................................................ 169Viewing Your War Record (Personal Stats and Medals/Awards buttons) .............................................. 170Flying a Mission (Next Mission button) ........................................................................................................ 170

Campaign Time ...................................................................................................................................... 171Viewing and Changing Your Flight Plan ...................................................................................... 171Changing the Flight Path ................................................................................................................ 172Changing the Flight Ordnance ...................................................................................................... 174Changing the Squadron Status ..................................................................................................... 174Rules for Creating Unofficial Flights........................................................................................ 176Creating an Unofficial Flight ........................................................................................................ 176Mission Results .................................................................................................................................. 177

v

Object Preview ............................................................................................................................. 178Ace Preview .................................................................................................................................... 179Preferences ................................................................................................................................... 180

Realism Setting .............................................................................................................................................. 180Graphic Setting .............................................................................................................................................. 182Sound .............................................................................................................................................................. 184Fly Now ........................................................................................................................................................... 184

The Mission Builder ..................................................................................................................... 185Creating a Single Mission ............................................................................................................................. 185

Mission Creation Outline .................................................................................................................186Historical Mode Vs. Free Form Flights .......................................................................................186Squadrons and Flights ....................................................................................................................187Setting the Initial Conditions .........................................................................................................188The Front Map and the Region Maps.............................................................................................189Flight Creation Outline ...................................................................................................................190The Create Flight Index Card .........................................................................................................190Editing Waypoints ...............................................................................................................................193Waypoint Actions ................................................................................................................................194Creating an Escort Mission ............................................................................................................196Changing the Flight Ordnance ...................................................................................................... 197Changing the Squadron Status ..................................................................................................... 197

Editing an Existing Single Mission ................................................................................................................ 198Sharing Missions ........................................................................................................................................... 198

Flying the Simulation ........................................................................................................ 199Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 199

vi

Flight Controls .......................................................................................................................... 200View Commands ............................................................................................................................ 200

The Lockdown Cockpit Views ........................................................................................................................ 201Setting a Target for Slewable Cockpit and External Camera View Modes ............................................... 201The Slewable Cockpit View ........................................................................................................................... 202The External Camera Views ......................................................................................................................... 202

Joystick Controls ...................................................................................................................... 205Firing Controls ........................................................................................................................... 206Cockpit Instrumentation .......................................................................................................... 207The Autopilot................................................................................................................................ 209Time Compression ......................................................................................................................... 210Navigation and the Kneeboard................................................................................................ 210Flight Communication ................................................................................................................ 211In-flight Preferences ................................................................................................................. 211Ending the Simulation ................................................................................................................ 211Mission Debriefing ....................................................................................................................... 212

Glossary ............................................................................................................................... 214

Customer Service Support and Sales ......................................................................... 217

Technical Support ............................................................................................................. 219

Sierra Warranty ................................................................................................................ 222

vii

Manual Credits ................................................................................................................... 223

Photo Credits ...................................................................................................................... 224

Index ............................................................................................................................... ......... 225

viii

1

Installation

2

Preflight

InstallingRed Baron II1. Insert the Red Baron II CD into the CD-

ROM drive. If you have Windows®Autoplay enabled, the Red Baron IIAutoplay screen is displayed.

2. Click install and Red Baron II Setup willprepare the InstallShield® wizard.NOTE: If you do not have Autoplay en-abled on your system, you can run theSetup program from the root directoryof the Red Baron II CD. (Select Runfrom the Windows Start menu. In theOpen textbox, type D:\SETUP.EXE.Click OK.Substitute the drive letter thatrepresents your CD drive, if necessary.)

3. Read the instructions on the Welcomescreen and, when you are ready to pro-ceed, click Next.

4. The default folder for the installation isC:\Sierra\RedBaronII. Click Next if thisis okay. Setup will copy the Red Baron II

files to your hard drive.

5. Two Windows® system componentsmust be installed on your computer:Intel® Indeo® video interactive andMicrosoft® DirectX 5. If setup detectsthat you do not have these components,it will guide you through the installationprocess. If you wish to reinstall DirectXat a later time, run DXSETUP from the\DirectX directory on the Red Baron IICD.

6. We have provided a simple online reg-istration form. Please fill it out and sendit in so you can obtain technical supportand the latest news on Red Baron II up-grades and enhancements.

7. If you have installed DirectX, whenyou are done with the installation, makesure that Yes, I want to restart mycomputer is checked, and click Fin-ish.

UninstallingRed Baron II

There are several methods by which youmay uninstall Red Baron II:1. Go to Start > Sierra Utilities > Uninstall;

then select Red Baron II from the list andclick OK.

2. Click the Windows 95 Start button andgo to Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Then choose RedBaron II from the listbox and click theAdd/Remove button.

3. Go to Start > Programs > Sierra > RBIIUninstaller.

Manual NoteSome minor changes may have been made

to this game after this manual was printed.Please check the Read Me file and the On-Line Help for last-minute changes, addi-tions, and corrections to this document.

Online HelpAdditional reference information and

gameplay instructions are provided in anonline manual which is accessible from

3

Preflight

within any Red Baron II setup screens. Toaccess it, simply press the F1 key.

You may also access the online manualby selecting Red Baron II Help from the Start> Programs > Sierra menu.

Troubleshooting The following information should help

you solve any problems you might experi-ence with Red Baron II. Sierra TechnicalSupport provides this documentation as areference to Sierra customers using Sierrasoftware products. Sierra Technical Sup-port makes reasonable efforts to ensure thatthe information contained in this documen-tation is accurate. Sierra makes no war-ranty, either express or implied, as to theaccuracy, effectiveness, or completeness ofthe information contained in this documen-tation.

Sierra On-Line, Inc. does not warrantyor promise that the information herein willwork with any or all computer systems. Si-erra does not assume any liability, eitherincidental or consequential, for the use ofthe information herein, including any and

all damage to or lost use of computer hard-ware or software products, loss of warran-ties, or lost data by the customer or any thirdparty. No oral or written information oradvice given by Sierra, its employees, dis-tributors, dealer or agents shall change therestriction of liability or create any new war-ranties. In no case shall Sierras liabilityexceed the purchase price of the Sierra soft-ware product.

Problem: Error reading drive D; NotReady Reading Drive X:; General FailureReading Drive X:; or CDR 101 - Abort,Retry, Fail, when installing Red Baron II.The drive letter will vary depending on whatdrive designates your CD.

Solution: There are several factors thatcan cause a read error. The most com-mon is a dirty or scratched CD. Check theCD to make sure that there are no smudges,fingerprints, scratches, or cracks on it. Ifthere are any smudges on the CD, clean itoff with a soft cloth and try it again. If thedisk is scratched, it will need to be replaced.

If cleaning the CD doesnt help, the prob-lem may lie with the CD ROM drivers. RedBaron II may not install properly unless youare using Windows 95 virtual drivers. Todetermine whether you are using virtual orreal mode drivers, hold down the ALT keyand DOUBLE-CLICK on MY COM-PUTER. Click on the PERFORMANCEtab at the top of the SYSTEM PROPER-TIES window. In the FILE SYSTEM fieldit should read 32 BIT. It should NOT read:Some drives are using MSDOS compatibil-ity.

For information on using virtual driversin Windows 95, please contact the com-puter manufacturer.

Finally, check with your system manu-facturer to assure that the driver softwarethat your CD drive uses is up to date. Out-dated CD drivers can have difficulties read-ing newer CDs.

If you need a replacement disk or CD,Sierra will gladly do so for you. If your re-quest is within the first 90 days of purchase,replacement is free of charge. After thiswarranty period, there is a $10.00 process-ing charge. Send disk or CD #1, along with

4

Preflight

a note with your name, mailing address,daytime phone, and a copy of the sales re-ceipt dated within the last 90 days, or acheck or money order for $10.00, to SierraOn-Line. Our address is:Sierra On-Line FulfillmentPO Box 485Coarsegold, CA 93614

AdditionalTroubleshootingInformation

You will find a more comprehensivetroubleshooting section in the onlinemanual. If Red Baron II installed success-fully, you can access online help from theStart > Programs > Sierra menu. If Red BaronII did not install successfully, you can stillaccess online help manually. In WindowsExplorer, locate your CD drive letter andclick on it to display the list of files on theRed Baron II CD. Double-click file calledRB2.HLP on the root directory of the RedBaron II CD to open the help file.

