Shot down by Boelcke?

[observer2]

https://www.theaerodrome.com/forum/a...pictureid=5202

Whats the story?

[R Gannon]

That is DH2 7873 and is one of several photographs of this DH2 in German hands and being inspected by members of Jasta 2. The DH2 was from 24 Sqn RFC and was flown by 2Lt JV Bowring, who in his ‘Repatriated Prisoner Statement’, compiled after returning to England during December 1918, wrote, ‘Whilst on offensive patrol near Bapaume machine hit in several places by E.A’s. Previous to this I had been slightly wounded in the feet, attacked E.A. but engine failed and forced to land.’ He put his place of capture as ‘Near Bapaume’.

Bowring’s ‘7873’ was evidently claimed by Oswald Boelcke as his #24, given as: ‘Vickers DD 7873’ apparently downed at Driencourt at 10.10GT and naturally categorized as ‘diesseits’. Boelcke, flying Fokker D III 352/16, had just previously engaged a ‘Sopwith Biplane’ in company with MvR & Erwin Bohme, which he claimed as his #23, and went on to assert in a letter to his family, [translated] ‘…Shortly afterwards I saw several Englishmen whirling about north of Peronne. When I approached, they wanted to attack me. But as I merely intended to go for a little stroll – as a matter of fact. I was flying lower than they and could do nothing – I sheered away. Then I saw one of these fellows attack another machine – naturally I could not stand for that. I engaged that lad in single combat, and he had to pay for his impudence. I shot his oil tanks to pieces in a series of fighting turns; he was forced to land at Dreincourt, where he was taken prisoner.’

Curiously the ‘Jasta Boelcke’ material compiled by Carl Bolle post war would have it that the inmate of ‘DH2 7873’ was ‘tot’ – killed. It is also a little odd in that Dreincourt is quite 20km south-east of Bapaume, where Bowring had his combats and where he believed he had been brought down. This was on the sector facing French 6 ARMEE. It is also interesting, that whilst DH2 was a distinctive pusher type, which the Germans often termed a Gitterumpf / lattice tail, Boelcke was curiously non-committal as to the type of machine which he engaged and claimed to have shot down [as was often the case in accounts by his protégé MvR], which is odd in that in his other fights involving DH2s (2 Sep 16, 10 Oct 16, 16 Oct 16 & 26 Oct 16) Boelcke identifies his opponents as ‘Vickers single-seaters’ or at least ‘Vickers biplanes’.

Anyway, it would seem to be cut and dried, as the Casualty Report evidently listed the departure time for 2Lt Bowring as being ‘7.55am’. However, there is a bit of a conundrum here, in that Bowring and his ‘7873’ are listed on a combined 24 Sqn Combat Report; detailing a five strong evening OP/escort led by Capt AM Wilkinson which was involved in fighting just to the east and south-east of Bapaume from about 8.45pm. First 4 hostile machines [Type A] attempted to attack the 22 Sqn FEs they were escorting, which made off east once attacked by the higher flying DH2s and then four more HA were encountered over Fremicourt, including a Fokker monoplane which was attacked and sent down by Sgt S Cockerall & Lt AG Knight; the monoplane caught fire and after falling 1,500ft, lost its wings and hit the ground near Manancourt [Ltn F Gerstle kia from KEK III] – this was still nearly 10km north of Dreincourt.

As such there is a lot about Boelcke’s #24 which does not really sit right, not in the least that Bowring’s RPS doesn’t really mirror Boelcke’s version of his fight. Indeed, if one is not apt to blindly accepting German game-book credits, then there was another RFC pilot who returned from an OP that morning to file a report which has many points of contact with Boelcke’s accounting of a turning fight with an unspecified English machine. Post to follow.

