Charles E W Bean, Diaries, AWM38 3DRL 606/87/1 - August 1917 - Part 5

10
42
not fighting if they can
help it at present - it
is quite hard to bring them
to a fight. They are
either very low - too
low to fight safely, or
very high. If you attack
we are out every day -
I ws out this morning
you know" he added - I
had heard a major of one
sqn, where we called to
xxxxx find / way, tell
a young scot (who came
in in his shirtsleeves &
sd " I think we'll carry
on") - "It's dangerous
to fly today - I'm sure
its dangerous ; there's
too much wind." -

10
43
The Germans are shooting
at them w some weapon
wh they dont guite know
/ nature of -  tracer
shells they can tell, but
there is also a weapon
missile which is sent
up in bunches of four,
all in flame, known
as the "string of onions." -
Probably phosphorous of
some kind to burn your x
planes." he sd. They
can see both of these
missiles fired in the air
by day.
The Germans fire 3 kinds
of bullets from their machine
guns inx - they are in
rotation in the belt: tracer,
armour piercing, explosive,

10
44
tracer; armour piercing.
explosive - Edwards showed
us all three. The Explosive
bullet is dangerous to play
about with. It has a tiny
hole down the core of it, much
smaller than tt of the old.
pre-Boer war dum-dums;" it
explodes in
Hand drawn diagram - see original
the air, the
rush of air down the central
hole setting the Explosive
xxxxxxxx arrangements going. It wd
Set fire to the planes if it hit
them.
Edwards was, as
Gullett said to me afterwds,
probably an ordinary little
chap, in private life, but
dignified by the sort of
Exaltation of his sacrifice
of himself to this simple end of

10
45
sport.  It ws a sport to
him & his life ws staked on
it recklessly.  The row
of Liqueur bottles a along their
messroom wall, with
recipes for I think it was
21 cocktails above them
caught Gulletts eye at once.
"That's the alternative," he sd
"I wish you had seen it -
it was xxxx xx awfully significant.-"
Poor chaps - I expect it is.
That pace cant last. It must
be either death or a breakdown
- & a breakdown probably
means, well, those bottles
show what.
Edwards was ready to
talk a good deal once the ice
was broken - poor little chap.
I suppose the chance of immortality 

10
46
for their deeds & name
is to one earthly ambition
which these boys cling onto
- they must see the next
few weeks ahead of them as
the short crammed hour
which remains, a short
straight blind alley - wth
almost entirely shut out by
the stern regulations of the
army from any publicity
or recognition by the nation
of their deeds. The rule is tt Germans & French
publish the names of leading fliers but our rule is
that they must not on any
account be mentioned by
their names; x a little short
notoriety within their corps
& then - flash out - that
is the chance they see ahead of
them.
Edwards kept a book
& he let me copy some

47
O.P=
Offensive Patrol

10
48
pages which I picked
in it.  I have not noted
the length of each flight but
they ran from about 45 mins
to 1 hr. 40 min & to 2hrs
10 mins in some cases. The
average seemed about the 1 hr 10
mins to 1 hr 30 mins.
Remarks.
Patrol, Lille to Dunkirk, Defence of King.
Dunkirk - Test gun in sea
O.P. Numerous Enemy aeroplanes.
Had a fight. Got 2.
O.P. Gun not working
O.P. High Tension Wire broke .... 2 Cylinders
O.P. Gun not working
O.P. Engine trouble.
O.P. Escort. Brought down by Archie & crashed
alone. Saw several E.A.
Brought new machine from St Omer
Very cloudy, Saw 3 E.A.
Fired on several E.A. Numerous enemy in
Sight O.P. 

10
49

50
Remarks.
OP. Very cloudy & raining. Attacked
one 2 Seater E.A.
O.P. Engine & gun trouble.
[Total time flying since commencement
(including many flights not here) 75 hrs 54 m.]
C.E.W.B.