Still more information regarding RedBaron II can be found at the Sierra Web

site located at www.sierra.com. Finally, aReadme file, which is accessible from theSierra Utilities splash screeen (the ViewReadme icon) supplies last minute updatesabout Red Baron II that became availableafter the manual was printed.

Post-InstallationNotes

When you install Red Baron II, a SierraUtilities icon appears at the top of yourWindows Start menu. This utility allowsyou to easily register or uninstall any Sierraprograms that are detected on your com-puter. You may also access the Readme filefor any program that this utility detects. TheSupport option is an online Setup Help filethat provides answers to hardware ques-tions, troubleshooting issues, and explainshow to create a Windows boot disk.

If, for any reason, you would like to re-move this icon, go to the Start menu andselect Settings>Taskbar. Select the StartMenu Programs tab and click the Removebutton. Scroll to the bottom of the programslist where you should see the Sierra Utilities

icon listed. Highlight it and click Remove.Also upon installation, a NetMarket icon

was placed on your desktop. This is anInternet shortcut to the online shopping andtravel service offered by C.U.C. Interna-tional, the parent company of Sierra On-line. If you have an Internet browser and aconnection, take a moment to browse thegreat buys, special offers, and entertaininggames that this site provides. If youd liketo remove this icon, simply drag it into theRecycle bin.

5

Historicaloverview

6

historical overview

A German machine gun crew in action during the March offensive.

April 21, 1918:Amiens Front

W hen the pilots of JG-1crawled out of their bunksin the early morning hoursof April 21, 1918, they found their aero-drome at Cappy shrouded in thick, gray fog.The blanket of mist clung to the ground,making any flying impossible. Delighted bythe break, the pilots gathered near theirplanes to await the events of the day.

They needed the break. Since March21st, the men had been in action nearlyevery day, fighting with a desperation bornfrom the knowledge that this last, greatGerman offensive would determine thecourse of the war. They knew that theirnation had gambled everythingresources,men, equipment, aircraft, and moneyon this final effort. At first, it had suc-ceeded. Below the wings of JG-1s Fokkersand Albatros fighters, the infantry hadpoured through a broken British line. Ger-man reinforcements flooded to the break-

7

Introduction

throughs, pushing the Tommies back nearly40 miles. In a war that measured success inyards, 40 miles seemed a ringing victory.But as JG-1 discovered, it proved to be ahollow success. Now, a month later, theBritish had turned to fight, stopping the ad-vance cold before any real strategic successcould be achieved.

All that was left to do was fight on withsheer momentum. Already, gossip aroundthe mess tables at night told stories offriendly infantry units breaking and rout-ing; of fighter squadrons running out of gas,rubber, and oil; of discontent in the ranks.In some cases, the red specter of Socialismseemed to play a part, boding ill for the fu-ture in light of Russias Revolution the pre-vious fall. Clearly, four years of stagnant,bloody, trench warfare had just plain wornout the German army, and now its men werebeing asked to do too much.

That was also true of the Air Service, andof JG-1 in particular. For the last month,theyd been flying four or five times a day.The men were exhausted, their lives mea-sured in mere days as the inferno over thetrenches claimed pilot after pilot.

The aces of JG-1. Kurt Wusthoff (27 kills), Wilhelm Reinhard (20),Manfred von Richthofen (80), Erich Lowenhardt (54), and Lothar vonRichthofen (40).

8

historical overview

For the ground crews, times were nearlyas trying. They worked through the days andnights in a never ending battle to keep theplanes airborne. With stocks of spare partslow, and replacement aircraft a wishfuldream, the geschwaders fighting strengthslowly drained away. Just to keep their re-maining planes in fighting shape, parties ofmechanics would scour the front for wrecks,from which they cannibalized all the rubberparts and brass fittings they could find.

Two things kept these men going: theirlove of Germany and their love for theirleader, the legendary Manfred vonRichthofen.

He was the type of man others instinc-tively followed. He lead by example, bydevotion to duty, and by sheer force of will.After four years of combatfirst with thecavalry on the Eastern Front, then as afighter pilot in the WestRichthofen wasburned out. Nevertheless, he carried outhis duty with grim determination that in-spired all around him. His insistence to stayat the front endeared him to his men almostas much as it frustrated and worried theGerman high command. Richthofen, Gen-

eral Hindenburg once remarked, was worthat least one full division. He was the soulof the fighter force, the inspiration to all inthe Air Service after three years of battlingthe British from the cockpit of Germanysbest fighters. Alive, he was a great propa-ganda asset, a symbolism of everything theGerman fighting man stood for in this longand dreary war. To the core, he was a com-bat pilot, a hunter of the sky. And that iswhy he never let up.

Not even after he nearly died did he givemuch thought to taking some desk job farfrom the front, though his superiors urgedhim to do just that. Nearly a year before,in July, 1917, he had been in a wild dog-fight with Naval Ten Squadron and someFE2s from a local RFC unit. During thefight, one of the Fee gunners had shotRichthofen in the head. Nearly out of hismind with pain, and practically blinded byblood gushing over his eyes, Germanys aceof aces spiraled down to the trenches belowand crash-landed within friendly lines.Some soldiers pulled him from the wreck-age and carried him to a field hospital,where his wounds were dressed. After a spell

at home where he was sent to recover, hereturned to action once again that fall.

Despite his leave, he never really recov-ered from his wound. Now, months later,he looked gaunt and hollow. He sufferedfrom terrible headaches that at times threat-ened to confine him to bed. Yet, he dog-gedly pressed on, shooting down an everincreasing number of Allied aircraft, un-til, by April 21st, his total stood at 80 kills.

As the sun rose over Cappy that springmorning, Richthofen appeared at the flightline to check on his pilots. He was in finespirits, by all accounts, since the day be-fore he had claimed his 80th victim. As hetoured the scene, he tripped over a stretcherlaid out on the ground. When he lookedback to see what hed fallen over, he sawLeutnant Wenzl, a young tiger who had justtransferred into geschwader from Jasta 31at the end of March. Playfully, theRittmeister tipped over the stretcher, spill-ing Wenzl into the mud.

Laughing at their leaders prank, theother pilots plotted revenge. Later thatmorning, they kidnapped the Rittmeistersdog, Moritz, and tied a wheel chock to his

9

Introduction

tail. Moritz had already seen much of thewar, and, in fact, was missing part of anear. Some months before, the big GreatDane was chasing Richthofens FokkerTriplane as it began its takeoff roll. The doggot too close and collided with the propel-ler blades, which chopped off a good por-tion of his ear.

So it was on the morning of April 21st,Mortiz, the half-eared dog came whiningto his master, a wheel chock dragging athis hind legs. The Rittmeister took the gagin stride, laughing at the sight as he kneltdown to free Moritz from the chock.

Little did anyone know that this would bethe last time the Rittmeisters laughterwould ring in their ears.

With late morning came a break in theweather. A strong wind scattered the fog,and as blue skies appeared over Cappy, themood at the aerodrome became serious andbusinesslike. Theyd be going into battlesoon, and the men knew the odds, as usual,would be heavily stacked against them.

The call came shortly after 10:30. A Ger-man observation point reported enemy air-craft heading for JG-1s patrol area. The

The Red Barons funeral. The Australians buried the legendary acewith full military honors.

10

historical overview

news sent the pilots scurrying for theirplanes. In minutes, two kettenflightswere airborne. Richthofen led them off inhis blood-red Fokker Dr. I.

The men left behind at Cappy anxiouslyawaited the return of the geschwaders air-craft, going about their duty as they strainedto hear the warm sounds of engines ap-proaching the airfield.

Finally, in the early afternoon, theystraggled in. The ground crews watched theFokkers swing around the aerodrome, theirquirky Oberusel engines coughing andburping as the pilots hit their blip buttonsto slow their planes down to landing speed.

But one aircraft was missing. The blood-red Fokker that belonged to the Rittmeisterwas nowhere to be seen.

Through the afternoon they waited fornews, despair threatening to overcome thisonce happy band of Germanys elite avia-tors. As the sun went down that afternoon,dread filled their hearts. He had fallen be-hind British lines, and now all they coulddo was hope he had been taken prisoner.

When word did come of their leadersfate, it was not what they had all feared.

Their Rittmeister, the great Manfred vonRichthofen, was dead.

British guns destroyed the heart and soulof the German fighter force that April day,and with it, so died Germanys last hopesof winning the air war.

