Read Online 1915 Fokker Scourge (British Ace Book 2) by Griff Hosker - Free Book Online Page A

that is what I thought.
    “Of course that wouldn’t work. The other Gunbus would have to be flying in the opposite direction.”
    It suddenly dawned on me. “Not necessarily. Here give me the pencil.”  I took the paper and drew a circle of aeroplanes.  “If we flew in a circle this would work.” He looked at my drawing.  “When I was in the cavalry we had a manoeuvre we sometimes used.  It had a fancy name that I can’t remember now but it basically involved the troop riding in a circle and each man firing when they reached the same spot.  We were all protected by the man behind.  If we flew in a circle we could still move forwards but just a little slower. The gunner in the front could fire on any German which attacked another.”
    Billy pounced on the paper.  “It wouldn’t be a flat circle it would be like a spiral so that the vulnerable aeroplane; the one on the bottom would only be there briefly and another Gunbus would come up to help him.”
    “Damned good idea!”
    We must have been making a noise for Ted and Gordy came in.  “Are you two ladies having a party in here and if so why weren’t we invited?”
    Lieutenant Campbell proffered the sheet of paper.  “Bill has just come up with a way of eliminating the blind spot. Look.”
    “Actually lads, we both came up with it.”
    Billy nodded his thanks and explained to the two of them how it worked.  They looked at it and I said, “Well?”
    “It will work but I don’t think his lordship will wear it.”
    Ted’s comment deflated us. “You may be right but the four of us know about it and if we are jumped then we can try it.  The beauty of it is that the system works as long as you have at least four aeroplanes.  More would be better but it gives us more of a chance and we might avoid ending up like Johnny Holt in a ploughed field.”
    They nodded their agreement.  Gordy put his right hand out, “We’ll be the four who watch each other’s backs.”
    We all put our hands together and a bond was formed that night in the lamp lit tent. When I went to sleep later that night I felt much better.  I no longer felt alone. The camaraderie of the cavalry was back; hopefully it would not end in the same slaughter as that experience had.
    There were only four aeroplanes ready to fly the next day and as luck would have it those four were ours.  We were ordered to patrol the front line and prevent enemy aeroplanes from observing our lines or attacking our field. Perhaps they had the same damage as we had because, disappointingly, no German aeroplanes appeared and we had no opportunity to try our new idea out.
    The major had been noticeable by his absence and we almost had a normal squadron life.  By the end of the week, when the eight aeroplanes we had were serviceable, all of that changed. The two pilots without aeroplanes were sent back to England to collect their new Gunbuses and to bring back the two replacement pilots. The rest of us, including our observers, were gathered in the large mess tent.
    “There is going to be a big push in about a month or so.” We all looked at each other.  There had been rumours running around the squadron for the last few weeks.  “Quiet down! You sound like a bunch of excited school girls.” We were all suitably chastened and looked at his board again. “Our task is to prevent the German reconnaissance aeroplanes from observing the movements behind our lines.  We have been given twenty miles of the front to cover.”
    Captain Marshall marked on the map where the sector was.
    “Your route will be a square. You are not to cross no-man’s land and you are not to initiate combat. If German aeroplanes attempt to cross our front lines then you can engage but I want to make it quite clear, gentlemen , that you will not take your aeroplanes to attack the Germans on their side of the front.” As he was staring at the three of us, ‘the old sergeants’, we knew that he meant us in particular.”We have the