Poem ~ Fighting Above The Mud, Monday 6 August 1917 - Wednesday 8 August 1917

Source: File: German Aerodrome. See an original image at: <http://www.earlyaeroplanes.com/archive/image5/GermanAerodromes.jpg> [Accessed 06 August 2017]

Winter in August enshrouded

In dankness; an army dug in as well

As they could into a swampland.

Vile Flemish weather created

Glutinous mud; shell holes as ponds.

As insects in a ploughed field

Walking wounded made their way as

Best they could, trying to avoid

Shelling arriving at clearing

Stations, as weary figures of mud. 

The foulest of weather was not

Confined to ground, where in the air

The forces of aircraft did not

Hesitate to take part over

Enemy territory to create havoc.

31 July saw keen embarkation

Of eager airmen to add their part,

Swooping low over marching

Heads of enemy to scatter

Them, or taking bombs to camps.

These airmen often flying low

At tree height - as one air pilot did

Till coming to an aerodrome.

He targeted the hangers - those

On ground initially saw him as own.

Then a bomb hit the first hanger

Causing panic, whilst he swooped

To the open doors firing inside -

Lifting, soaring to the second

Shed to provide a gift of a bomb.

A third hanger took another

Bomb; a delay in the handle's action

Sent fourth bomb onto ground

Near to a railway siding, close

To a train - the Germans took aim.

They fired at the English

Plane but the pilot undeterred led

Straight into them in return

Of fire, to scatter them about -

At 20ft to target the sheds again.

Firing last of his bullets the pilot

Lifted away to a cloud. With renewed

Ammunition this aerodrome

Saw the return of the flyer so

Low to skim the ground again,

Firing into hangers on mechanics.

Having left that aerodrome

In disarray, the English pilot came

Across two German officers

On horseback, to dive low

Over their heads; the horses bolted.

Further along from a height

the pilot swooped to a marching

German column, letting loose

Fire In their midst, they scattered

To seek safety in ditch and hedge.

Having used all ammunition

The pilot retreated to fix a third

Drum - he emerged from

Cloud to discover German

Craft in pursuit in ariel battle.

In evasive action and

Reaction the three fought briefly,

Until in pursuit a German

Crashed to ground to see

A German crowd gather round.

Without hesitation he turned

Again and targeted the crowd.

The British pilot left them

To encounter a civil train

Finishing bullets returned to base.

by Jamie Mann.

Gibb.P,1917. Heroic Airman In The Battle Of Flanders -Amazing Exploits. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 03 August 1917. P.5. Col.5-6. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214748/Daily-Telegraph-August-3-1917.html [Accessed: 06 August 2017].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 06 August 2017). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12214748/Daily-Telegraph-August-3-1917.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ A. Fokkers Machine Gun - Sunday, 23 January 1916

Source: File: Pilot Roland Garros.jpg. [online] see an original image at: <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Roland_Garros_%28aviator%29.jpg> Accessed: 23 January 2016].

Impression sketch of Anthony Herman Gerard Fokker - by Jamie.

While the Fokker types had been fighting

The skies for some time already,

It came to be heard in the French British

Headquarters, of Berlin's jubilations

For the latest Fokker Type's success.

From the early days of observer crafts,

To the types on both sides to drop

Bombs on their opponent’s soil, restless

Innovations went stages further,

Adding machinery of mounted guns.

While there had been varying successes,

A big step had been made by French -

No April's Fool, Roland Garros took to sky

1 April 1915 - to pilot his aircraft,

Fitted with a specialist machine gun.

Armor plating had been fitted to the lower

Blades, added to deflect any bullets

Most likely to damage spinning propellers -

This success led to five kills;

In a short time Garros became an ace.

Within twenty days pilot Garros' craft

Was taken down behind enemy

Lines - German aircraft builder Anthony

Fokker was under rapid orders,

To replicate the French gun's ability.

Overcoming the Frenchman's rudimentary

Methods, to allow propeller's action

To take control of the firing mechanism -

The bullets would fly through

Gaps of the spinning aircraft blades.