And yet, something else happened thatday, something that none of those presentat Cappy Aerodrome could ever have imag-ined. With the death of Manfred vonRichthofen, a legend was bornone thatwould endure long after they were but dustin a soldiers gravethe legend of the RedBaron.

11

chapter one

Chapter OneEurope In Flames

One wrong turn changed thecourse of history.On June 28,1914, Austrian ArchdukeFranz Ferdinand arrived in the Bosnian cityof Sarajevo intent on attending army ma-neuvers in that recently annexed provinceof the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The re-sults of that visit set in motion a chain ofevents that lead to the bloodiest war in worldhistory. Long after all the players that daywere dead and buried, the effects of theiractions resounded for decades, affecting thecourse of both Europe and the United Statesfor generations to come.

It began at the train station in Sarajevo,where the Archduke, his wife, and his en-tourage climbed into several open-toppedtouring cars to begin the short drive to CityHall, where they would meet SarajevosMayor.

Unknown to them, assassins lurked alongtheir planned route. As the Archdukes car

trundled down the street, one of the killersjumped forward to throw a bomb. Bychance, the bomb missed, bouncing off thecar then landing in the street. It explodednext to the car directly behind theArchdukes, wounding several of his goodfriends and staff members. The injured menwere rushed to the hospital whileFerdinand, furious at what had just hap-pened, continued to City Hall.

Once he arrived there, he greeted theMayor icily. So,you welcome your guestshere with bombs? he asked angrily. TheMayor brushed aside the remark and wel-comed his Austrian dignitary to his city,assuring the Archduke that the would-beassassin had been caught. The meetingended with Ferdinand announcing hewished to visit his two wounded officers inthe hospital. This required a change in planswhich almost, but not quite, saved theAustrians life.

That day, a number of pro-Serbian as-sassins had staked out the Archdukes routethrough the city. If the first assassin failed,there were backups to himand backups

to those backups. The Austrians routethrough the city had been well known, andit was dotted with gun wielding, bomb tot-ing fanatics. Trained by the Serbian ter-rorist organization known as the BlackHand, their goal was to secure Bosnian in-dependence from Austria.

Now, though, circumstances foiled theirplot. The Archduke would not be travel-ing on his pre-selected route to the armymaneuvers. Instead, he insisted on goingto the hospital. He should have missed allthe other assassins waiting for him.

Enter Franz Urban, the Archdukes per-sonal chauffeur. Urban had never drivenin Sarajevo before and did not know ex-actly how to get to the hospital. He triedhis best, though, working through the mazeof narrow streets, trying to follow his mapsand instructions. In the end, he got lost.

Somewhere along the way, he made aright turn into a single-lane alley that wasso narrow he could not turn the car around.He went only a few dozen yards down thealley before he realized his mistake. Heslowed the car down, getting ready to turn

12

historical overview

it around. Then he saw he would have toback up to the main street he had left. Hetouched the brakes just as a shabbily dressedyoung man crossed in front of the car a dozenor so feet ahead. Franz watched the mana boy reallylook up and see the car.

The boy was a 19-year-old Bosnian Serbstudent named Gavrilo Princip. Trained bythe Black Hand, he had been posted on theArchdukes original touring route. Whenthe Austrian had not shown up, Princip gotbored and decided to head for home. Run-ning into the Archduke on this confinedback alley was a complete accident.

Princip capitalized on the chance meet-ing. Quickly, he pulled his revolver andstepped toward the car. Shots rang out. TheArchduke and Archduchess slumped for-ward, bleeding from their bullet wounds.Horrified, Franz Urban jammed the car intoreverse and sped to the hospital. But by thetime he arrived there, both Austrians hadbled to death.

Princip did not enjoy his victory. Bosnianpolice arrested him immediately, and hespent the next four years languishing in

prison before dying of pneumonia in 1918.He lived long enough to see the wartosee the millions killed or maimedthat hadbeen touched off by his single act of mad-ness.

And still, none of it would have happenedif Franz Urban had not made that wrongturn. Urbans moment in history lasted butan instant. When it passed, he disappearedfrom view and lived out his life as anony-mously as any other average person. Still,his single mistake triggered the events thatconsumed Europe in a four-year war thatkilled millions and destroyed an entire gen-eration. Entire nations, including Urbansown, were erased from the map and newones took their place. In the end, whenthe shooting finally ceased, nobody couldremember what they had been fighting forin the first place.

In the wake of the assassination, the battlelines were quickly drawn. Soon, all of Eu-rope seemed to be sucked into the crisis.Austria blamed Serbia for the assassinationand threatened war. Russia, always thesavior of the Balkan Slavs, came to

The Dual Monarchys leader,Emperor Franz Joseph (at right).He hated his nephew, FranzFerdinand, and thought God hadpunished him through theassassination for his liberalviews.

13

Serbias defense. With Russia now in-volved, the Germans backed their ally,Austria-Hungary, to the hilt. With Ger-many now enmeshed in the crisis, Francecame to Russias aid. As the diplomatsfussed and fumed, the armies began to mo-bilize. Once that happened, war was in-evitable.

Austria attacked Serbia, declaring war onJuly 28, 1914. On August 1, Germany de-clared war against Russia then invaded Lux-embourg and Belgium in order to get toFrance. Two days later, Germany declaredwar on France. The next day, Britain wentto war against Germany after learning of thatcountrys invasion of Belgium. On the 6th,Austria-Hungary declared war on Russia.In the days that followed, the fighting spreadfrom Belgium to the Balkans, from theAlsace to East Prussia.

And all because of a wrong turn inSarajevo.

At first, the war delighted Europe. Therewere mass rallies in support of the war, andall the old divisions within France and Ger-many disappeared in a ground swell of na-

The Kaisers personal guard on parade just prior to the warsoutbreak in August, 1914.

14

historical overview

tionalism. Volunteers flocked to the col-ors, and millions went off to battle withsongs on their lips. Universally, Europethought the war would be quick, sharp andbloodless. A few weeks of fighting, and thewar would all be over.

The armies clashed in early August.Wearing brilliant colored uniforms andfighting with leftover Napoleonic tactics,Europes legions were in for a sudden shock.The stand-up, shoulder-to-shoulder fight-ing their great-grandfathers had done atAustrerlitz and Waterloo a hundred yearsbefore may have worked fine in the age ofthe muzzle-loading musket, but in the ageof rapid-fire artillery, machine guns andmagazine rifles, they were an invitation toslaughter. And thats precisely what hap-pened.

France first went after its lost territo-riesthe Alsace and Lorraine which it hadceded to Germany after the 1871 war. Innine days of fighting, known as the Battleof the Frontiers, the French launched mas-sive human-wave attacks into the teeth ofmachine gun and artillery fire. They were

where all too many of Europes enthusiastic volunteers ended up afterthe first weeks of the war.

15

chapter one

slaughtered by the thousands. By the timethe commander of the French army,Marshall Joffre, abandoned the offensive,300,000 of his men lay dead on the killingfields from Mulhouse in the south to Nancyin the north.

Modern technology, as all sides soon dis-covered, made obsolete their battle tactics.

With the French offensive in the eaststopped cold, the German army swept downfrom Belgium, threatening Paris from thenorth. Just in time to help avert disaster,the British Expeditionary Force arrived,100,000 strong. In its first three battles,the Germans nearly destroyed it.

By early September, the situation was des-perate. The Germans were on the outskirtsof Paris. The BEF had taken huge losses inthe last few weeks, and the French had beenbled white defending Nancy. It seemed asif nothing could stop the German army fromtaking Paris and fulfilling all the promisesthat this would be a short war.

But then, another anonymous figurestepped into the historical spotlight andchanged the course of the war. For the first

time ever, that anonymous figure would bean aviator. France would be saved by theaeroplane.

16

historical overview

Chapter TwoThe Rise of TheAeroplane

...As experience has shown, a real combatin the air, such as journalists and romancershave described, should be considered a myth.The duty of the aviator is to see and not to fight.German 1914 staff report.

The British knew exactly what theGermans were doing. When theBEF crossed the Channel intoFrance in August, the troops took along 48planesthe entire strength of the RoyalFlying Corps. These primitive machinessoon proved their worth as the eyes of theBEF. Each day, the pilots scouted out aheadof the ground troops, searching out Ger-man intentions as they lumbered overhead.At the end of August, with the situationon the ground growing increasingly desper-ate, the aviators brought home a bit of goodnews.

