Vilkata

I have just read Edwin Hoyts little book "The Fall Of Tsingtao", about the siege of Germanys Kiautschou colony by Japan in WWI.

Of interest, among many things, is the fair ammount of detail given to Günther Plüschow, the colonys sole pilot.

At first, Plüschow had a Rumpler Taube as his plane, and was taking off from the colonys race track. Although it was very undesirable as an airstrip because of the short runway and the twisting churning air currents there, it was the only place he found to take off from. After a flight, he landed, and a gust threw up the aircraft, the propeller hit the ground and shattered, and the entire airframe suffered dammage. Plüschow ordered a new plane from Germany to replace his lost one, but at the same time set out plans to repair his plane, and make a new propeller, by using the expertise of local Chinese kite makers - apparently the locals helping Plüschow had offered help, citing that the wood and cloth construction of the Taube was very similar to the large traditional Chinese kites.

Eventually, a new plane arrived - but with a new pilot aswell. Plüschow accepted that he was not to fly the new aircraft, and instructed the new pilot about the turbulent dangerous air currents around the improvised airstrip. Eager to fly in a new land for the first time, the new airman took off - only to crash shortly after, destroying his aircraft and suffering substantial injuries.

Thus, Plüschow had only to repair his aircraft if Kiautschou were to have any air power whatsoever. This he eventually completed - although after the first test flight of the repaired plane, he found that the glue binding the propeller together had come loose, and if he had spent much longer in the air his propeller would have fallen apart and he would have crashed and died. After that, he instructed his handy Chinese kite maker assistants to find a better glue to hold it together, and just to be safe, would take off the propeller after every flight, re-glue it, and put it in clamps to let it dry, to give the hand made improvised propeller all the best chances of surviving the days flights.

Into the siege, Plüschow would fly twice or more a day on scouting missions, identifying the layouts of the Japanese troop movements and artillery emplacements, as well as scouting out the naval blockade imposed on the colony. Eventually the armourers in town began building him coffee-can bombs, as there were no aerial bombs on hand for him to use against the Japanese. These coffee-can bombs proved effective, and Plüschow used many of them.

During the conflict, the Japanese were operating a seaplane tender as part of the blockade, and using it to do annoyance bombings of the colony, seldom being able to destroy anything, let alone anything of value. On one occasion, Plüschow managed to down one of these aircraft by firing 30 rounds through his 9mm parabellum pistol, although the pilot landed his stricken aircraft and survived the engagement.

Shortly before the surrender, Plüschow recieved several important communications, and set out on his final flight - to fly deep into neutral china, and land his plane, and attempt to get the communications back to Germany. This he did, although the freezing weather and boggy flooded terrain once again ruined his airplane on landing, Plüschow managed to walk away unscathed, meet up with an English speaking missionary, and live another day.

I was wondering, Edwin Hoyt is renowned for being an amateur historian. He writes about subjects long forgotten and endlessly fascinating, but by nature of being an amateur, and the lack of reference material for a lot of his projects, he ends up with numerous errors in every single book. This is especially true now in the year 2006, when so much information from various military archives are available online, and most of Edwin Hoyts books were written in the 70's. So, these days, his books are enjoyable yarns, but hardly the concrete factual accounts I would wish they were. How much of Plüschow's story is actually correct? It sounds absolutely incredible. A lone airman, a wrecked Taube with improvised repairs made by Chinese kite makers, going into conflict twice a day without being shot down, etc etc. It's absolutely incredible - fact is often more amazing than fiction. But is it all true?

I'd love any information you guys have.

Oh... And does anyone know a good WWI naval battle/ship forum? There is still much mystery to me about the gunboats, torpedo boats, etc, on station at Kiautschou during the conflict. For instance, Hoyts book tells that the old torpedo boat S90 managed to sink the Takatschio, the previous flagship of the Japanese navy. Yet, in various other sources, the Takatschio is listed either as a Coast Defence Ship, or as a Cruiser. Furthermore, in Janes and other sources, there is mention of the gunboat Jaguar fighting the destroyer Shirotaye - this is not mentioned at all in Hoyts book. Did it happen?

Thanks in advance folks!

---Vil