The skeptic Generals saw the success

Of a demonstration, to order

Fokker to take to the sky in a practical

Test - when on targeting a French

Plane Fokker declined to make a kill.

Fokker the engineer was not a killer -

To tell the Generals they would

Have to take that step - this they did

As a German pilot proved

The effectiveness of gun's success.

This fact soon became obvious

To those of the allied crafts -

As the numbers of Fokkers being

Responsible for downing

Allies - seen as temporary advantage.

In order to influence allied optimism,

Given opposition of enemy

Purposes, who faced allied spirits -

To send ten British planes 
For every German who ventured close.

Temporary Fokkers successes lay 
Under the banner of what 
was in preparation - that revelations

Would be soon flying out

From Britain's upcoming surprises. 

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Air Fights In France - Britain's Coming 'Surprises'. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 22 January 1916. P.10. Col.5. Available at http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12108572/Daily-Telegraph-January-22-1916.html [Accessed: 22 January 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 22 January 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12108572/Daily-Telegraph-January-22-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ In The Lap of a Dead Man - Saturday, 15 January 1916

Impression sketch of Flying Corps Officer crawling to pilots seat - by Jamie.

With the fearless nature of youth,

That has a tendency to try

Anything new - were proof

Of right stuff for the Flying Corps.

Such were the type as those two

That took off on a course -

At 10,000 feet into danger

Of airspace to encounter enemy.

One young flying Corps officer

Returned a letter home,

To tell of both their fates,

As they flew in clouds to fight.

In the front seat of the aircraft,

An officer led challenge,

As two German planes

Opened up gunnery at them.

The fight reached a stage, when

The burst of a shell close by,

Shook the craft - shrapnel

Burst through the air past him.

Within five, ten, twenty seconds,

The craft fell, twisting

Down to five thousand

Feet, the craft rocked as he looked.

The young pilot Barnaby, aged 19,

Was dead from shrapnel -

The only thing he could do

Was to reach the controls behind.

In the swaying air he made a move,

And climbed to sit on dead

Barnaby’s lap to pull controls,

Levelling out of that death plunge.

Cutting out the engine the officer

Guided the craft to ground -

Knowing Barnaby's death

At 10,000 feet, gave him time to act.

Admitting to his shock, the officer

Told how he forget virtually

Everything over two days -

When captured in December 1915.

Such can be the brazenness of youth

To approach game combat

As a sport - to meet victorious

To shake hands in fight's conclusion.

In meeting the English speaking

German, he learned how

His machine gun forced

Him down - having shot petrol tank.

By mutual English acquaintance,

Two German officers,

Gave him champagne

And dinner of oysters, in civil irony.

From honour among pilots, perhaps

Knowing shared dangers -

He arrived at a prisoner

Of war camp to share with officers.

The observer concluded to say how

Playing tennis and hockey,
With eight English officers

Helped cure shock; being well treated.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1916. Thrilling Air Fight - Descent With A Dead Pilot. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 15 January 1916. P.10. Col.3. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12093316/Daily-Telegraph-January-15-1916.html [Accessed: 15 January 2016].

Mann, J., 2016. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 15 January 2016). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/12093316/Daily-Telegraph-January-15-1916.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ A Story of Sidney Sipper, Aviator - Friday, 23 April 1915

Impression Sketch of aerial bombing technique - By Jamie Mann. An original images can be seen at: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Russian-Scout-German-Torture-Panasuk/dp/B000S8DL5A

Impression Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, G.m.b.H., 1915. (The Cog-wheel and Gear Works).  Friedrichshafen and Lake Constance in the background - By Jamie Mann. An original images can be seen at: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32570/32570-h/32570-h.htm

The sister of Sydney Sippie, an aviator,

Wrote to tell her New Zealand friend,

Living in Wellington, about her brother's

Exploits, over the frontline of France.