On the far right flank of the German thrustinto France, General Alexander von

Klucks First Army suddenly shifted its lineof advance. Instead of going around Paristo the west, von Kluck turned his corps

southeastward, cutting inside of Paris andputting the fortified capital on his rightflank. British pilots Lieutenant A.E.

Propellers of various types line the walls in this workshop.

17

chapter two

Borton, Captain D.LeG. Pitcher and Lieu-tenant C.G. Hosking all spotted the move,reporting back to HQ. Word of the changepassed up the chain of command until itreached Marshall Joffres desk. After study-ing the situation, he decided the time was

ripe for a counter-offensive against vonKlucks army.

As planning began for the great counter-attack, von Kluck made another mistake.As he moved south across the Marne River,a gap opened between his army and the Sec-

French Troops on the move .

ond Army on his left flank. The gap grewwider and wider as von Klucks menmarched south.

Again, the eagle-eyed pilots and observ-ers of the RFC spotted the mistake. Again,word of the hole in the German lines spedup the chain of command.

On September 5, 1914, the Battle of theMarne began. The French, with the helpof the multi-colored Parisian taxi cabs,moved into place an entire army on vonKlucks right flank. On the 5th, they wenton the attack, surprising the Germans andnearly overwhelming them. General vonKluck, more concerned with his advanceto the south than any spoiling attack theFrench could launch on his flank, ignoredthe brewing battle for two days. Finally,though, on September 7, von Kluck awoketo the danger and moved swiftly to crushthe French attack. As he did, his forwardunits had to re-cross the Marne and swingback north and west to get into the battle.

The hole between von Kluck and the restof the German army had just grown bigger.Into that gap flowed the resurgent BritishExpeditionary Force as well as the French

18

historical overview

Fifth Army. The Germans, nearly envel-oped now on both flanks, knew the gamewas up. Reluctantly, von Kluck ordered aretreat which later forced the rest of theGerman army to go on the defensive as well.The great push for Paris had collapsed infailure, as did any hopes that the war wouldbe a short one.

The aeroplane had helped save Francethat September. Without the vital infor-mation the pilots brought back from theirtrips behind the lines, the Allied armiesnever would have been in a position to rollup von Klucks army. Now, as the warsettled into a long stalemate that wouldstretch from the North Sea to the Swiss bor-der by Christmas, both sides wondered howelse they could use this new weapon of war.Would the airplane just be used as the eyesof the armies, or could it be even more use-ful?Joffre of the Marne. The

French commander-in-chiefwas given most of the creditfor the success at the Battleof the Marne.

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chapter three

Chapter ThreeThe Birth of Air FightingJust an old-fashioned Avro withold-fashioned waysAnd a kick that says back-fire to you,An old Mono engine that konks out and staysWhen the toil of a long flight is through,Tho the pressure will drop, and it loses its prop,And the pilots inclined to resign,Ill rejoice till the daythat I learnt how to fly,In that old-fashioned Avro of mine!

RFC Squadron Song

The Austrian Baron Rosenthal wasthe first to die in air-to-air combat. His victor, Russian CaptainNesteroff, was the second. On September8, 1914, just as the Battle of the Marnereached its climax, Nesteroff encounteredthe Barons fragile craft over the EasternFront. Without thought to his own safety,Nesteroff dove after the Austrian plane andcrashed his own into it. Locked together,the two wooden machines tumbled earth-ward, both crews dead.

In the early days of the war, Nesteroffssuicidal battle with the Baron Rosenthal wasan aberration. In those first weeks of thewar, pilots shared a sort of kinship that tran-scended national boundaries. German pi-lots who stumbled across French or Britishplanes would often toss their enemies ajaunty waveand nothing more. For themost part, the Allies did the same.

This sort of honeymoon didnt last muchpast the Battle of the Marne. When bothsides realized the importance of air recon-naissance, air-to-air fighting became in-evitable. Pilots and observers began carry-ing shotguns, revolvers, carbines and evenbricks and bottles. Some of the more cre-ative thinkers hauled aloft machine guns.RFC pilot Louis A. Strange convinced hisobserver to bring aboard a Lewis gun on onereconnaissance flight. Unfortunately, theweight of the gun kept the plane from climb-ing above 3,500 feetwell below the Ger-man planes Strange had been hunting.When his commanding officer learned of hisidea, he ordered Strange to remove the gunand focus on his real jobscouting for the

army.Others continued to try. On October 5,

1914, French Sergeant-Pilot Frantz wentaloft in a Voisin biplane with his mechanic,Corporal Quenault. Over the lines thatmorning, Frantz spotted a German Aviatikat about 3,500 feet. He closed on the un-suspecting German until Quenault, armedwith a light machine gun, found the rangeand opened fire. The Aviatik dove away,turning northward for its own lines. Frantzwould not be deterred. He followed theGerman while Quenault snapped out shortbursts from the gun. In his haste to catchthe Aviatik, Frantz accidentally overshotit. As he passed on by, the German bankedaway from the Voisin and tried to run.Frantz reversed his turn, ending up behindthe Aviatik. Quenault poured rounds intothe ungainly German plane, even as thepilot tried to climb away from them. ButQuenaults marksmanship was too good.The German plane, riddled with bullets,fell into a dive. The pilot fought the con-trols all the way down, pulling the nose upthree times before losing it again. Finally,

20

historical overview

the Aviatik plunged into a small copse oftrees, where it exploded.

Running to the scene of the crash, oneobserver recalled, the motor was almostentirely buried in the ground, the fuselagewas twisted, and the wings were broken intoa thousand pieces. One of the aviators layquite dead three yards away from the mo-tor. The second, the observer, with beau-tiful hands exquisitely cared for and per-haps a great Prussian name, was caughtunder the red motor, now a wreck inflames. He seemed to us to attempt to pullhimself out, but the movement was prob-ably convulsive; he looked at us, clawedthe earth with his hands, and died beforeour eyes.

The honeymoon was over. The air warwas about to get dirty.

Gas warfare was among the new horrors of WWI.

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chapter four

Chapter FourDeflectors andInterrupters

A sort of mystery surrounded the Fokker...rumour credited it with the most fantastic per-formance! It could outclimb, outpace andoutmanoeuvre anything in the R.F.C. You wereas good as dead if you as much as saw one....

Cecil Lewis, Sagittarius Rising

The land war on the Western Frontremained a bloody standoffthroughout 1915. Both theFrench and the British launched offensivesof their own. Always, the attacks succeededin gaining a little ground, but no attackmade the breakthrough all involvedsought.

Poison gas, a new and deadly weapon,was tried by the Germans for the first timeever during a local attack outside the cityof Ypres in April, 1915. The gas causedpanic among the British and French troops,sparking a stampede to the rear. A four-mile hole opened in the lines as men threw

down their weapons while fleeing the ter-rible gas clouds. Seventy thousand Alliedsoldiers fell during the attack, but the Ger-mans could not exploit their success. Notexpecting such a reaction from the Allies,the German high command had not back-stopped the attack with enough reserves toachieve a decisive victory.

The Allies responded with gas attacks oftheir own, though none succeeded like theGerman one that April. By late 1915, theAllies had lost close to a half a million menfor no gain at all in a series of vainoffensives. The year ended with the linesdrawn as they were the previous Decem-ber.

While the ground war grew increasinglybloody and futile, the air war evolvedthrough 1915 into a battle between tech-nology and tactics. As each side developednew planes, new refinements, and newweapons, the other side scrambled to de-velop tactics to counter these new threats.It was a race begun by a young French dare-devil named Roland Garros, and it wouldnot end until the Armistice in November,1918.

Before the war, Roland Garros was a well-known figure in aviation circles. As one ofFrances early air pioneers, he had enterednearly every contest and race in Europe,winning acclaim for his incredible feats. Hewas the first to fly across the MediterraneanSea, a risky proposition at best in that ageof fussy engines and flawed designs. He laterentered and won the Paris to Rome and Paristo Madrid races, and in 1911 he won theGrand Prix dAnjou.

When the war broke out in 1914, Garroswas in Germany. Worried he that he mightbe arrested, he abandoned his belongingsand took the first train to Switzerland. Hereturned to Paris as fast as he could, wherehe offered his services as an aviator. Alongwith many other pre-war daredevils, theFrench Air Service assigned him to M.S.23, a squadron flying early Morane mono-planes.

During the first winter of the war, Garrosbegan thinking up new ways to shoot downGerman observation planes. He concludedthat the best way to do it would be to mounta machine gun on the nose of his plane sothat he wouldnt have to carry an observer

22

historical overview

to shoot the gun. If the machine gun werefixed to fire forward, Garros could aim thegun by simply pointing his nose at his tar-get. A great idea with one huge flaw: thepropeller was in the way.

For several weeks, Garros and his me-chanic tinkered with one of the Moranemonoplanes, trying to come up with a wayto protect the prop from the machine gun.As they experimented, they discovered thatonly about 10% of the bullets fired ever hitthe prop blades. If they could just take careof that one in ten, their idea would work.

They settled on what they called a de-flector system. By mounting steel wedgesonto the back of each propeller blade, anybullets that would normally damage it wouldjust ricochet off. The wedges were angledso the bullets would not fly back and hit thepilot.

In the spring of 1915, after weeks of ex-perimentation, Garros and his new weapontook to the air in search of a victim. Oncealoft, he headed for his primary target, arailroad station outside of Ostend which hewould bomb. Along the way, though, hecame across a lone Albatros two-seater,

intent on spying behind Allied lines.His original mission forgotten, Garros

turned his Morane-Saulnier monoplane af-ter the German. He crept up on the unsus-pecting plane from behind, a tactic thatconfused the German observer. Then camethe clatter of Garros Hotchkiss machinegun. The observer fought back with a car-bine, but it was really no contest. TheAlbatros burst into flames and crashed.Garros, horrified by what had happened,later reported, I gazed below me for a longtime to convince myself that it was not anightmare.

Garros jury-rigged experiment had justgiven birth to the first true fighter plane inaviation history.

For eighteen days, Garros terrorized thelocal German units on the Belgian coast.German pilots, filled with rumors of newFrench superweapons, began avoiding allmonoplanes to the outrage of their com-manding officers, one of whom accused hisaviators of having the hallucinations of oldwomen.

Garros one man war ended almost asquickly as it had begun. After shooting

down three planes, he himself fell victim toa German bullet on April 18, 1915. Withhis fuel line severed, he coasted down for acrash-landing behind German lines. Beforehe could burn his craft, German soldiersappeared and took him prisoner. His pre-cious machine had fallen into enemy hands.

Garros remained a prisoner until Janu-ary, 1918, when he and another Frenchpilot escaped from their captors and madetheir way to England. Upon returning toFrance, Garros rejoined the French AirService, not realizing the tremendouschanges that had taken place between hisdaring experiment and his return to com-bat. After flying only a few missions, theGermans shot him down again. A great pio-neer of air combat technology had died atthe hands of the weapons he helped invent.

Though Garros started the air combatrevolution, it would be the Germans whorefined his ideas, making them both prac-tical and deadly. In April, 1915, whenGarros went down behind the lines, theGermans captured his Morane-Saulnier.After local officials examined it, they real-ized Garros plane was an incredible intel-

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chapter four

ligence coup. Quickly, they packed it upand sent it to young Tony Fokker, a Dutchaircraft designer working in Germany.

The German Air Service asked Fokker ifhe could duplicate Garros invention.Fokker agreed to have a look, but insteadof copying the deflector gear, he improvedon it. Later, Fokker claimed that his novelidea came with a flash of inspiration. Morelikely, however, was the fact that the Ger-man Air Service provided Fokker with thedetails of a sychnronizing system patentedin 1913 by LVG engineer Franz Schneider.In exchange for Fokkers time and effort,the Air Service apparently promised to pro-tect him from lawsuits.

It took only a few days for Fokker to workthrough the kinks of the new system. In-stead of protecting the propeller, Fokkerbuilt a system of gears into the machine gunand engine that would ensure no bulletswere fired when the propeller blade passedin front of the barrel. Fokker called his in-vention the Interrupter Gear.

Earlier in 1915, his company had beenhired to build a lightweight, single-seat air-craft whose chief attribute was speed.

Fokker copied the Morane-Saulnier designand even used a license-built version of theFrench Gnome rotary enginetheOberusal. Now, with his Eindecker aircraftjust reaching production stages, Fokkermarried his interrupter gear to it and cre-ated the worlds first true fighter plane.

When the first Eindeckers arrived at thefront in mid-May, 1915, they were allo-cated in penny-packets to the existing re-connaissance units. Initially, the Germanpilots balked at the Eindeckers capabilities.Having learned to fly on slow, awkward bi-planes, or the Austrian Erich Taube, thespeedy Fokker proved to be a difficult ad-justment. Compared to the Aviatiks and theearly Albatros two-seaters, the Fokker wasfar more maneuverable, unforgiving, andquirky. Fokker realized this problem earlyon and helped establish a training school toteach the proper techniques needed to flyhis creation.

The transition period lasted until earlyAugust, and for some time the German AirService doubted the effectiveness ofFokkers new airplane. In some cases, theinterrupter gear malfunctioned, shooting off

the propeller blades and killing the pilot inthe ensuing crash. After three fatal crashesin July and August, the Air Service for-bade its further use. It even disbandedFokkers training school at Doberitz.

The Air Service very nearly killed the bestweapon at its disposal by its overreaction.Two pilots, however, stepped in to savethe day. They were Max Immelmann andOswald Boelcke.

On August 1, 1915, a flight of nine Brit-ish Be2 Quirks flew over the German air-field outside Douai. The Allied planes sur-prised the German pilots, who had beennapping in their quarters nearby. Max Im-melmann, a talented twenty-five year oldpilot from Dresden, awoke to a terriblerow. When he reached his window, hespotted the British planes passing overhead,dropping bombs on the airfield. He tele-phoned for a car at once so he could get tohis plane.

While waiting for his ride to the airfield,Oswald Boelcke, a smart Saxon with onekill already to his credit, buzzed by on hismotor bike, heading for the airfield and hisawaiting Fokker Eindecker.

24

historical overview

Boelcke and Immelmann were F.F.A.62s two best pilots. When the squadronreceived a pair of Eindeckers earlier in July,their commanding officer assigned both ofthem to fly the new planes. Immelmann hadonly been flying the Eindecker for threedays, but his raw talent as a flier would morethan make up for his lack of experience onthis day.

Immelmann reached the airfield ten min-utes after Boelcke took off after the BritishQuirks. He fumed impatiently as he waitedfor the ground crew to roll his Fokker out ofits shed, then climbed aboard once it wasready to go. Finally, well behind his com-rade, Immelmann took to the skies, readyto test Fokkers fussy, but potentiallydeadly, interrupter gear.

Immelmann climbed to about 6,500 feetwhen he saw Boelcke abandon his attackon two Be2s. Boelcke dived away from theBritish planes and did not return to the ac-tion. Immelmann later discoveredBoelckes gun had jammed.

With the Quirks split up into at least threegroups, Immelmann climbed after the twoBoelcke had been stalking. Then he spot-

While Fokker worked on a copy of the Morane Bullet, Pfalz produced acopy of the Morane Parasol called the A.I. It saw only limited use.

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chapter four

ted another British plane slightly below him,dropping bombs on Vitry. He turned to-ward it and gave chase. Diving down, heopened fire on the Be2, firing 60 roundsbefore his gun jammed. He broke off to clearit, noticing that the other two Quirks inthe area were now closing on him. He freedup his machine gun and made for his origi-nal target. Two more times in the course ofthe fight his guns jammed. Yet, his marks-manship carried the day. In the end, theQuirk fell off into a long, shallow dive whichImmelmann followed, firing his gun when-ever he could get the jams cleared. Fourhundred and fifty rounds later, the Quirkcrash-landed in German territory.

Eager to meet his foe, Immelmann landedin the same field. Unarmed, he approachedhis two enemies cautiously, yelling,Prisoniers! in French at them. They of-fered no resistance, and the pilot held outhis right hand to shake Immelmanns.

Bonjour, monsieur, Immelmann said,but was surprised when the Allied pilot re-sponded in English.

Ah, you are an Englishman? he asked.Yes, came the reply.

You are my prisoner, Immelmann said.The Englishman, appearing unruffled,

offered Immelmann congratulations, Myarm is broken. You shot very well.

As the German looked over his prisoner,he discovered that one of his bullets hadsmashed the Englishmans forearm. Indeed,he had shot very well.