Russ

[R Gannon]

2Lt T West was a member of a four strong 19 Sqn morning OP which flew the patrol line: Bapaume – Havrincourt – Nurlu - Peronne on their ungainly BE12s. The OP was led by Lt Vernon Brown (6594) and flew at an altitude of 11,000ft. The OP flew to Havrincourt unchallenged, where Brown took photos of the chateau at Havrincourt and then led his OP south. A Fokker monoplane attempted to attack the rear machine of 2Lt GC Baker (6579) on three occasions. Baker fired a red Verys each time and the Fokker was each time driven off by Brown. At about 08.30 the OP became embroiled with as many as 10 HA in fighting which drifted east towards Le Catelet: two Fokker monoplanes, two 2-seaters (given as either Albatross or LVG), 5 Roland [CL] and a small fast biplane plane, which Brown mistakenly took to be a Nieuport with black crosses. 2Lt RD Herman on 6561 had the first close brush with the ‘fast single seater biplane’ evading its attack by side slipping hard to right whereupon straightening out, ‘….I saw him below and in front of me. I opened fire on him with my Vickers and kept him on my sight for 5 or 6 seconds and I distinctly saw my tracer hit his engine. He dived vertically leaving behind him a large trail of black smoke.’ Thereafter at around 08.45, 2Lt West (6546) attempted to attack what he thought was an Albatros 2-seater, ‘…and was attacked by a very fast small biplane with a rotary engine, I tried to fire a Verys pistol which jammed. I circled round and fired several rounds with my Vickers, the hostile machine then got behind me, I fired my Lewis which jammed after a few shots. (My Lewis stopped in No.1 position and fired again on cocking it) I circled around for 10 minutes firing alternatively with my front and rear guns, finally I got in about 20 rounds from my Lewis into him at close quarters and the hostile machine went down sideways apparently out of control. Meanwhile the Albatross (?) had been firing at me from below. I fired a small burst at it with my Vickers and it dived out of my sight and I did not follow. I returned alone as I had lost the patrol.’ He subsequently landed at Clermont.

The other three BE12s kept together and were followed to the lines by several of the HA. They recrossed the lines near Peronne where they had been subjected to heavy AA fire and Lt Brown was struck on the side of his head by a piece of shrapnel and rendered unconscious for a few seconds causing his BE12 to go down in a spin before he regained consciousness and control. During the fighting Brown had fired 200 rounds from his Vickers whilst 2Lt Barker had scrapped with one of the Rolands. Hand written notes at the bottom of the Combat Reports submitted by both Herman and West state that the HA which they had engaged was, ‘not to be claimed’

When comparing Boelcke’s version of events with the narratives of the 19 Sqn pilots, then I think it would be fair to suggest that the unidentified ‘Englishmen whirling about north of Peronne’ were the four BE12s from 19 Sqn and that Boelcke’s first tussle was with the BE12 of 2Lt Herman and that he subsequently dueled for some minutes with the BE12 of 2Lt West, but without result and indeed Boelcke broke off the engagement. I would hazard that in the wash up; as only two British machines had come down within German lines - ‘Sopwith DD A987’ & ‘Vickers 7873’ - that Boelcke, being Germany’s premier airman, was accorded credit for both of them as his #23 & #24.

The gallant 2Lt RD Herman failed to return from an OP on 22 Sep 16 flying the same BE12 and the equally gallant 2Lt T West similarly failed to return from an OP on 24 Sep, again flying 6564. Whilst both these losses generated game-book credits, there are however strong grounds to suspect that both may have been victims of un-witnessed collisions with other BE12s.

Russ

[Jos]

Hello all,

A little extra…..

Here are parts of the Abschusslisten/claim book pages from Jasta 2. The first page is from the first claim book started during the war and the second page is a part from the second claim book that is probably started by Leutnant von Gudenberg (Offizier zur besonderen Verwendung) and finished by Karl Bolle after the war.

A closer look shows that both claim books mention the 2 victories of Hauptmann Boelcke on 14-09-1916, but only the one of von Gudenberg/Bolle notices “tot/death” of both pilots. Only the name of Lieutenant Ale (sic) on Sopwith Doppeldecker A897 was known at that time, the observer was “unbekannt tot /unknown dead”.