Proudly speaking of young Sydney,

Who one bitterly cold morning, some

Weeks before - had set off on a flight

With avaitors Briggs and Babbington.

In temperatures under ten degrees

Below zero, the flight commanders

Took to the skies at ten in the morning.

Determinedly to head for enemy target.

On reaching Friedrichshafen, under

Enemy fire of eight machine guns,

Sydney could see nothing of Briggs;

The air filled with shrapnel bullets.

With the target spotted below, of gas

And other industrial sites, Sydney

Sippie dropped his flight to release

His bombs over enemy buildings.

Coming into view beside him, waved

Commander Babbington - yet still

No sign of Briggs - having dropped

His load, Sydney Sipper started bac.k

Commander Sipper's tactic was

To volplane down to a nearby lake,

To rise again, under cover of mists,

His intentions worked to fool enemy.

A German report stated he crashed

Into the lake - Sydney flew across

Mountains over 260 miles, to arrive

On the same spot, all in 3 hours 50.

Despite some slight written confusion

In the narrative, Commander Briggs

Was heard to have been captured,

Having been shot down in early stages.

The sister of Sydney Sipper was glad

It was not him - after a shock  to hear

One captured and one shot down, came

To receive relief in a wire from Sydney.

In carrying on accoun,t Sydney’s sister

Tells how both flyers were, the next day,

Decorated with the Legion of Honour -

Before the complete garrison at Belfort.

Little more than boys with Sydney 25

And Babbington, younger than him,

The band played and flags were flying

As the garrison marched with salutes.

After a whole days to celebrate, boys

Were then given an elaborate dinner -

In presence of staff officers, colonels

And generals being presented to them.

Their menus of the meal were signed

By them, with some well known names

Among them - The sister of Sydney

Concludes on a more sombre note.

Her brother had been at Antwerp during

The bombardment - amid the last to leave

They crossed the pontoon bridge, shielding

Their faces from the oil burning on water.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. A Daring Young Airman. The New Zealand Freelance, [online] 23 Apr. P.23. Col.1-2. Available at: http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZFL19150423.2.37&e=-------10--1----0--[Accessed: 23 April 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 23 April 2015). 

http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&d=NZFL19150423.1.23&e=-------10--1----0--

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ New U Boat Destroyed - Thursday, 25 March 1915

Impression sketch of attack on shipyard of Hoboken, 1915 - sketch by Jamie.

Source: File: U Boat sections in transport.jpg, 2015. Sections of SM UB-13 loaded on railroad flatcars for shipment to Antwerp. The boat was assembled and launched there in March 1915. [online] Available at: <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Sections_of_SM_UB-13_on_train.jpg> [Accessed: 25 March 2015].

With German workers building submarines in Antwerp,

It was the British plan to destroy them.

The date assigned for the mission for this being 24 March.

With Antwerp under Germans hands,

The shipyard of Hoboken became the target for pilots.

The three aviators, from their French base, followed

Belgian coast - at one enemy station,

An enemy Taube lifted up to give them a hard chase,

But the British moved at speed

Easily preventing the Taube's abilities to catch them.

The hour was early when the sea base came in sight -

7.30 a.m. Cockerill's shipyard

Seen below - while at some height they were in danger.

Anti-aircraft guns opened up,

From varied sites of the city came shells and gun shots.

The air about bursts, but they failed to hit in the mist.

While two pilots had to return

To Dunkirk Flight Lieutenant Rusher and colleague

Commander Courtney dived

Their craft down towards the shipyard docks.

With descent at a steep angle, the pilots leveled out

At some 100 yards above

The dock, where the submarines sat exposed,

Letting go of the bombs.

Each one hitting a target, enough for destruction.

Information had previously leaked of a German ruse

To disguise a sea craft as a boat -

Carefully crafted behind a wall, the image of a boat

Disguised a submarine underneath.

The foiled enemy saw one destroyed another damaged.

The practice of the Germans had been to bring their

Submarines in sections, by rail

And construct the sea craft in the docks, for launching.

