Tales of survival of the pilots of the Great War

[Willi Von Klugerman]

There are many great stories of survival of the fleigers of WW1,and I certainly got a good one for you all to read!This one involves Ernst Udet and his near brush with death due to a parachute snag.Here it is from the book Richthofen's Circus',page 94.
"29 June saw Udets greatest misfortune and greatest good fortune.Leading a morning patrol in his well-known Mercedes engined DVII with the striped upper wing and Du Doch Nitch!! marked on the elevators,he dived on a Breguet flying at a height of 800 meters.He fired his first burst at a range of 80 meters,and noted that the observer had sunk from his sights into the fuselage.Assuming that he was wounded or dead,Udet closed in from the flank,but was shocked to see the French observer jump up to his guns and pepper his DVII.Udets elevator and control cables had been shot away and the Fokker plunged earthwards.
At only 400 meters,Udet unbuckled his belt and took to his parachute-a relatively untried device.He immedietly felt a powerful jolt to his back and managed to see that 'my parachute (harness) and I were hanging on the projecting tip of the rudder'.As death seamed certain,odd thoughts ran through his mind.He racalled that he wore a brand new tunic-'all for nothing'-and because he bore no papers or medals,his body would be unrecognisable.He thought of his fiancee' and his mother,then,'summing up the last of my stregnth,I broke off the tip (of the rudder) and fell free'.Then came a violent jerk-the canopy opened a mere 80 meters above the ground and he landed hard,spraining his left ankle;
'Everything would have gone quite nicely if I had not come down200 meters behind my lines in a midst of a barrage-everywhere,mighty fountains of earth were heaving up.I threw away everything that was in my way and ran,as well as I could,torwards the east.'
He survived a harrowing run through a bombardment and eventually made his way back to his geschwader.Incredibly,that agfternoon he flew another sortie.

Now thats what I call survival!Anyone got any similar stories of survival?

[crankcase]

I make reference to TomVrille's posting of May 2006 in which he writes:

"The pilot to whom you refer was Lewis Strange, who was one of the pioneers in arming his aircraft with a machinegun. On 10 May 1915, Strange attempted to attack an Aviatik while flying a Martinsyde scout with an over-the-wing Lewis gun. The empty drum of the Lewis became stuck in place, so Strange stood up in the cockpit and tried to wrestle the empty drum free. His ship stalled, rolled inverted, and Strange ended up dangling from the drum which only moments earlier he had been trying to free. This episode has been recorded in a number of references, but the original telling of the tale was in Recollections of an Airman by Lewis A. Strange."

[crankcase]

Not Louis! Sorry, I was thinking in French (probably trying to figure out how to catch up with Froggy's incredible "crash file" score!) =0)
marc

[Willi Von Klugerman]

I heard of the Lewis Strange's story,Im sure he wished the drum stayed on.Udet was lucky to have survived that day,let alone,running through a bombardment with a sprained ankle!

[josquin]

Crankcase,

You were right the first time! L.A. Strange's birth records and
Royal Aero Club Certificate list his name as "Louis Arbon Strange,"
rather than "Lewis." RAC gives his birthdate as 27 July 1891, at
Keynston. Quite a few of the older books I have seen over the
years listed him correctly, as "Louis," but many others persisted
in giving "Lewis," as well. Anyway, it was a great survival story!
regards, josquin

[crankcase]

I guess 2 wrongs don't make a right!

The other first name that people mess up is Hawker's. I saw a very nice US documentary about WW1 aviation where they (irritatingly) referred to LANCE Hawker!!!

LANOE is not a common name in the US (or anywhere I guess). I suppose they were thinking of Lance Armstrong when they altered Lanoe George Hawker's name.
marc

[shackleton]

>>>Mercedes engined DVII with the striped upper wing and Du Doch Nitch!! marked on the elevators<<<

A small typo there I think it should be "Du Doch Nicht" (not you!)

[Dan_San_Abbott]

shackleton:
The English literal translation would be: "Thou, certainly not!!" commonly it "You, certainly, not!!
Blue skies,
Dan-San