Boelcke wrote down the events of that day on a piece of scrap paper.

About the planes I shot down near Morval and Driencourt on September 14th:

1. On September 14th I took off around 9 a.m. with two aircraft from the Staffel. North of Bapaume we attacked an English squadron coming from the east. The apparatus I encountered (Sopwith biplane) crashed -after repeating the attack several times- in the Morval area. The wings of the machine broke off when it fell. Occupants dead.
(Pilot non-commissioned officer. Name unknown; observer Lieutenant Ale. (Mistake by Boelcke: Ale (sic)/Gale(KIA) was the pilot, observer sapper Strathy (KIA)) Number of the aircraft A897. Machine guns were taken by officers from the artillery).

2. A short time later on my way back, northeast of Peronne I cut off the route of 1 Vickers DD, which had attacked a German DD, and attacked it. The plane landed at Driencourt. Gasoline and oil tanks were shot up. The occupant was wounded in the right thigh and captured. Machine handed over to Flugpark I.

On this scrap paper Boelcke crosses things out (probably he was not content with what he had written) and writes a different sentence . For instance that he was attacked by 5 Vickers DD.:

“Kurze Zeit darauf wurde ich nordöstlich von Peronne von 5 Vickers DD. angegriffen./ A short time later I was attacked northeast of Peronne by 5 Vickers DD.””

He crossed it out and wrote instead:

“Kurze Zeit darauf schnitt ich nordöstlich Peronne 1 Vickers DD, der einen deutschen DD angegriffen hatte, bei der Rückkehr den Weg ab und griff ihn an. /A short time later on my way back, northeast of Peronne I cut off the route of 1 Vickers DD, which had attacked a German DD, and attacked it.”

Regards,

Jos

[R Gannon]

His Jos,

Good to see someone with the courage of their convictions. Boelcke’s versions of events on the note paper certainly make for interesting reading, but they don’t fill a Jasta sceptic like myself with a great deal of confidence. Too much deleting and changing of locations for my liking; with the suspicious look that Boelcke was attempting to massage his initial post flight accounting into matching information pertaining to downed Allied aircraft garnered later over the phone – an issue which I have been postulating in regards many a German Game book credits.

Let’s take Boelcke’s first claim – awarded as his #23. It would appear that Boelcke chose to delete three lines of text, immediately after ‘(Sopwith DD)’ which I am unable to decipher and that the location was originally given as ‘bie Transloy’ but has been amended, seemingly in pencil, to read ‘Morval’ (twice). Then at the end, the same pencil has added the details of the downed ‘A897’ and its crewmen. I think we can draw from this that the wreck of ‘A897’ was subsequently discovered at Morval quite 4km south of Boelcke’s combat with his ‘Sopwith DD’.

At this point it is informative to reprise the translated version which Boelcke provided his family, ‘I took off about 9 am with two other machines of my staffel (Lieuts. Bohme and von Richthofen). North of Bapaume we barred the homeward journey of an English squadron coming from the east. As the first of these machines bolted, I engaged the second, a Sopwith Biplane. The third attacked Lieut von Richthofen, but was soon involved with both Richthofen and Bohme. Immediately after my first attack my opponent spun down for several hundred meters. As I know this trick, I followed hard behind, and then the fellow actually caught his machine and tried to escape over the lines. He did not succeed, but crashed near Morval. The machine shed its wings and broke up in the air.’