The Fokker Scourge had begun.Throughout that fall, Boelcke and Im-

melmann made life miserable for the Britishpilots in Flanders. Together or individu-ally, they would roam the skies over thetrenches, looking for Allied recon planesin their Fokker Eindeckers. On August 19,1915, Boelcke scored his first kill in hismonoplane fighter. Immelmann scoredagain on the 26th, and by the end of theyear had seven victories. Boelcke finishedthe year with six. As their scores mounted,both men became heroes to the Germanpeople. Starved for good news in a war filledwith seemingly purposeless slaughter on theground, Germany embraced their young airheroes with pure adulation. When, inJanuary, 1916, the Air Service awardedboth men the Pour Le Meritethe most

prestigious Prussian award for bravery inbattletheir rise to fame seemed complete.

Not only did they become national fig-ures, Immelmann and Boelcke set the tonefor the next eight months in the skies overthe Western Front. Following their ex-ample, other pilots began stalking Alliedplanes in their speedy Eindeckers. Soon,though there were fewer than sixty Fokkersat the front at any one time, the British andFrench Air Services fell into a panic overtheir losses. Other Eindecker pilots, in-cluding Ernst Udet and Kurt Wintgens, alsobegan taking a toll on Allied planes. TheFrench, who had been bombing Germanyfor months without serious losses, suddenlyhad nine planes shot down in one mission.Other attacks suffered the same fate, forc-ing them to abandon daylight bombingraids.

As the Fokkers made their presenceknown, Allied morale plummeted. Eventhe sight of a distant monoplane was enoughto cause an Allied pilot to cut out for home.Missions were not being completed, and themyths surrounding the Fokker grew andgrew until Allied aircrews were convinced

26

historical overview

it was an unbeatable super-weapon.Allied leaders knew only two things could

stop this German onslaught. First, newplanes had to be deployed that could beatthe Fokker. Second, tactics had to be de-veloped to counter the Eindecker threat.In the meantime, the French and Britishpilots would have to take their losses, buy-ing time with their lives until the next gen-eration of aircraft arrived at the front. Fornearly six months, the Allied pilots waitedand bled, knowing that the Germans for thefirst time in the war had command of the airover the Western Front. As the war wenton, the battle for that command would growboth furious and bloody.

An observer raises his arms to surrender as he enters some unfriendlysights.

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Chapter five

Chapter FiveThe Swing of thePendulum

You seem magnetically attracted to any Ger-man aeroplane you see, and never weigh thesituation. I saw one of your machines take onone Fokker, then two Fokkers , then threeFokkers, before being shot down at Lille.

Captured German pilot Lt. Baldamusto his British interrogators.

Major Lanoe Hawker was nostranger to air combat. Inearly 1915, he earned theRoyal Flying Corps second Victoria Cross,Englands highest award for bravery.Hawker, a small, sensitive man prone tofits of depression, mounted a Lewis gun onthe side of his Bristol Scout and went hunt-ing for targets. He found two Germanplanes, one of which he shot down and theother he forced to land behind Germanlines. He did it by aiming the gun off to theside, outside the propellers arc.

That sort of ingenuity and aggressivenessconvinced the RFC to give Hawker com-mand of the worlds first true fighter squad-ron. It almost proved his undoing. Hawkerhad been flying in combat since the war be-gan with No. Six Squadron. When theRFC ordered him to England in the fall of1915, Hawker was the last original mem-ber of his squadron. Everyone else had beenkilled or wounded.

Command in England did not go well atfirst. With all the fighting hed seen,Hawker sometimes appeared on the vergeof a total mental breakdown. The strain ofhis new position pushed him even closer tothat edge. Nevertheless, this tough formerengineer knew his duty, and carried out hisresponsibility well. By December, 1915,No. 24 Squadron was ready to go to France.

Equipped with the new Airco DH-2,Hawkers men would be the spear point ofthe RFCs response to the Fokker Scourge.Relatively fast for its time, the DH-2 car-ried a single machine gun fixed to fire for-ward. To solve the problem of firing throughthe propeller, British designers gave up on

their own version of the interrupter gear andjust moved the engine behind the pilot. Thispusher design solved the problem admira-bly, but created others. As Hawkers mendiscovered, the DH-2 had some nasty hab-its. Its unreliable engine tended to catchfire, which usually meant the end for theunfortunate pilot. Worse, it spun easily,an especially bad characteristic in an agewhere nobody knew how to recover from aspin. With their usual grim humor, the pi-lots nicknamed the DH-2 the Spinning In-cinerator.

Hawkers Squadron, as the outfit wasnicknamed, went into action in early Feb-ruary, 1916. He taught his men to be ag-gressiveAttack everything, he oncetold them. After arriving in Flanders, thesquadrons DH-2s sought out the dreadedEindeckers and brought them into battle.Though the DH-2 had many problems, itwas far superior to the Fokker monoplane.Soon, as other DH-2 squadrons arrived atthe Front, the German Fokker menacegradually evaporated.

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historical overview

In early 1916, the French captured an in-tact Fokker Eindecker. After test flying it,they discovered the plane had only limitedmaneuverability, especially compared to thelatest Allied types arriving at the front.When these facts filtered down to the squad-rons, the Fokker at last ceased to be a psy-chological threat.

Instead, they were hunted until the Ger-mans were nearly driven from the skies. Re-surgent Allied airpower had crushed theFokker Scourge.

German infantry man a machine gun.

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Chapter Six

Chapter SixVerdun

Victory was to be bought so dear as to bealmost indistinguishable from defeat.

Winston Churchill

On February 20, 1916, a crush-ing bombardmentthe biggestever seen in human historyall but wiped out the forward French posi-tions guarding the strategic city of Verdun.The next day, eight German divisions at-tacked on a narrow front, grinding their waythrough the remains of the French defense.By nightfall, good progress had been madeon every sector.

The biggest and most important battle ofthe war had just begun.

As the battle raged below, a new struggleunfolded in the air. For their offensive, theGermans had amassed four observationsquadrons, 14 balloons, and some 20Fokker Eindeckers. The Eindeckers werecharged with protecting the artillery-spot-ters as they went about their vital tasks.

The lunar landscape around Fort Douaumont

30

historical overview

When the battle began, the Eindeckerscleared the sky of all French machines.Outnumbered, and with their aerodromesunder heavy artillery fire, the Frenchsquadron fled Verdun for safer areas. How-ever, that retreat did not last long. At theend of February, Colonel Bares took com-mand of the shattered units around Verdun.General Petain, head of the ground forcesin the Verdun sector, ordered Bares to seizeand hold air supremacy at all costs. Thebrutal artillery barrages had to be renderedineffective, and the only way to do that wasto shoot down the German spotter planes.

Bares immediately called for reinforce-ments until he had almost 120 planes un-der his command. By early March, he hadeight reconnaissance, two artillery, and sixfighter escadrilles at his disposal. To leadthe fighter squadrons, he chose MajorTricornot de Rose, a pre-war aviator whowas Frances first military pilot. An expe-rienced leader, whose drooping mustachehad made him a well-known figure in theAir Service, de Rose set to work reorga-nizing the fighter escadrilles to carry out

The dead at Verdun. The Morte Homme, a vital hill that the Germansrepeatedly attacked, but could never take and hold.

their mission.The first important change came on

March 21. Prior to Verdun, aviation units

had always been under the control of thelocal army commander. Now, the Frenchtried a new system. After de Rose collected

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Chapter Six

no fewer than fifteen fighter squadrons un-der his direct supervision, Marshall Joffretook his group out of the normal chain ofcommand. Instead of reporting to the localground commanders, de Rose reported di-rectly to de Bares, who in turn answeredonly to Joffre himself. This way, the im-mediate needs of the army commanderswould not interfere with the overall objec-tive: air superiority over Verdun.

Major de Rose, with his chain of com-mand secured, soon modified the very wayhis fighter squadrons did battle in the air.Until Verdun, Allied fighters had patrolledthe front in small numbers, just as the Ger-mans had done with their Eindeckers.Lanoe Hawker and No. 24 Squadron startedto change that in Flanders when they flewmissions as a squadron. At about the sametime, Major de Rose ordered his squadronsto do the same thing.

No longer would there be single plane pa-trols over Verdun. Instead, de Rose taughthis escadrilles to fly and fight in formation.He developed escort tactics and worked outeffective ways to intercept incoming Ger-

man aircraft. His experiments and their ap-plications led to the first truly homogenousfighter squadron. It did not take long forhis ideas to spread all through the FrenchAir Service, as Hawkers did in the RFC.

