Did Yeates give the true picture?

[Pete Hill]

Hi everyone,

Having just read recently the novel Winged Victory by V M Yeates, I was struck by the almost dismissive tone the author adopted when describing the qualities of the German air-force on the Western Front during the period March-September 1918 when the novel is set.
I realise that the novel is technically a work of fiction but from what other sources I have read, the novel is indeed semi-autobiographical and Yeates was a real-life veteran RFC fighter pilot with several victories to his credit so I am assuming that the events in the novel must reflect his own experiences and views of the conflict.
Having read other books such as Norman Franks' "Bloody April, Black September", I have been previously been under the impression that even in 1918, the German air-force, namely their scouts, remained a highly dangerous and effective opponent. According to Franks, 'Black September' 1918 was the worst month of the entire war for the Allies in terms of losses. In his book, he lists the total combined losses of the British, French and American air-forces on the Western Front at 580 aircraft destroyed. (September 1918 dwarfs the more infamous Bloody April 1917 in terms of losses as the latter's total came to 300 planes lost by the RFC and the French.)
Whereas, according to Franks, the 'known' German losses for September 1918 are put at 107. Even allowing for gaps and disorganisation in the German records of the time, it still leaves quite a contrast.
If one were to judge solely from these figures, it would seem reasonable to even argue that the German air-force was able to maintain a distinct edge even at this late stage and that they were simply over-whelmed by sheer numbers rather than out-fought man-to-man.
But 'Winged Victory' gives the opposite impression. Throughout the novel, in the large number of actions and skirmishes that are described by the author, the German air-force is depicted as very lacklustre and rather timid. German two-seaters, flying singly or in pairs, are usually potted by the RFC Camels like lame ducks and German scouts rarely intervene.
When German scouts are encountered, often they either retreat immediately or half-heartedly linger for a while, hoping to catch the RFC pilots at a disadvantage or get an easy kill. The novel's RFC pilots are dismissive of the quality of the German pilots as a whole and the only aircraft they view with any admiration (or trepidation) is the Fokker DVII but even they qualify this with the view that most of the Fokkers they encounter are poorly flown and the plane's advantages are not exploited.
When there are clashes, the Germans fare poorly. On a couple of occasions, the Camel squadron's victory claims reach double-figures for a single action whereas the British casualties, if any are suffered, only come in ones or twos. Most of the Camel losses are from ground fire during low-level trench strafing.
The only exceptions the RFC fliers make are the Circuses where they acknowledge that it is there where the best German fliers are found as they are the only units that have any skill, determination and aggression. However, on the one occasion, where the Camel unit meets a Circus head-on, it is once again the Germans who come off second-best, losing a cluster of pilots for nothing in return. At one point of the novel, the Camel unit claims (and is credited with) 20 victories in a single day. Did any Allied unit actually achieve this in reality?
Was Yeates giving a true version of the real-life events of the air-war in 1918? If what Franks has written is true, then I have doubts about this one aspect of Yeates' novel. The German air-force that is depicted in 'Winged Victory' is certainly not one capable of inflicting such losses as that occurred in September 1918. But, according to Franks, this same air-force, that Yeates wrote of so dismissively, achieved just that.
I am struck by one example when No 4 Squadron AFC flying Sopwith Snipes twice encountered groups of Fokker DVIIs on November 4th, 1918, only seven days before the end of the war. The Australians lost 3 pilots, including 12-kill ace Captain Tom Baker. With only a week to go before the end of the war, it seems the German air-force could still make the sky over the Western front a very dangerous place.
Yeates seems a very honest writer as he paints a vivid portrait of the fear, stresses, fatigue and in-security of the mind of an RFC flier. But in the novel, it seems to be Ground-strafing that causes the most losses and the most stress and fear to the RFC unit, not their encounters with the German air-force.
Was Yeates, when he wrote the novel in 1934, being unfair in his portrayal of his former enemies? Was he writing with the conceit of a victor? Perhaps he was still affected by the obligations of including elements of propaganda in his novel?
Or was the German air-force really such a shadow of its former glorious self in 1918?
I would welcome reader's thoughts on this question.
regards Pete

[shackleton]

What a super book it is but as you point out it is written as fiction rather than as a history. It is quite a few years since I read it so I hope my memories of the book are accurate.

I don't know which edition you have but one thing I found a bit disappointing is that both of the editions I have read did not have camels on the cover. If memory serves me right SE5As and an albatross.

Yeates was a friend of Henry Williamson the well known writer of wildlife and a long series of a fictional autobiographies about himself. 'A chronicle of ancient sunlight'. At least three of the books in this series are set in the first world war and make riveting reading. Yeates is actually a character in one of Wilkinson's books (They were school friends) called Cundall (Condell? Cundle?).

Perhaps the message from the air fighting part of the book is that a camel flown by an experienced pilot was very difficult to shoot down even in 1918. The engine though seems to be a constant worry for the pilot. The fear of flying low to attack ground targets is also very clear.

The book certainly had a reputation as being authentic when it was published in the 1930s and of course veteran first world war fliers were about and in many cases still serving with the RAF.