Unfortunately, this is one of the rare occasions where the surviving British record is less than desirable. The opponents of Boelcke and his two wingmen were clearly three Sopwith Strutters from 70 Sqn; however, both the SRB and the related combat reports appear to have gone missing and we have to rely on the Casualty Report for Strutter A987 and what was preserved in RFC Communiques together with a brief accounting to be found in the 70 Sqn history C&C US Vol 20 #4 (1979) pp 294-295. Drawing upon TSTBF II the loss of A897 is written up as, ‘Combat with HA sBapaume nose dived broke up’. This would come from the other two crews and notably there is nothing about any HA pursuing A897 down. One of the other Strutters was A1908 crewed by Capt WJCK Cochrane-Patrick and 2Lt EW Burke; Capt C-Patrick recording that his formation was attacked by 6 HA, two of which went for his Strutter and he turned to engage, his gunner sending one down seemingly OOC (Bapaume) before being mortally wounded. The other Strutter looks to have been crewed by Lt AM Vaucour & Lt AJ Butt [A982?] who reported being attacked by three HA; one of whom they drove down and the other force landed – the 70 Sqn history gives ‘Haricourt’ (sic) but I suspect this is a typo error for Haplincourt (4km NE of Le Transloy).

Despite a lack of times for the combats, my gut feeling is that Boelcke may have actually engaged Strutter A1908 over Le Transloy; mortally wounding the 18-year-old 2Lt Burke and that MvR & Bohme fought with the Stutter of Lt AM Vacour & Lt AJ Butt [with the added suspicion that on account that Bohme did not accompany Boelcke & MvR on the following day, that he was the pilot of the HA which FTL]. Then in the wash up, Boelcke sought to take credit for the wreck of A897 which was reported to have shed its wings and crashed at Morval – undoubtedly A897 but possibly reflecting the first Sopwith, which according to Boelcke ‘…bolted...’

Informatively, Capt C-Patrick recorded the involvement of 6 HA which leads me to the further speculation that one of two ‘LVG’ reported to have been engaged by the 27 Sqn pilots 2Lt LF Forbes and Lt WH Chance might have been Strutter A897, with Forbes firing a drum into the 2-seater from close range, ‘…which dived vertically and was lost sight of...’ over Sailly Sallisel (3km east of Morval); with the added speculation that Lt A Heurteax from N3 may have also been involved in this downing – which adds up to six machines. It should be realized that the green painted Strutters were rather new on the scene and pretty well all other RFC machines were either pushers (FE2s & DH2s) or BE2s which were largely dopped linen – in the fogs of war, a tractor two-seater painted green might easily be mistaken for an enemy machine. The machine which was subsequently seen to fall in flames over Bois de Vaulx and linked to both claims was most likely that of Ltn Gerstle from KEK III and who in turn was more likely to have been the victim of DH2s from 24 Sqn (see previous post).

Further thoughts on #24 to follow.

[Jos]

Hello Russ,

For completeness here is the translation of the first page of the scrap paper, before Boelcke corrected it:

Bericht über die von mir am 14.9 bei Transloy und Driencourt abgeschossenen Flugzeuge:

1). Am 14.9. startete ich gegen 9 Uhr vormittags mit 2 Maschinen der Staffel. Nördlich Bapaume griffen wir ein englisches Geschwader das von Osten kam an. Der von mir angegriffene Apparat (Sopwith-DD) übersch… stürzte nach dem ersten Angriff ab, scheinbar mehrere 100 m ab, fing sich wieder und stürzte nach mehrmaliger Wiederholung des Angriffs in der Gegend von Transloy ab. Der Maschine brachen beim Sturz die Flügel weg. Insassen tot.

Report on the planes I shot down near Transloy and Driencourt on September 14th.

On September 14th I took off around 9 a.m. with two aircraft from the Staffel. North of Bapaume we attacked an English squadron coming from the east. The apparatus I attacked (Sopwith-DD) übersch…. (perhaps Boelcke wanted to write überschlug/overturned) dropped after the first attack, apparently fell several 100 m, caught itself again and, after (I ) had repeated the attack several times, crashed in the Transloy area. The wings of the machine broke off when it fell. Occupants dead.

