All-black Fokker DVII

[JimAttrill]

From the last page of a book:

 

47 Squadron was in action again the following day, escorting a formation of 'A' flight DH9s on a raid on the Bolshevik HQ at Tsaritsyn. Two enemy fighters, a SPAD and a Fokker triplane, came up to intercept, but the SPAD was immediately shot down and the Fokker broke off the engagement.

 

In May 1919, No 47 Squadron was ordered to step up its operations and destroy as many enemy aircraft as possible in support of the white Russian advance on so Tsaritsyn. During the first 10 days of the month the Squadron destroyed seven enemy aircraft; many of the latter were operating from an airfield near Urbabk, and in the second week of May this was attacked by White Russian DH9s escorted by the Camels. The Reds came up in strength to intercept with a mixed formation of Nieuports, SPADs and an Albatros, the whole led by an all-black Fokker D.VII.

 

A whirling dogfight spread across the sky as the Reds attacked with a determination the British pilots had not encountered previously. The black Fokker destroyed two DH9s, then circled overhead as the remainder of his Squadron engaged the Camels. The British pilots got the best of the encounter, shooting down five enemy aircraft, but all the Camels were damaged and Major Kinkead had to make a forced landing on the bank of the Volga with a shot up engine.

 

Throughout that summer the Squadron flew intensively, the pilots seeing early White Russian victories gradually crumble into defeat. There was a marked decrease in enemy aircraft activity, a number of the Red squadrons having been withdrawn for service on other fronts. Nevertheless, the Reds appeared in strength from time to time. On one occasion in August, an RE8 observation aircraft, escorted by two Camels, was attacked over the Volga by two enemy machines. One was a Nieuport and, and the other was the all-black Fokker D.VII which had already been encountered on several occasions.

 

While the RE8 put its nose down and headed for home at top speed, the two Camel pilots - Captains Aten and Burns-Thompson - engaged the Red aircraft, Burns-Thompson taking on the Nieuport and Aten the Fokker. After a savage dogfight that lasted several minutes both enemy aircraft were shot down, and a second Nieuport that joined the fight was also destroyed by Aten. Later, General Wrangel, the White Russian commander, telegraphed his congratulations; the pilot of the black Fokker had destroyed at least a dozen bombers during his short career in the Russian Civil War.

 

Privately, the pilots of number 47 Squadron suspected that his score might be much higher than that. The tactics he had used, the flair he had shown, were of the kind they had all encountered on so many occasions, when they had faced the elite pilots of the Richthofen and Boelke Geschwader over the Western front.

 

But no one ever found out who he was.

 

From "Ace's Twilight" - Epilogue - by Robert Jackson, Spere Books, 1988

[Dutch_P47M]

 Also in the Norman Franks book "Aircraft vs Aircraft" here it is the well know black Fokker, but no name, so maybe you could ask this at aerodrome

 

 

Edited January 20, 2010 by Dutch_P47M