The new tactics, combined with new air-craft like the Nieuport 11, went a long waytoward saving France that grim spring. Onthe ground, the Germans slowly advancedtoward Verdun, taking huge losses butgrinding up the French army in the pro-cess. In the air, the Germans lost their briefcontrol of the air over Verdun as theirEindeckers, scattered through the recon-naissance units, ran afoul of superior num-bers and better French airplanes.

Once the Eindeckers had been van-quished, Major de Rose instituted a dailypatrol system that he felt eliminated the needfor escort missions altogether. Each day,his squadrons would patrol their assignedsector in groups of five or six. Sometimes,above these patrols would be the squadronselite acesmen like Jean Navarre andAlfred Heurtaux. By using their comradesbelow as bait, they racked up high scores in

the vicious fighting at Verdun.And it was vicious. The French showed

no mercy to their outnumbered German en-emies.

Twenty-six year old Albert Deullin roseto acehood over the skies of Verdun, shoot-ing down five planes between February andJune, 1916. On June 4, France awardedhim the Legion of Honor, its highest awardfor bravery. On one of his most notablemissions, Deullin was full of rage at theGermans after having lost his close friend,Lieutenant Peretti, in battle over Verdun.Thirsting for revenge, he caught anEindecker from behind and closed to lessthan thirty feet before opening fire.Twenty-five rounds from his machine gunstruck the cockpit and, as Deullin recalled,The fellow was so riddled that vaporizedblood sprayed on my hood, windshield,cap, and goggles. Naturally, the descentfrom 2,600 meters was delicious to contem-plate.

It got even uglier. Bernard Lafont in hiscandid book, Au Ciel de Verdun, detailedthe brutal side of the air war. One time, a

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historical overview

Caudron bomber force-landed at his aero-drome. When he and his friends came outto see it, they discovered that the Caudronsgunner had been shot in the head. The pi-lot, Lafont noted, was unhurt but quiteshaken as he was covered with blood, {his}clothes and face, for in the wind of themotors, the blood that poured out of thepassengers wound lashed him.

Another time, Lafonts squadron com-mander assigned him to burial detail. Hespent his days recovering the mutilated bod-ies of his comrades. Once, after a night-time crash, Lafont arrived at the crash sitethe next morning and noted:

It is Senain. He received three bullets inthe head, which exploded like rotten fruit;brains and blood trickle on the face andclothes. The helmet moves on a brokenskull.

Both are horribly crushed. The stretcherbearers who pick them up have only a bloodypulp in their hands.

Another time he recovered the body of aFarman crewman, who had fallen to hisdeath from his airplane.

The fate of many aviators who fought for the sky over Verdun.

The second fell on the roof of the house.I clearly heard the dull sound of the bodywhen it was crushed in a heap.Flouc!...The body was recovered from theroof, entirely broken, shattered and shape-less and without rigidity like a heap of

ooze....Clearly, the air war over Verdun was not

for the faint of heart.

33

Chapter Seven

Chapter SevenGermany ResurgentAs a pilot in France I chanced over the linesAnd there I met an Albatros Scout.It seems that he saw me, or so I presumed,His manoeuvres left small room for doubt.He sat on my tail without further delay,Of my subsequent actions I think I might say

My turns approximated to the vertical,I deemed it most judicious to recede.I frequently gyrated on my axisAnd obtained colossal atmospheric speed.O descended with unparalleled momentumMy propellers point of rupture I surpassed,And performed the most astounding evolu-tionsIn other wordsI SPLIT-ASSED!

In Other Words RFC squadron song.

By early April, the air fightingover Verdun had all but driventhe German Air Service from theskies. The Nieuport escadrilles had carriedout Petains desperate February order to wincommand of the air. Now, the Germanarmy below was blind, its reconnaissance

and observation planes shot out of the sky.No longer would their artillery fire be nearlyas effective as it was at the outset of thebattle. As this happened, both sides real-ized the importance of the air fighting andrenewed their efforts to take or maintain

air superiority. The struggle took on a des-perate intensity.

As their enemies concentrated their fight-ers into dedicated squadrons, the Germansbegan to react in the same way by the springof 1916. Separate Fokker squadrons were

Nieuports on the flightline.

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historical overview

established, sometimes called Fokker staffelsor Single-Seat-Combat Flights (KEKs).These primitive fighter squadrons helpedoffset the Allied advantage in aircraft de-sign until better German planes could maketheir debut over the front.

At first, the Germans tried to defend ev-ery piece of sky at once. They flew barragepatrols where each staffel was assigned asector to scour. No Allied planes were sup-posed to cross the barrage patrol barrier. Butto cover every inch of sky in a given sectorrequired the Fokker staffels to break downinto flights of two or three each. Again,their tactics left them outnumbered and fre-quently overwhelmed by the larger forma-tions of Allied planes.

Summer started poorly for the Germansand only got worse. In June, the great MaxImmelmann, known to his countrymen asthe Eagle of Lille died in combat with aBritish Fe2. Later investigation indicatedthat Immelmanns interrupter gear hadfailed and he had shot his propeller off. TonyFokker, always worried about negativepress, went to great lengths to deny this.In any case, the British were happy to take

credit for Immelmanns death. He had beenone of the top aces of the war at the time ofhis death, with 15 kills to his credit.

As the summer wore on, the German AirService continued to be rolled back by theAllied change in tactics and aircraft. When

A Nieuport 17 at the front. The Nieuports 11 and 17 helped turn thetide against the Fokker Eindeckers.

the British launched their Somme Offen-sive in July, the air fighting heated up onceagain. Though the RFC squadrons tookheavy losses, the Germans seemed on theropes for sure. Given the disaster the groundoffensive produced, the success in the air

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Chapter Seven

provided a glimmer of hope to the tiringAllied home fronts.

The German Air Service knew it had todo something soon to redress the balance inthe air. To do it, they called on OswaldBoelcke, their leading ace and master tac-tician.

Clearly, the KEKs and Fokker staffelswere a step in the right direction. Just asclearly, they had not gone far enough.Starting in late summer, the Germans be-gan organizing dedicated fighter squadronsof nine planes each. Boelcke was given afree hand to recruit for his squadron, whichwould be one of the first formed. CalledJagdstaffelsor hunting flightsthese newunits were sure to be an improvement overthe earlier, ad-hoc collection of Eindeckersin the KEKs.

Jagdstaffel 2or Jasta 2 as everyone sooncalled itwas given to Oswald Boelcke. Hespent the end of the summer traveling allover Germany and the front lines selectinghis pilots. In Russia, he found a former cav-alry-officer-turned-reconnaissance-pilotnamed Manfred von Richthofen.Richthofen had proved time and again his

The wreckage of Max Immelmanns Fokker Eindecker being inspected byGerman personnel

36

historical overview

aggressiveness in the air. The attribute ap-pealed to Boelcke who invited him to joinhis new squadron. The young Prussian aris-tocrat quickly accepted.

In Werner Voss, Boelcke found anothergreat fighter pilot. A shy, enigmatic nine-teen year old, Voss impressed Boelcke withhis remarkable flying abilities. He wouldlater become one of Germanys top aces.

By mid-September, 1916, Jasta 2 wasready for combat. Assigned to the FirstArmy, Boelckes men would be going upagainst the best British squadrons inFlanders. In the weeks that followed, thesquadron routinely ran up against LanoeHawkers No. 24 Squadronand came outon top. After nearly six months ofthrashings at the hands of the Allies, theGerman Air Service was slowly climbingback on top.

Boelcke himself went on a scoring frenzyunmatched so far in the war. Between Sep-tember 2 and October 27, 1916, Boelckedowned no fewer than twenty Britishplanes. His men paced his achievements.Richthofen knocked down six in the sameperiod while Boelckes wingman, Erwin

Boehme, claimed another five.The string of victories continued through

the fall, as Boelcke taught his elite group ofpilots all that he had learned in his manyprior combats. To help the entire Air Ser-vice, he set down on paper his famousDicta Boelcke which spelled out the mostimportant tenants of air combat. Thosesame basic principles apply today just as theydid in the war-torn skies of France someeighty years ago.

But Boelcke was wearing himself out. Fly-ing two or three missions a day throughoutthat fall had given him a haggard, gauntvisage. Despite his exhaustion, he contin-ued to lead his men in battle. Neverthe-less, the air fighting had long since becomeunforgiving, and the destruction in the skiesthat he helped develop and refine eventu-ally claimed his life.

On October 28, 1916, Boelcke and hissquadron were scrambled to intercept LanoeHawkers No. 24 Squadron. In his hasteto get airborne, the great German tacticianhad forgotten to strap himself into the cock-pita mistake born from exhaustion thatwould soon prove fatal.

With faithful Erwin Boehme on his wing,Boelcke led his Jasta up against HawkersSquadron. Soon, a whirlwind dogfightraged, with planes zipping all over the sky.As usual, Boehme stayed close to his leader.Suddenly, though, Manfred vonRichthofen cut in front of Boelcke, intenton killing a diving DH-2. Boelcke had toswerve to avoid colliding with the Prussian.As he did, his wing scuffed BoehmesAlbatros D.II. It was barely a collision,Boehme recalled later, but it was enoughto be Boelckes undoing. His Albatros fellout of control toward the front lines below.The master tactician fought his plane all theway down and even managed to make arelatively soft crash landing. But since hewas not strapped in, even the modest im-pact of the crash killed him.

Boehme, whose plane was also damaged,managed to make a successful landing andemerged from the tragedy physically unhurt.Emotionally, he was traumatized by the ac-cident. For weeks, the brave native ofHolzminden carried the guilt of Boelckesdeath on his conscience. It did not help thathis own comrades also blamed him for their

37

Chapter Seven

leaders death. Another man would havebeen broken by the accident, but notBoehme. He continued to fly and fight,winning back the respect of his fellow pilotswith his impressive string of victories. Hewould continue to fly combat through 1917,despite two severe wounds including oneterrible head injury that kept him out ofcombat for nearly five months.

Oswald Boelcke was gone, but his legacylived in both the spirit and the organizationof the German fighter force. He had taughtthem how to fight, and how to fight suc-cessfully despite being outnumbered. Now,though, his death created a leadershipvacuum that would not be filled until early1917.

The man who filled that vacuum was noneother than Boelckes former protégé,Manfred von Richthofen.

A cold, calculating pilot whose flyingskills were not nearly as refined as some ofhis comrades, including Werner Voss,Richthofen nonetheless possessed all theingredients for acehood. He had a thirst forhunting British planes, as well as a knackfor picking the right fights and avoiding dis-

advantageous situations. He was a stalker,a plotter, a master of patience. All of thesethings paid off in spades as he continued tofly with Jasta 2.

His first big splash came on November 23,1916, a day in which Jasta 2 met HawkersSquadron twice. The first encounter camethat morning over Le Sars. Though a whirl-ing dogfight erupted between the two sides,no planes were shot down. After a sharp,intense action, both the British and Ger-mans retreated to rearm and refuel.

Later that day, three DH-2s took off onanother patrol. This flight, led by MajorHawker, included Captain J.O. Andrewsand Lieutenant Robert Saundby, a futureAir Marshal.

Over the lines, Hawkers patrol ran afoulof Jasta 2 again. This time, the British wereoutnumbered and soon thrown on the de-fensive. Early in the dogfight, an AlbatrosD.II slid behind Hawkers DH-2, but be-fore it could open fire, Andrews chased itoff. He paid for saving his squadron com-mander moments later when another Ger-man hit his engine, forcing him to disen-gage and return to No. 24 Squadrons aero-

drome at Bapaume.Somehow in the fray, Hawker ended up

one-on-one with an Albatros D.II. TheGerman plane, flown by Manfred vonRichthofen himself, was not as nimble asthe DH-2, but was faster and could climbbetter.

What developed was a battle of two mas-ters. Hawker used his DH-2s maneuver-ability to avoid every attack Richthofen at-tempted. For his own part, the Prussian acerelied on his climb rate to get him aboveand behind Hawkers pusher. Round andround the fight went, all the while the windblowing the two combatants deeper intoGerman-held territory.

It was a standoffneither pilot could getinto position for the killing shot. But timeand circumstance began to tell againstHawker. The farther the fight moved be-hind German lines, the more anxiously theBritish ace looked after his fuel gauge. Fi-nally, with no other choice, the nine-killVictoria Cross winner had to cut out forhome. He chose to dive out of the fight,building airspeed as he sped back toward hisown lines.

38

historical overview

Richthofen gave chase, his Albatrostucked in right behind the DH-2. Hawkersaw the danger and started to zig-zag, try-ing to throw off the German pilots aim. Atthe same time, however, his sharp maneu-vers killed off his airspeed, allowingRichthofen to close the range.

The Albatros guns chattered briefly thenstopped. Richthofens guns had jammed!Hawker, now mere feet off the tree tops,was only a few hundred yards from his ownlines. If he could just make that stretch, hewould be okay.

Undeterred by his jammed guns,Richthofen continued the chase while bang-ing away on his Spandaus with a tiny ham-mer. Working feverishly, he cleared oneof the machine guns and opened fire again.This time, his bullets did their grisly work.One round struck Hawker in the back ofthe head, killing him instantly. His DH-2dropped into the shell-torn landscape rightin front of a German grenadier unit. Thegreat British leader and tactician had methis match.

Of the fight, Richthofen later wrote,[it was] the most difficult battle...that I

Jasta 2s primary weapon of 1916: the Albatros D.II

had experienced thus far. He had emergedunharmed, a hero to his squadron mates.Word quickly spread throughout the Ger-man Air Service that Richthofen had killedthe English Boelcke, Lanoe Hawker. And

so began the rise to fame of this Prussianaristocrat. In time he would match, theneclipse the score and tactical genius of hismentor, Oswald Boelcke as he rose to be-come the wars most famous fighter ace.

39

Chapter Eight

Chapter EightApril Massacre

When you soar in the air on a Sopwith ScoutAnd youre scrapping with a Hun and your guncuts outWell, you stuff down your nose til your plugsfall outCos you havent got a hope in the morning.

For a batman woke me from my bedI had a thick night and a very sore headAnd I said to myself, to myself I saidOh! We havent got a hope in the morning!

We were escorting Twenty-Two.Hadnt a notion what to do,So we shot down a Hun and an FE too!Cos they hadnt got a hope in the morning.

We went to Cambrai all in vainThe FEs said, We must explain,Our cameras broke; we must do it again,Oh! we havent got a hope in the morning!

We Havent Got a Hope in the Morn-ing 54 Squadron, RFC.

As the Jagdstaffeln made theirpresence felt all along the Western Front, Allied aviators foundthemselves again on the verge of losing con-trol of the air. The German Air Service,now equipped with tough, nimble biplanefighters like the Albatros D.II and FokkerD.II, had come a long way since the blood-letting over Verdun and Flanders.

Now it was the Allies who were at a dis-advantage. Their tactics and organizationhad been copied by their enemy, and nowthe German aircraft they met in the sky wereat least as good as their own, and frequentlybetter. While fighter development inFrance and Britain produced such excel-lent designs as the Spad 7, the Nieuports11 and 17, and the Sopwith Pup in 1916,reconnaissance designs languished. TheBritish were forced to keep using the hope-lessly inadequate Be2 Quirk. German aceslike Manfred von Richthofen feasted onthese hapless planes, making a living byeasily knocking them out of the sky. TheBe2s replacement, the RE8nicknamedthe Harry Tate by its crewsturned out

to be a disaster. Ungainly in the air, andprone to all sorts of mechanical failures, theRE8 was, at best, a marginal improvementover the Quirk.

Then, in early 1917, the next genera-tion of German fighters reached the front.Led by the agile and swift Albatros D.III,the new German designs caught the Alliestotally unprepared. Their own replacementsfor the Nieuports and Spad 7s were justreaching squadron status and had not yetarrived in strength on the Western Front.These included the famed SE5 and the tem-peramental Sopwith Camel. While thefront-line squadrons waited for these newplanes, they did the best with what they hadon hand, their morale soaring with theknowledge that the Germans seemed on theverge of defeat on the ground.

The year started on a high note for theFrench and British on the Western Front.The battle at Verdun had finally ended inDecember, 1916, with the French pullinga victory out of what looked like certain de-feat. On the Eastern Front, the Brusilovoffensive had nearly crushed the Austrian

40

historical overview

army before petering out when the Germansarrived to bolster their sagging partners. Bythe end of the year, it looked like the Ger-mans would be finished off in 1917. Alliedfortunes were finally on the rise, and alllooked forward to what they thought wouldbe the final campaign season.

April, 1917 shattered all their hopes.That month started and ended with disas-ter, both on the ground and in the air.

On the ground, the French launched amassive, go-for-broke offensive along theChemin-des-Dames. Naturally, overhead,the air war heated up as the troops wentover the top. The operations turned int