Willy Thöne's adventure

[Gregvan]

Greetings, all,

In the anthology book "Flieger am Feind", the Fokker D VII ace WillyThöne of Marine Feld Jasta I had a fascinating story which he says happened on a "fine August day, shortly before midday", 1918. After a good hour, his Kette followed the course of the sea, over Ostende, to the Front.They encountered (and were outnumbered by) a number of British fighter flights, so decided to swing around over Furnes toward the east. Then Thöne saw another flight of Camels beneath them, and he dived down to attack the leader. He chased the expertly-flown Camel down to treetop level (for 15 minutes, he says), over a large Flanders flood plain. He states that he managed to shoot down the Camel, and low on fuel, raced back over the flood plain. He was fired upon by a ground machine gun, his engine stopped, and his Fokker came down into the water. He was safely thrown clear, then alternately waded and swam through the water.He saw a ruined village a few thousand meters away, which "could only be Dixmuiden". He managed to find his way to a German infantry guard regiment, and eventually back to his Geschwader.

Now, my question is, can anyone confirm the date for this event ? It seems it was 31 July.Some records indicate that he shot down a Camel on 31 July (which was not credited ?) then was forced down on the same flight, destroying his Fokker but remaining OK. This sounds like a good match, and 31 July would easily be mistakenly recalled as an August day. Above the Lines gives him full credit for the Camel on 31 July (which it says was from 204 Sqn)and ascribes this event to that day; the location is given as "Uberschwemm", which means over flooded land.

Above the Lines says he was shot down by Camels in August, going down into the sea, and swam ashore with a wounded shoulder - can anyone confirm that, and give more details ??

I have had some e-mail contact with Willy Thöne's son through this forum, but he's quite occupied with his business right now. I'd be grateful for any info amyone could supply on Thöne.According to his son, his father told him he had 11 confirmed claims, with 7 more unconfirmed.

Gunnar ? Rick ? Anyone ?

Greg

[Soderbaum]

Hi Greg

I am not quite sure, but I think we have discussed this issue before here on the Forum..?

But the correct date is 31 July 1918, perhaps Willy wrote down part of his fascinating story some days later..?

Thönes victory claim on 31 Jul 1918 was also confirmed by the authorities as his second victory. The location is given south of Nieuport which probably was flooded area..

Thöne was NOT shot down and wounded over Sea in August 1918 as mentioned in ATL. The authors to ATL probably mixed up this incident...

The victory on 31 Jul 1918 did proably become his third official in chronical order as he got one late reconfirmation in Oct 1918 for an earlier victory...!
Willy also had one jzLg "victory" on 30 June 1918 which should be added out of the line.

It is interesting that ATL identify Thönes victory as probably belonging to 204 sq, can Mike W or someone else verify if they had any losses or combats which correspond to Thönes fight..?
According to my little knowlede about allied units, 204 sq seemed to be fighting more south this day in the Roulers area...?
However, 213 sq (Lt M L Cooper) could possible also be a candidate...?
Does anyone have Coopers combat report or does it exist any loss report..?
I dont have any known losses of Belgian aircraft this day.

:-/
Gunnar

[Gregvan]

Welcome back, Gunnar !

Thanks for that fascinating information. Rick and I had basically come to much the same conclusion, with help from Klaus Thöne.

I too, would be very interested in identifying Thöne's opponent of 31 July.

Thanks again for your help.

Greg VanWyngarden