And this is what he wrote in his Flugbuch/ flight logbook:

1. Am 14.9. startete ich gegen 9 Uhr vormittags mit 2 Maschinen der Staffel . Nördlich Bapaume griffen wir ein englisches Geschwader, das von Osten kam, an. Der von mir angegriffene Apparat (Sopwith-Doppeldecker) stürzte nach mehrmaliger Wiederholung des Angriffes in der Gegend von Morval ab. Der Maschine brachen beim Sturz die Flügel weg. Insassen Tot. (Flugzeugführer Unteroffizier Name unbekannt. Beobachter Lt. Ale (sic).
Nummer des Flugzeuges A897. Machinegewehre haben Offiziere von der Artillerie an sich genommen.

On September 14th I took off around 9 a.m. with two aircraft from the Staffel. North of Bapaume we attacked an English squadron coming from the east. The apparatus I attacked (Sopwith biplane) crashed in the Morval area after repeating the attack several times. The wings of the machine broke off when it fell. Occupants dead.
(Pilot NCO name unknown. Observer Lt. Ale (sic).
Number of the aircraft A897. Machine guns were taken by officers from the artillery.

It's a bit different compared to the letter he wrote home.

Regards,

Jos

[R Gannon]

Boelcke’s #25 & #26

In pursuance of the questionable nature of the linking of Boelcke’s #24 to DH2 7873/2Lt JV Bowring pow; it is informative to indulge in a close examination of Boelcke’s #25 & #26 garnered on 15 Sep 16.

Situation - this was the day of the BEF’s major Somme push during September – delivered by 12 divisions with the support by 44 tanks between Theipval and Combles. Naturally the RFC was up in force and over the German side of the lines.

The version which Boelcke regaled his family reads, ‘[I]No.25 had to give me best the next morning. A squadron of seven English Sopwith Biplanes flew over our aerodrome [Bertincourt] on their way home. I took off at once and chased them. I came up with them near Hervilly, eastward of Peronne, but could do nothing for the moment because I was flying below them. The fellows took advantage of this to attack me. Impudence! I soon turned the tables on one of them and got one in my sights. I came nicely up to him and gave him about fifty rounds from close range – about twenty to forty meters. Then, having had enough, he went down – after Lieut. von Richthofen had also given him a few superfluous rounds – into a wood near Hesbecourt and crashed.’ The game-book have Boelcke credited with a ‘Sopwith DD’ at Hesbecourt wood timed 08.00 and given as diesseits. According to the Jasta Boelcke data this was ‘Sopwith DD A895 motor Nr 973’ and one must suspect this same information was incorporated in the heading of the original but now missing Luftkampfbericht. Superficially supporting the notion, the graves of the crew of A896 (Capt DL Cruikshank DSO MC kia & Lt RA Pearson kia) were later discovered Herbescourt. However, the glaring problem here is that this particular 70 Sqn Sopwith Strutter failed to return from an evening OP and was last seen going down trailing smoke, after the OP had been attacked by 4-5 HA which came out of the clouds near Ytres – neither the timing or the circumstances match Boelcke’s #25.

If one indulges in a close examination of the available data, then Boelcke’s ‘Sopwith DD’ that morning would seem to reflect Sopwith Strutter A1910 crewed by 2Lt HF Bowyer & 2Lt WB Saint [or perhaps A1913]; part of a four strong 70 Sqn morning OP detailed to patrol Bapaume to Cambrai. Evidently the OP made to attack two lower flying HA (Boelcke & MvR?), however three of the Strutters hesitated due to the presence of 3 more HA and only A1910 - 2Lt HF Bowyer & 2Lt WB Saint – initially attacked, subsequently becoming embroiled with both of the HA. Seeing this, Capt WJC Cochran Patrick (A1913) dove down to help, driving down one of two HA down and taking on the other, but in the process his gunner Capt FG Glenday was mortally wounded and he broke off the combat. The combat was figured as occurring between Equancourt & Ephy circa 07.15BT (08.15GT). Capt Patrick recrossed the lines and landed his A1913 at 15 Sqn. Evidently the other 3 HA joined in on the attack on A1910 and in turn the Lewis of 2Lt Saint jammed and he was hit along with the fuel pipes and the Strutter crashed within German lines. 2Lt Bowyer burnt his Strutter before being taken captive, however 2Lt Saint died of his wounds soon after. Post-war the grave of 2Lt Saint was found on the north side of Marquaix, which is 4km west of Hesbecourt. As it transpired Flugsport subsequently listed the machine of Bowyer & Saint as having been a ‘Nieuport’ (sic). Pointedly if one adds the four 70 Sqn Strutters to the three additional HA then one would arrive at the seven machines reported by Boelcke.