Fired at one EA. Saw numerous EA. O.P.
Saw 8 EA scouts. Very cloudy.
Dived at one. EA scout. gun not firing.
Dived at 2 EA Scouts. Numerous
EA visible
Fired at one EA Scout. Dived at others but
gun not firing.
Very cloudy & misty. gun not firing.
"   "     "     "       "            Saw one EA scout
"   "     "     "       "            No EA.
Very cloudy + raining towards night
on Patrol.
Decisive combat with one EA scout.
Decisive combat with one Enemy 2 seater,
Observer fell out.
Engine test.
Had combat with 4 Enemy aeroplane scouts
and one two-seater.
Dived at one E A scout.
Very cloudy, attacked by eight. 

51

[Day of Battle
of Ypres.
C.E.W.B.]

[*There is a big
difce between
this & arty flying
work.
All Aust. Sqns fighting Sqns,
Except one - with Corps. These men are
flying in our
own fire,
accepting the
chance. Compare the
way this used to
be considered in
Esp. SA. war. / i.e.
The fact of arty
sometimes hitting
our own men
ws spoken of in whispers -
Almost like shooting
of [[shorthand]] by own men.
Now it is accepted by
infy (shooting of [[shorthand]]
I never even heard
mention or hinted at).*]

X I think
he visited
this later &
got m.g.
bullets &
buttons of
observers
coat.

10
52
Remarks.
clouds at 300 feet. Flying between
barrages of shells and machine guns
over ground, firing at sight. Fired into
trenches. Special Patrol.
13 E.A. seen.  Cloudy.  Ground Patrol.
One E A seen.  Cloudy.
[Hours since commencement 105^h. 34m].
Ground Patrol N.E. of Ypres.  Cloudy
& raining.
Fired on trenches and advanced
posts.  Gun trouble
Several E.A seen high up.
Fired on two 2-seater E.A. (Indecisive.)
Dropped bombs on infantry.  Dived &
fired on battery.
Lt Wells & self brought down EA.2-seater
in flames this side. x
Fired on trenches.  Lt Wells wounded.
T-piece broke.  Landed just behind
lines an crashed.
Several EA seen
Indecisive combat with 2 EA. Scouts
Richtoven's Circus.
3 plugs cut out. Had to return early
Fired at 2 EA scouts Richtoven's Circus.
storms.

53 

16^th 500 - 3000
3000
17^th  Combat w
3000
Richtovens Circus, he sd, ws a squadron
run by the Count Richtoven, who is
often appearing in / German Communiques.
They are an especially active capable
lot of fliers - the only ones who do
any attacking worth speaking of
just now. They have aeroplanes
with red noses^x
(x I believe they have had to
change this recently).

10
54
Flying along barrage. Offensive
5th army front.
Very Cloudy.  Several E.A. Seen.
Combat with 2 lots of four 2 seaters.
got one down.
Edwards picked out the AF.C.
fliers in their sqn. book:
G.A Wells - a gippslander from
near Sale, who used to be in
the 5th A.I. Bde - He got
bitten with work across the
lines & went flying with
Edwards, low down, over
/ German infantry in shell
holes in / early stages o /
Ypres Battle.  He had at only
been at it a few days.  He
was hit when flying very low
with Edwards, Where /
German opened w abt 40
m.gs.  He ws recommended for
the Military Cross.

10
55
[Edwards name is H.J
Edwards, A.I.F. & R.F.C.]

J. Bartlam, A.F.C. whose first
fly was on the day o / great
battle, 31/7/17.  He went to
have a look at / battle, for
practice; he went out twice
The clouds were at 500 ft.
Within a fortnight or so of
his first flight An Archie shot a hole
thro' both his 'planes on
one occasion, & an
Albatross Nieuport shot
him down on another. On
the first occasion he
crashed. The second time
altho his elevating controls
were shot thro' (on his tail) he
managed by putting his engine
on, (when its nose goes up), and
shutting it off (when the nose goes
down). Bartlam also, I believe,