Battle of Arras

battle of arras

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Daily battles in the air were the norm. There is a view that

hand-to-hand warfare on the ground was a world apart from cockpit to

cockpit encounters in the air. Sub Lieutenant Joseph Fall from 3 Naval

Squadron in one of his reports stated.

“I was immediately attacked by three Albatross machines

which drove me down to 200ft. We were firing at each other

whenever possible. When at last I got into a good position I

attacked one from behind and above. I closed on him, turning in

behind him and got so close to him that the pilot’s head filled the

small ring in the Aldis sight. I saw three tracers actually go into the

pilot’s head. The aircraft then simply heeled over and spun into the

ground. The other two machines cleared off.

Having lost sight of the other aircraft and being so low I decided to fly

home at that height (200ft). After flying west for about five minutes

I was again attacked by a Halberschadt single seat machine and he

closed on me. I looped straight over him and coming out of the loop I

dived at him and fired a good long burst. I saw nearly all the tracers go

into the pilot’s back. He immediately dived straight into the ground.

I then went over the German trenches filled with soldiers and I

was fired at by machine guns, rifles and small field guns. I was

in the vicinity of the Cambrai-Arras road and landed at the first

aerodrome I saw. My machine was badly shot about”.

Sub Lieutenant Fall claimed three aircraft destroyed in that mission and

was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross.