A Day with a Corps Squadron at Ypres,
August, 1918.
THE JOURNAL OF THE YPRES LEAGUE.
Voi,. 3. No. 7. Published Quarterly. July, 1927
By A MEMBER OF THE LATE No. 10 SQUADRON, R.A.F.
If the weather permitted, the day for us began with a dawn patrol. The sleepy pilot
and observer detailed off for this would roll out of bed about an hour before dawn, and
hastily swallow a meal by candle light in the mess. After this they would walk out into
the 'drome beneath bright starlight to where the 'plane stood looming in front of one of
the hangars. The trees, at this hour, would be wet with dew, and the hollows shrouded
with white mist.
Although the aerodrome was several miles from the lines, the distant muttering of
the guns could often be heard, and sometimes the hum of an F.E. returning from a night
bombing raid. Each pilot had his own machine, and this would be waiting for him, so
that no time was lost in starting and testing the engine. Taking off in pitch dark,
with no guiding lights, from a small aerodrome, such as the one at Droglands, where we
were stationed, was rather trying at first. One soon got used to it though, and was soon
climbing over the village of Houtkerque to Poperinghe, with the!yellow glare of the exhaust
pipe in front. We used to pass over Poperinghe at about 2,000 feet, and fly down the
Ypres road via Vlamertinghe. Even on the darkest night Ypres showed up as a ghostly
white triangle. The patrol was usually carried out at about 3,000 feet, and extended
from Ypres to a point beyond Mt. Kemmel. Fresh enemy batteries would be sought,
and a look-out kept for signs of enemy movement behind the lines. In August, 1918, the
line ran in front of the empty Zillebeke lake, through Ridge Wood and in front of Mt.
Kemmel. The pilot had a couple of bombs to release, and these would be dropped on
any target he might deem worthy of them. It is surprising how high machine-gun and
rifle fire is effective against aircraft. One of our observers was fatally wounded by a shot
from below while flying at 3,000 feet.
With the coming of the dawn the pilot would switch off his dashboard lights, and the
observer would study his map more closely. What a sight the Salient presented from the
air! The battlefields themselves were nothing but a broad band of brown. Towards
Pop." this gave way to a pock-marked green. Two or three balloons would be up in this
area. The line bulged right in where the enemy had swept forward in March. All that
ground that had been so bitterly contested for so many years was now theirs but with
a thrill one saw that Ypres was still ours. The line bent round in time to include the
smashed and shattered city among the towns we had saved. Somehow, even then one
knew that the tide had turned in our favour. We had command of the air, and a superiority
in guns.
During the hot weather in August we had a good deal of trouble with boiling engines.
A