[Ace McCudden]

I think the sheer danger of the trench strafing made the dog-fights seem almost routine in comparison.
Having read both Yeates novel and Arthur Gould Lee's excellent real life account, 'No Parachute', I feel that trench strafing owed more to luck than skill, whereas in a dog-fight, a pilot maybe felt as though he had more 'say' in the outcome.
I'm sure one of the books alludes to the fact that the author would have rather faced an enemy aircraft in combat, than the random nature of trench strafing missions.
I don't think Yeates set out to dismiss the skills or threat level of the German pilots, in my humble opinion.

[Pips]

In part the dismissive attitude portrayed by Yeates in his book is no doubt a true life reflection of him having flown in a very successful Squadron (No.46).

Surrounded by pilots of such quality in air combat as Donald McLaren (54), George Thompson (21), Marchant (9), Robinson (8), Smith (8), Vlasto (8), McConnell (7), Odell (7) .... to name just a few, must have filled a pilot with confidence. And he is probably correct in saying that his Squadron usually came off the better in air combat. McLaren alone established a great reputation as a skilled combat leader, invariably gaining the initial advantage prior to closing with the enemy.

And to a large degree Yeates is also correct in saying that the quality of pilots in the Circuses were definitely of a higher skill level than the 'run of the mill' Jasta. It was the German practice (started by Richthofen) to group successful pilots into the large combat wings, as did the French with their premier Groupes de Combat (of which Les Cigognes was the most famous) leaving less stellar performers in the stand alone Escardrilles. Which is why the Germans had as little regard for most French units as did the British for the Germans. It's interesting to note that the French too thought little of the everyday Jasta's, holding their regard for the JG units.

Life is all about perception, and especially so in wartime. If Yeates had been a member of a less successful fighter Squadron (of which there were many) his view of the fighting ability of the Jasta's could well have been protrayed quite differently in his book.

[josquin]

Years ago H.H. Russell and Douglass Whetton, two of the elder statesmen
of British Great War aviation research, both enthusiastically recommended
Yeates' book as the only account of the war that told things as they
were. Both Russell and Whetton said, also, that they knew personally
many pilots from the two world wars and that almost all agreed that
Yeates' book "was the only book about the war that wasn't flannel."
Since Whetton was a Great War veteran himself, I took his recommendation
seriously--he was there. So was Yeates: 6 months at the front, logging
280 hours in Camels, becoming a flight leader, 5 victories--all of this
establishes his credibility enough for me. As for the quality of the German
opposition: there WAS a great disparity in capabilities between the
Circuses and the workaday jasta pilots. Evidently Yeates and 46 Squadron did not fight the Circuses often enough to develop a higher opinion of
their adversaries--perhaps fortunately for them. Regarding ground
support missions: I have read many personal accounts from both
world wars and all agree that pilots had the greatest fear and hatred
for these highly dangerous sorties. For some graphic corroboration, read
Capt. William C. Lambert's excellent memoir, COMBAT REPORT; he was a
flight leader in 24 Squadron, with 18 victories. Among other things,
Lambert recounts 4 or 5 missions daily, every day, during ground support
periods and he shows the cost of such excessive demands.
My vote is a thumbs-up for Yeates for telling it as it was...many others
seem to share this view.
regards, josquin

[rainbase]

I didn't read Yeates until a couple years ago, but was instantly struck by the "flavor" of his story. As someone who is very familiar with A.G. Lee's "No Parachute", I was immediately struck by the similarity in these two accounts of flying with RFC 46. Although the overlapping time these two fliers spent in the squadron was fairly brief, if you read these two books back to back I think you'll find experience a pretty smooth transition from one to the other. So, I'm guessing Yeates got it down pretty accurately.

[zoomzoom]

Another factor that might have been comng into play by the time Yeates saw action at the front, was the possible effect of the waning tide of the German Jasta's pilot quality. I'm trying to remember what period he was there, as its been a year or two since I read it, but I do recall reading a few other sources which state that by the middle to end of 1918, the pilots which were being fielded by the Germans were by no means representative of what they had been putting up, up until this time, this due of course to attrition....the "old men and boys" scenario that always plays out when one side is losing a conflict. This coupled with the fact mentioned by others here that he was in a very successfull squadron, would make some sense as to why he often seems to be a bit dismissive of the German pilot quality, or lacks what seems an appropriate amount of respect or fear. My two bits.

ZZ.

[R Gannon]

Pete

I've always loved the book and it stacks up very accurately. One can put real names to most characters and events when dated check out closely. Don't get too carried away with this notion of JG supremacy in the last months. They over claimed and 'known' German losses are in my view 50% shy of the true picture. In addition a large number of British losses in Sep 18 occured on low missions; indeed something like 25 % of German kills over British fighters from September 17 onwards were over low flying planes. And from September 17 onwards the German Jasta's were clearly 'sopwith' shy including the JG's. Only with the arrival of the BMW Fokkers did so equipped Jasta's regained their aggression during the the final 3 months.

Time against me again

Russ