Boelcke’s version for his #26 is as follows, ‘About half an hour later I saw an enemy squadron disappearing northward of Peronne and flew there quickly with Richthofen. When I attacked one – they were Sopwith Biplanes too – he promptly put his nose down and tried to escape me in a steep dive. As he was fast as I was, I did not manage to get close to him, but hung on about one hundred and fifty meters away. We whizzed along as far as the lines in this fashion; I was behind him all the time, putting in a shot every now and then. As we were only about two hundred meters up over the front, I gave him one good final burst and then broke away. He crashed about five hundred meters behind enemy lines.’ The game-books would give Eterpigny timed 08.15 with the appellation ‘jenseits’, however the Jasta Boelcke data gives his opponent as being an ‘FE-DD gefangen 1 verwundet [captured 1 wounded]’ and one must presume these details were entered into the heading of Boelcke’s now lost Luftkampfbericht. Despite this and based on the available evidence, it would seem that Boelcke’s second opponent had almost certainly been Strutter A1903 from 70 Sqn flown by 2Lt M Kemsley and which was evidently one of the four Stutters Boelcke initially engaged and which subsequently crashed back inside Allied lines with the gunner 2Lt JC Beatty being killed in the crash (70 Sqn history however implies A1903 made it back to Fienvillers). One might suspect that the ‘FE-DD gefangen 1 verwundet’ in the Jasta Boelcke data in relation to #26 reflects a best guess for the burnt-out wreck of A1910 and the wounded crewman reflected 2Lt Saint [2Lt Bowyer probably having been marched off]. But of course, this is all of this is at odds with Boelcke’s accounting, which states his opponent went down over the Allied side which is supported by the game-book notation of ‘jenseits’.

All of this looks to be indicative of what I often postulate; that the pilots of the Jagdstaffeln often times did not observe the results of their aerial combats and post mission would conduct a ring-around seeking word of any downed Allied machines which they would subsequently lay claim to with a Luftkampfbericht tailored to suit. Now in fairness the Sofl, and their successors the Kofl, had neither the resources or the time to carry out an inquest into each and every Allied wreck found within German lines and it looks as if it was all too easy for them to accept the wrecks as being those claimed shot down by their airmen. In this instance, Boelcke clearly laid claim to the wreck of A895 (lost during the evening) as reflecting his #25 and the burnt out A1910 (his first opponent), mis-identified as a ‘FE-DD’, looks to have been seized upon as reflecting his #26 despite the claim being jenseits.

It would be interesting to see how Boelcke’s claims were written up on the notepaper.

Russ

[R Gannon]

In regards Boelcke’s #25; it is also interesting to recap the involvement of Capt WJCK Cochran-Patrick; Communiques recounting that his Sopwith [A1912], ‘dived at two hostile machines which were attacking another Sopwith. One of the Germans was driven down and crashed. Capt Patrick attacked the second German machine, but was forced to break off the fight as his observer was wounded – Capt Glenday died in hospital as the result of his wounds.’ I think it is fair to say the pilots of the two hostile machines were Boelcke and MvR and they were engaging Strutter A1910. One of the HA was driven down and indeed was thought to have crashed – however the latter was probably a fog-of-war mis-identification of A1910 crashing. But which of the two German pilots was driven down – Boelcke or MvR? If it was Boelcke, then one might speculate the ‘superfluous’ rounds which Boelcke said were fired by MvR, may well have been aimed at Capt Cochran Patrick’s A1913 and mortally wounding Capt Glenday. However, if it was MvR who was driven down, then the apprentice’s supposedly ‘superfluous’ rounds may have sent A1910 down, and in turn Boelcke’s ‘Sopwith DD’ could well have been Capt Cochran-Patrick’s A1913, which whilst the observer was mortally wounded, was not actually shot down.

