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    Official Documents of the Australian Flying Corps

    ____________________


    Combats in the Air


Squadron : No.203 RAF
Type and No. of Aeroplane : Sop.Camel B6319
Armament : 2 Vickers syn Guns.
Pilot : Ft Comdr R.A.LITTLE.

Observer : None.

Date : 21/4/18
Time : 3-00pm
Locality : VIEUX BERQUTH
Duty : Spec. Miss.
Height : 10,000 ft

Result :
{ Destroyed....................DES
{ Driven Down out of control....
{ Driven Down........................


Remarks on Hostile Aircraft:-Type, armament, speed, etc

PFALZ SCOUTS



Narrative

At 5-00pm I attacked the last machine of a formation of 12 and shot it down. I watched it fall for about 10,000 ft over VIEUX BEHQUIH(?), completely out of control.

I was then attacked by six other EA which drove me down through the formation below me. I spun but had my controls shot away and my machine dived. AT 100 feet from the ground it flattened out with a jerk breaking the fuselage just behind my seat. I undid the belt and when the machine struck the ground I was thrown clear.

The EA still fired at me while I was on the ground. I fired my revolver at one which came down to about 50 feet. They were driven off by rifle fire and machine fire from our troops.

 



(sgd)R.A. LITTLE
Flight Commander.



    This victory is recorded in "Above the Trenches" as victory number 44, Pfalz DIII OOC, West of Bailleul for Robert Little. Above the Trenches also records this victory as being Uffz Kauffman of Jasta 47 who was wounded in Little's attack, and the German Air Service pilot who shot down Little immediately afterwards was Vzfw Ehmann of Jasta 47.

    This incident is related by Capt R. Sykes in "Golden Eagles" as : "The same day I had flown on an offensive patrol and later had ferried in a new Camel, but I was back in 203's mess when Little came in late and reported, saying that he had undone his belt as the Camel broke up otherwise he would not have been thrown clear when the Camel wing tip hit the ground. I made a rather tactless remark about his manure sodden clothes, not realising that he would have been bruised, sore and in no mood for humour. He told me at the first oppurtunity he would take me over the lines and give me a lesson in being brave, and he did."

    The incident also appeared in the RAF Communiques for the 21st of April 1918, "Capt. R.A. Little, 203 Squadron, attacked the rear machine of a formation of 12 enemy aircraft and watched it fall completely out of control. Capt. Little was then attacked by six enemy aircraft and was driven down through the formation below; he put his machine into a spin and his controls were shot away, causing his machine to dive within 100 feet of the ground when it flattened out with a jerk, breaking the fuselage just under the pilot's seat. Capt. Little undid his belt and was thrown clear when the machine stuck the ground. The enemy aircraft continued to fire at him, but he opened fire with his revolver at one aircraft which came down to about 30 feet. The enemy aircraft were eventually driven off by our infantry and machine-gun fire."