Fokker Claims

[parachute]

I am currently researching the career of a Canadian Observer 2nd Lt Henry Cawling Wood ( born 27.4.1893) who served with 48 Squadron in September 1918. I am trying to find further details of 2 claims he made for the destruction of a Fokker on the 2nd September and the 26th September. The pilot on both occasions was 2nd Lt William Stanley Rycroft. Any help would be most appreciated.

[topgun1918]

As far as I know, Wood made only a single claim, that on 26 September 1918, when Rycroft and Wood were part of a five-machine patrol that was attacked by eight Fokkers east of Menin.  Three Fokkers got on the tail of their machine and Rycroft manoeuvred to shake them off and allow Wood a better shot.  Wood opened fire at 75 yards' range, his bullets hitting the Fokker's engine and fuselage; the Fokker did a quick turn and dived vertically for 1,000 feet, whereupon it burst into flames.   

Rycroft's observer on 2 September was 2nd-Lieut John James Ward; they claimed a Fokker out of control north of Menin at 19:30 (British Time).

Wood was wounded on 29 September, went to hospital on 3 October and was declared medically unfit on 8 November until a Medical Board, dated 25 February 1919, found him fit for General Service, Observer's duties.  He was placed on the Unemployed List on 13 April 1919.

The award of his Distinguished Flying Cross was announced in the 'Peace Gazette' of 3 June 1919, there being no accompanying citation; the award of the Belgian Croix de Guerre was announced in the London Gazette of 15 July 1919.

Graeme

 

[parachute]

Graeme,

Very many thanks for answering my question so swiftly, and your research very interesting. I obtained the information from his DFC recommendation sent by (Sir) Keith Park to HQ and onto Second Brigade HQ, where it states he personally accounted for two enemy aeroplanes. Obviously the wrong date for 2nd September. I will keep digging, and thanks again.

[RaySearching]

As an aside]

I believe Charlie Polansky holds the record for shooting down 25 Fokker Wolfs

[stevenbecker]

That's not the old joke again

 

[Matthew King]

Here is an article Rycroft wrote about his and Wood's crash. I noticed the dates are wrong, the crash occurred on the 29th September but it is a great read: 

At ten o'clock on the night of September 16, 1918... I was sitting on a wooden bench in a hanger of the British Royal Air Force with a fellow officer of the 48 Squadron.... The RAF consisted of only thirty-seven aircraft when World War I broke out in 1914. However by 1918, Britian had produced 50,000 planes.... of which 36,000 had already been destroyed....

Lt. Cowan, an Australian, was sitting beside me. He was a soft-spoken, well-liked fellow of twenty-five. I was only nineteen. He had been in this squadron much longer than I had --- that is, two months --- and that is a long time in the life of an RAF pilot in those perilous days. Cowan announced that I was to go with him on "a special show" with two other planes to provide cover for the RE-8s. "We leave at dawn...."

I went to bed to try and get some sleep, but September 17 dawned too soon with my first waking thoughts of the usual danger which lay ahead --- flying right over the enemy lines, something I had never done.

As I climbed into the cockpit, the familiar sign "MT YOUR POCKETS" reminded me not to carry any written documents, in case I was taken prisoner. As we approached the area (forty miles from our base) with the German AA guns very active, I lost sight of Cowan's plane. The suddenly his plane swept across my tail, jamming one rudder and elevator, leaving us out of control. My plane became like a leaf floating in the air. (The Bristol Fighter was a reconnaissance-fighter plane, with a 275-horsepower motor.... The cockpit was open, and a Vickers gun fired through the propeller. The observer sat behind the pilot in an open cockpit and had a Lewis machine gun fixed to the rear.) 

When the collision occurred, Henry Wood, my observer, realizing that I had lost control of the plane, acted without hesitation. Undoing his safety belt, he climbed out of the cockpit and grasped the gun mounting with both hands. Instinctively, he felt that if he could lie on the fuselage, this would transfer the weight of the plane and bring the plane down.... His body floated like a flag on a pole for a second or two before coming down full-weight on the fuselage. Immediately, the plane flattened out.... but we crashed in No-Man's Land, at a place called Kortewold, several miles from Ypres. The Germans had retreated from the spot just fifteen minutes before we crashed.... Both Wood and I spent several months in the hospital recuperating from serious injuries....

Wood saved both our lives. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross, presented by the Prince of Wales in June, 1919, and died at the age of 76. After the war was over I reflected on the many heroic exploits and many tragedies, and often asked myself the question, "Why was my life saved by the heroic act of one man who was willing to risk his life for my salvation?"

That close call with death --- as well as others --- left deep impressions on me which did not fade as the years went by. The life changing experience in mid-air led me to feel that my life had been given back to me on purpose.... In 1920, I joined the Student Volunteer Movement which then led me to volunteer for missionary service. 

Rycroft, W. Stanley, and John H. Sinclair. “Collision (and Conversion) in Mid-Air, 1918.” The Journal of Presbyterian History (1997-), vol. 86, no. 1, 2008, pp. 25–26. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/23338075.

 

Here is my Grandfather diary entry from the 29th September 1918: 

Flying with Lt. Norris from 8.15 till 10.10. Dropped one 112lb bomb on Ledeghem railway sidings. 8 Fokker Biplanes engaged NE of Menin & 12 N of Menin. Indecisive, many trains observed. A.A. fire slight. Vis. fair.

Flying from 12.15 till 1.55. Dropped one 112lb bomb NE of Armentières. Very dud weather. Vis, poor. Rainstorms encountered. Two of our machines collided when low flying over the lines. Lieut Cowan returned with large hole in plane. Lieut Rycroft landed & since heard admitted to hospital wounded also Lt. Wood.

Flying from 5.15 till 6.55. Very stormy & misty. No E.A. or A.A.

Reginald White, Diary, 29/09/1918

[Perth Digger]

Thanks, Matthew. As you say, interesting, or, a good yarn in Australian.

Mike

[parachute]

Matthew,

How very kind of you to pick up my thread from over a year ago, with some very interesting information which I appreciate, this really brings this story together, thank you. 

With Kind Regards,

Parachute.