Russ

[FOKKERJ]

Originally Posted by R Gannon

In regards Boelcke’s #25; it is also interesting to recap the involvement of Capt WJCK Cochran-Patrick; Communiques recounting that his Sopwith [A1912], ‘dived at two hostile machines which were attacking another Sopwith. One of the Germans was driven down and crashed. Capt Patrick attacked the second German machine, but was forced to break off the fight as his observer was wounded – Capt Glenday died in hospital as the result of his wounds.’ I think it is fair to say the pilots of the two hostile machines were Boelcke and MvR and they were engaging Strutter A1910. One of the HA was driven down and indeed was thought to have crashed – however the latter was probably a fog-of-war mis-identification of A1910 crashing. But which of the two German pilots was driven down – Boelcke or MvR? If it was Boelcke, then one might speculate the ‘superfluous’ rounds which Boelcke said were fired by MvR, may well have been aimed at Capt Cochran Patrick’s A1913 and mortally wounding Capt Glenday. However, if it was MvR who was driven down, then the apprentice’s supposedly ‘superfluous’ rounds may have sent A1910 down, and in turn Boelcke’s ‘Sopwith DD’ could well have been Capt Cochran-Patrick’s A1913, which whilst the observer was mortally wounded, was not actually shot down.

Russ.

Hi Russ,

Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter A1913 was recently discussed here. While I respect both of yours and Graeme's knowledge here, I do not want to nitpick dates or Crew Names, of course now I would like to know which Crew manned the A1913 here. My main question is:

Was A1913 captured intact?

Originally Posted by Graeme

In terms of the '1913' serial, the closest I can find is 1½ Strutter A1913 which was shot down behind the German lines on 17 September 1916 with Lieut Oswald Nixon being killed & Lieut R Wood being taken prisoner; however, they were from No 70 Squadron RFC, not an RNAS unit.

Graeme

Cheers, FOKKERJ

[R Gannon]

Boelcke’s #24

Returning to Boelcke’s #24 timed 10.10GT on 14 Sep 16 – it is hoped that my preceding posts demonstrate that German game-book credits are far from secure and particularly so when it comes to many an Allied machine which become appended to them as being the victim. Boelcke clearly took credit for ‘Vickers DD 7873’, but DH2 7873, flown by 2Lt JV Bowring, failed to return from an evening OP led by Capt AM Wilkison, as is demonstrate by the presence of his name and DH2 number on the 24 Sqn joint Combat Report (attached). Furthermore to recap Bowring’s RPS, which gave his place of capture as ‘Near Bapaume’ and related, ‘Whilst on offensive patrol near Bapaume machine hit in several places by E.A’s. Previous to this I had been slightly wounded in the feet, attacked E.A. but engine failed and forced to land.’ Which if one place in the context of the Combat Report narrative, rather suggests 2Lt Bowring’s DH2 was damaged and his foot wound was incurred, when Capt Wilkinson placed his OP between the 22 Sqn FEs and the four HA, three of which made off east with their observers returning a ‘heavy fire’ – fire which no doubt struck Bowring and his DH2. And of course, 2Lt Bowring has no note of being attacked by any HA, only that his engine subsequently failed when he attempted to attack a HA – one might presume the single seater monoplane attacked by Lt Knight & Sgt Cockerall. So as to the premise of this thread, ‘Shot down by Boelcke’ – the hard evidence says no.