Seeflugstation Flandern II

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Some information on the unit from my archive... Any additional information is of course very welcome !


On the 11th March 1917 the Seeflugstation F1andern U at Oostende became a fact From that moment on the Seeflugstation F1andern I at Zeebrugge would become also known as the Holland Staffel, because they were to operate in the most northern part of the area after the repartition of the operating area.
Works at the Oostende 'Spuikom' seem to have started at the end of October 1916. By March 1917 the unit could tell everyone they were operational. They were equipped with a pane hangar, a harbour crane, a downward slope to let the seaplanes in the water, which can still be seen today.

As already referred to with the seaplane base at Oostende becoming operational, tasks were re-divided between the Seeflugstation units.

Zeebrugge became responsible for the area called the 'Hoofden', this being located between the Dutch coast off Scheveningen over the Channel to Yarmouth, going down the British coast to the mouth of the Thames river, going in a straight line back to Zeebrugge. 0ostende received an area from the mouth of Thames river down the coast to Ramsgate going from there back to Oostende also in a straight line. They had to control all shipping traffic, enemy U-boats, minefields, navigation boys, barrage nets, etc. They also were responsible for reporting all changes in positions of these. Of course the ot her tasks such as attacks on enemy blockade ships and defence of the area against enemy aerial units.
00 the 11 th March the unit was officially established as already mentioned and CO became Kap.lt. Bücker. The unit started with 4 seapanes,5 pilots and about 100 men personnel.
Already 00 the 14th March the unit had it's first official victory. ft seems to have been a French flying boat However the unit would become really successful in aerial combat from 191800.

Flugzg. matrose Kakolewski Christoph of Seeflugstation Flandern II, killed 01/05/1917

Collishaw filled in a CITAR on the 12th May for a Seaplane - he probably killed or wounded the observer, and disabled the engine - and then suffered a gun stoppage.

By the time he cleared the stoppage, the seaplane was gliding in to Ostende, and a couple of scouts coming out of Ostende persuaded Collishaw to break off.

So, being charitable, I suppose it could be classified as a "driven down".

By the time Collishaw's "Air Command" was published, he was saying that he saw the seaplane crash into Ostende harbour. Many authorities list this as one of his victories - I am afraid that at the moment, I regard it as one of his more dodgy claims.

In the KTB(War Diary) of See II(Seeflugstation Flandern II) based at Ostende there are some descriptions of air fights this day...
...One fit rather well Collishaw story....

"A/c 787 flown by Vzfmst Dyck was attacked at Ostende by two Triplanes. It was forced to withdraw the combat and dived away in a steep dive. The a/c thereafter landed.."

No hits was reported...so it seems that that Nr 1 is the choice in this case... 1) The enemy aircraft dived into the harbour entrance to make his escape.

11 June 1917. 4 single seaters take of from Oostende 1041 – Lt.d.R.d.M.A. Strang, 787 – Lt.d.R.d.M.A. Bachmann, 1044 – Vizeflugmeister Dyck, 1047 Flugobermaat Burgstaller. As demanded by the U-Flottille Flandern they try to shoot they boeys of the ‘Kanalsperre’ but while doing so, 1041 goes upside down and is completely destroyed. 1047 landed and took Strang on board and tried to take off again, but even after several attempts it does not com eout of the water. The plane would afterwards be taken to Dover by an english steamer who was on guard duty. It is not clear what happened to the crew…

Lt. Dyck Walter of the II Seefl Abt died 19th June 1917 Baby N1019 was flown by Flt Lt Graham on 19 June 1917 when he claimed to have driven down a seaplane 10 miles NNE of Nieuport. Some sources give this as Graham's first victory and Above The Trenches gives this as being over Vizeflugmeister W Dyck (Casualties of the German Air Service gives the name as Ltn d R Walter Dyck) of Seeflug II who died of his wounds.

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On the 15th November 1917 planes attacked some enemy motorboats several times with MG fire. On the 18th Oberflusgmeister Kestner was slightly wounded in combat.
Plane 1398 of Oblt.d.R. Höpken and his observer Flugmeister.d.R. Johannsen went missing on the 5th December around 11.30 hours and were not found after a rescue mission with planes and ships.
Three days later both men rejoined their unit. They had been afloat for 23 hours on the wreck of their plane and had been taken on board by the dutch vessel Vlissingen, which took them to the harbour with the same name. The Dutch government delivered them to the German Marinekorps but did keep the wreck of the plane.

