Finally .... I get a Strange Mount !

[catch 81]

So it's 29th June 1915 and, for King and country, I've been diligently performing recon and arty spotting in my Be2c (early) for months with that chap in the front holding a .303. He looks remarkably like Cpt. Triggers but I have a thing about that see. Anyway, I land at Merville after another heroic sortie and head straight to the mess bar. Sholto Douglas informs me we are moving 9 miles SE to Hesdigneul ! Closer to the front he says. We can really get stuck in now he says. But sir, I say, I've only got that fellow with a .303 and he looks a lot like Tr- ... don't worry about that he says. We have a surprise. Stout chap old Sholty.

With some excitement, the RFC 2 squadron assembles on the airfield and off we go to Hesdigneul. My batman packs my personal belongings and sets off in a Crossley by road. My collection of French postcards I stash in the Bee.

On arrival we are told we have been upgraded to Be2c's fitted with a Lewis machine gun in the for'ard cockpit ! By way of a Strange mount ! I am overjoyed, and almost overcome, having never experienced a strange mount before. By jove, the jolly old hun will be for it I exclaim.

Sholty beams with pride as his hard fought requisitions are inspected and operated by the pilots and gunners with lots of jovial takatakataka sounding out across the airfield.

Back at the bar, Sholty, wearing his serious face, raises his open hand solemnly and taps his swagger stick on the cast iron stove. The last laugh dies down and all eyes are upon him. Chaps, he says, our intelligence operatives have determined that there is some kind of secret weapon being developed by the hun. A battle plane with six machine guns and 37mm cannons powered by five powerful engines and manned by 10 personnel. Or they have a mechanism with which they can fire bullets through the rotating propeller without damage. Development is almost complete and we expect these machines to be available at the front within months. So be careful out there.

It's alright sir, I say, we have the strange mount now. What could go wrong.

To shouts of "hear hear" the drinks flow well into the night. 

 

 

[TROOPER117 146]

13 hours ago, catch said:

It's alright sir, I say, we have the strange mount now. What could go wrong.

This is what happens when you let an observer loose with a 'Strange' mount...

[Rick Rawlings 136]

Any landing you can...be crane-lifted down from...

[catch 81]

9 hours ago, TROOPER117 said:

This is what happens when you let an observer loose with a 'Strange' mount...

What happens at Madame Fifi's is none of my business. The CO calls it "letting off steam" for want of a better expression.

But as a pilot, one learns to duck and pray to God the blighter doesn't shoot the ruddy tail off !