B Flt, No 54 Sqdn, saw heavy action in a Dawn Patrol this morning. Six dogfights consumed petrol at a rate that prevented the flight from returning to Corbie.
I led the full strength of B Flt, consisting of myself and 2Lts Degrande, Clark, Barrington (who has just returned to duty following an injury on the 3rd), Glenn, and Stramel at 1000 feet in cloudless skies. Clark experienced engine trouble over Albert, and returned safely to the aerodrome. Glenn's machine was hit by ground fire, holing the fuselage, as we crossed the trenches southwest of Cambrai, and then again just behind the lines.
Jasta 11 was patrolling the central sector. We first encountered them southwest of the enemy supply dump when two Albatros D3s and a Halberstadt D3 attacked us. Barrington managed to hit one of the Albatroses, causing it to stream petrol, but none of us were able to finish it off. As we continued north through the central sector, a single Albatros D3 from Jasta 11 made one pass at us, but did not return. Jasta 11 attacked a third time just northwest of the marshaling yard, with an Albatros D3 and two Halberstadt D3s. Degrande's engine was damaged in the action, and I decided that we would escort him to the North Advanced Landing Field, as we could still complete the majority of our patrol along the way.
Unfortunately, Degrande's engine failed completely as we were passing over the enemy Advanced Headquarters. He tried to glide to our lines, but starting at only 1000 feet, he had no chance. We saw him set his machine down in a clearing, climb out, and set fire to it.
Since the four of us remaining were all undamaged (the holes in Glenn's fuselage being entirely cosmetic), I diverted to Lens so we'd complete a full patrol. Passing over Vimy on our return, an Albatros D2 and D3 dove on us. The D2 pilot seemed quite inexperienced. Stramel fired on him and probably wounded him, as he did not attempt to evade Barrington, who shot him down.
This last dogfight brought our petrol reserves to dangerously low levels. I estimated that we could just about make it back to Corbie, and since I didn't want the flight to be out of action for the rest of the day, we continued in that direction. Jasta 11, however, had other ideas. An Albatros D3 attacked us over Arras. The only effect of the action was that by the time it broke up, we could not possibly reach our aerodrome. I turned us for the North Advanced Landing Field, where three Halberstadt D3s attacked just as we were making our approach. Stramel drove one off, and I shot one down, but none of us could reach the airfield on the petrol we had remaining. We set down just short of the field. Our machines were all damaged slightly, but none of us were hurt.
(signed) Lieutenant Wolfgang Grün
"B" Flight, No. 54 Sqdn RFC
April 7, 1917
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- Victory Points
- Patrolled 12 hexes +120
Two German Scouts Destroyed (Grün, Barrington) +40
Jasta 11 Scout Damaged/Aborted (Barrington) +7
Allied Aircrew Captured (Degrande) -25
Allied Scout Destroyed (Degrande) -10
Four Allied Scouts w/ Minor Damage (Grün, Barrington, Glenn, Stramel) -12
Mission Offset -80 - Total +40
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