On the 19th another loss for the unit. Plane 1013 of Flugmaat jakowski and Obermatrose Schmidt crashed for unknown reasons about 500 meters from the beach into the sea. Only part of the wreck of the plane was found, no bodies so that was concluded that both men drowned.

On the 19th Vize Flugmeister Kruse and Flieger Obermatrose Plakert were both shot in the legs during an dogfight. 13N claimed an seaplane East off Oostende on the 19th destroyed in flames at 13u55 Day, Stovin, Bell , Paynter and Smith shared the victory
The following comes from Communique no.16:

An enemy seaplane which was flying very low was sighted off Wenduyne during a flight from No.13 Squadron. The whole flight attacked, shooting the E.A. down into the water where it burst into flames and almost immediately sank.

Flugmt Schmidt Richard of Seefl Stat Fl II 1 Seefl Abt killed 19/12/1917

27 February 1918, the C Staffel of the unit under command of Lt.d.R. Frantz met a group of 4 enemy Spads and shot one of them down. The Spad on 27 February could have been B6848 of 23 Squadron flown by Lt R D Kennedy who was killed

On the 3rd March 1918 at about 16.00 hours the unit was bombed and a total of 12 explosions were counted.
The following text comes from the RNAS Communique:

Eight Camels of No.13 Squadron made a special raid on Ostende Seaplane Base. Coming through the clouds at heights varying from 150 to 300 feet, one 50 lb and twenty-four 16lb bombs were dropped. The large bomb hit the seaplane sheds and eleven of the others were seen to explode in the immediate vicinity. Three direct hits were also obtained on an anti-aircraft battery north of the Bassin de Chasse. All machines returned safely.

21 March, 6 planes of the unit gave air support for the torpedoboats of the Flandern Flotilla which had been involved in a night operation.

24 March, a HFT plane of the unit is destroyed while landing on the Spuikom waterbassin. This concerned plane 1525 FF C, so a Friedrichshfen plane.

In the night of the 26th on the 27th of March the base is being bombed from low altitude, one of the hangars is hit, 1 plane is totally destroyed while two others are heavily damaged.
The destroyed plane seems to have been a Rumpler one seater and the damaged ones two Brandenburg C planes
This visit was made by 13 Sqdn RNAS again : At 9.58 on the 26th, No.13 Squadron carried out a successful night bombing operation on Ostende Seaplane Base. The following pilots participated in this raid and left in the order named: FLt Horstman, FSLs Bensley, Greene, Cooper, Mackaye, Smith and Brown, and FCdr Slatter, each taking one 50lb bomb. All machines reached their objective and hits were made from 150 to 500 feet, but owing to heavy A.A and searchlights, observations were difficult. On the return journey, searchlights at Vlisseghem Aerodrome, Ostende and Mariakerke were attacked by machine gun fire, and one E.A. was engaged indecisively. All our machines returned safely.

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6 April, the III C staffel went on recon and went as far as Gris Nez-Dungenesse

On the 21st April the Allies bombed Oostende harbour, one of the bombs fell close to the Spuikom and on the 23rd several bombs were dropped on the harbour entrance, a clear statement that the blocking attempt at Oostende by the British was a complete failure.

On the 6th May the base was bombed, just like the one at Zeebrugge two days later, but here they were more successful, as Halle 4 was hit. We have no details on the damage however.

On the 3rd June the II C-staffel landed at Oostende with 4 planes, coming from Borkum.

During the third week of June the bombardments by British planes of the harbour of Oostende, which started on a regular base some weeks before seems to intensify more and more. Sometimes 3to 4 times a day 12 enenmy planes pass over the halls of the unit.

It seems that Oblt z S Stein arrived to SFS II(Ostende) on 26 June 1918 as observer..

Between 4 and 10 July the unit was bombed regularly and one of the pilot’s brracks was hit seriously, but there were no wounded.

At the 17th five new HB W29’s landed at the unit coming from Borkum

On the 20th July plane 2128 nosed aover during take off and was completely destroyed. The crew was unharmed.

22 July a plane of the II C-Staffel had to do a forced landing before Oostende as it had been hit in the radiator. Plane 2029 was not really repairable but still was towed into the harbour the next day.

22/08/18 Oblt d R Höpken and Lt d R Stein shot down a DH in grid no 1004K over the North Sea. No hour was given. It was for both their first victory. The time for the Höpken and Stein victory was ca 7:50....
The flew a/c 2523.