A single German aircraft

Took to the sky after them, but was unable to catch them.

Wit the English pilots leaving in southwesterly direction,

One pilot had engine trouble,

Flight Lieutenant Crossley-Meates had to make descent

On Zeeland island of Kruningen.

Crossley-Meates was later reported interned at Gronigen.

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. A Daring Exploit - Exciting Spectacle. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 25 Mar. P.9. Col.4. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11490657/Daily-Telegraph-March-25-1915.html [Accessed: 25 March 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 25 March 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11490657/Daily-Telegraph-March-25-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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Poem ~ Flying Blind From Hun - Monday, 8 March 1915

Impression of 'Flying Blind from the Hun' by Jamie

When the Flanders fight was at its height,

The use of aircraft played an importance

In reconnaissance of the ground enemy.

In undertaking orders two flyers took

To the air - the pilot in rank of sergeant

Was to fly the craft, along with a lieutenant

To act as the observer, for their mission.

The order was to locate an enemy battery -

A cleverly hidden German gun whose fire

Had been proving a nuisance to allies.

Within a few short miles they flew above

German lines - their presence attracted

A perfect storm - as shellfire shook

The air, the pilot banked higher towards

Their target village - the observer gave

Exclamation of spotting 'the devils' -

In advising their mission was completed,

The Lieutenant gave the sergeant orders

To turn about - under a sergeant's hands

The craft manoeuvred - turned again into

A rain of gunfire, pummelling all about

Them. Within 500 air yards the blast

Of smoke smothered their course.

In the density that cut down his visibility

He gripped the control to take them

Above the popping - one accurate hit

Burst above their heads with a deadly

Crash - the sergeant said how he felt

Like his head had burst, to envelope

Him in sickness, as a of fog shut out

All of the light - against the pain

He used his sense to maintain a height

To dodge the shells that were less and

Less - but still the fog hung all about.

The sergeant called to the Lieutenant

Asking if he was okay  - yet no reply

Came - calling again, as he may not

Have heard, the sergeant clenched

And opened his eyes on instant night.

At 6000 feet above ground, he felt

Alone and fear closed on him - below

Sounds of the guns popped and spat -

And in prayer he offered up his soul

Then his mission  - to return and tell

Those on the ground, of what they

Had found - in darkness he directed

What he felt to be the right direction.

Despite a lack of light, his determination

Kept a steady course for two minutes

In silence - when the Lieutenant's

Voice called out to him in urgency -

'Pull up pull up! In quick reaction 

The Sergeant acted, grazing what

Was a church steeple to break off

A weather vane in close destruction.

Their shouted conversation revealed

Their conditions the lieutenant said

How he was severely wounded the

Pilot confessed he was quite blinded.

With one set of hands and one set

Of eyes, the dying Lieutenant told

Him the direction to fly, back to their

Lines - to the left and straight ahead.

The craft in a blind man's hands

Dipped back over the enemy lines,

Bullets prompting them to turn -

The observer, sinking in his seat,

Confirmed the place below them,

Where their men were waiting

The weakening eyes informed the

Hands to 'shut off the spark' - now

'Volplane gently down' - after which

Silence, as the sergeant directed

Them down in a blackened spiral.

Finally the wheels grated onto

Ground - the craft at rest, those

On the ground came over to look

At the 'handsome strong pilot,'

Who could not see the slumped

Body of the man who had breathed

His last - the pale sergeant turned

To them and by gesture of resignation

He told them 'I can not do it again.'

by Jamie Mann.

Anon.,1915. War in the Air  - Blinded Pilot and Dying Lieutenant. The Daily Telegraph, [online] 8 Mar. P.10. Col.5. Available at: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447736/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1915.html [Accessed: 8 March 2015].

Mann, J., 2015. 100 years Ago - Poems by Jamie Mann. [letter] (Personal communication, 8 March 2015). 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ww1-archive/11447736/Daily-Telegraph-March-8-1915.html

http://worldwaroneblogger.blogspot.co.uk/

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