The Ghost Plane

[Olham 164]

Found this story on the 3 Squadron RAAF website: http://www.3squadron.org.au/indexpages/history1.htm

 

THE GHOST RE.8

An extraordinary incident happened on the 17th December 1917, when an RE8 piloted by Lieutenant James Sandy with
his observer, Sergeant Henry Hughes, was ranging artillery fire for the 8-inch Howitzers of the 151st Siege Battery.
35 minutes after they'd started, they were attacked by six Albatros D.5a Scouts. Lieutenant Sandy fought them off and,
before long, he'd shot one down close to Armentieres.

About then, two other 3 Squadron RE8s who happened to be nearby, came to Sandy's assistance. Within a few minutes,
the remaining enemy aircraft broke off the fight and headed for their own lines. (In itself, this wasn't unusual
because German pilots generally held great respect for the RE8 with the pilot's propeller-synchronised Vickers
machine gun and the observer's Lewis gun to defend the rear.)

After the enemy aircraft had left, both of the other RE8s clearly saw that Sandy's RE8 ... number A3816, with the
unmistakable letter "B" on the fuselage ... was flying straight and steady, so they waved a farewell and flew off
to resume their own assignments. However, Sandy's wireless messages directing the Artillery Battery had ceased
transmission. By nightfall, A3816 had not returned to the aerodrome.

On the following night, a telegram from Number 12 Stationery Hospital at St. Pol told of finding the bodies of the two
airmen in their grounded RE8 in a neighbouring field. A postmortem of the bodies and an examination of the RE8 showed
that both pilot and observer had been killed in aerial combat and that the RE8 had flown itself around in wide left-hand
circles until its petrol ran out.

What had happened was that a single enemy armour-piercing bullet had passed through the observer's left lung and thence
into the base of the pilot's skull. The RE8 came down 50 miles south-west of the battle scene out of skies that hadn't
seen any other aerial combat that day. It had crash-landed without further injuring the bodies of the airmen and with
the throttle still wide open. The aircraft itself was not badly damaged in spite of its uncontrolled 50 mile flight
and this, in itself, was a classic example of the stability and flying qualities of the RE8.

 

 

[mono27 85]

Interesting story. This reminds me the book "Ghosts of the air", written by Martin Caidin.

[33LIMA 972]

First heard that story mentioned in the intro to WE John's 'Biggles of 266' in the 1960s. The Albatros D.V in the Australian War Memorial (D5390/17) was the one forced down, with a wounded pilot, in the fight with this RE8.

 

 

I still have this Kookaburra book on the Albatros scouts; its cover illustrates the fight:

 

[Olham 164]

Ah, I knew this Albatros, but not the connection - thanks for the info, LIMA!