May 17:
Quote:
"I was up betimes yesterday morning, but did not get away from Hendon until about 7.0 a.m. I could only secure half a dozen biscuits and a cup of tea before leaving. It was very thick, and clouds about 4000 feet. I went via Harrow, Staines, and Redhill. Once at this last place, all you have to do is to follow the railway line, which runs straight as a die to Ashford. My engine was most alarming, making all sorts of weird noises, and I was kept very busy the whole way spotting the field I should land in if it petered out.
A pretty strong head wind made the going slow, and just after Redhill I ran into rain. I stuck it for half an hour, getting very wet and seeing hardly anything. Then the engine showed serious signs of giving up the ghost. What finally made me decide to come down was that I couldn't get any pressure in my petrol tank. I went on a bit and then chose a good-looking field with a road on one side and some houses at one corner. Here I landed in great style.
On getting down, the field was not quite so good as it looked from above, being on a slope and with a somewhat uneven surface. The usual crowd collected, despite the rain, and I soon had the machine covered up with tarpaulins and a territorial guard installed. I had breakfast with a Mr. and Mrs. R_____ close by, and afterwards went into headcorn, a mile away, and telephoned to the Admiralty, etc. I had lunch with the R_____s and five daughters (swish, I was all of a doo-da!), and then spent the whole afternoon trying to get my beastly engine to go. It's an awful dud.
I eventually took the air before an admiring crowd at about 5.0 p.m., and made for Folkestone soon after. it was a wretched evening, and though it had stopped raining, I had to come down to under 2,000 feet to avoid clouds. I caught a glimpse of Wye when passing Ashford. Made a very stunt landing here and met a R.F.C. officer I know. We came straight on to the Grand, and after a drink at the Metropole, I had a bath, then dinner and a smoke, and went to bed. To-day it is blowing a gale and raining cats and dogs. Am proceeding to Dover first opportunity."
-Lt. Harold Rosher, letter to his mother, May 17, 1915
|
Otto Jäger, an Austro-Hungarian leutnant serving on the Russian front, is wounded a third time. The first time was on August 30, 1914. After returning to duty he was shot in the chest on March 21st, 1915. Once he had recovered from that wound the was shot yet again, this time through the lung. Following this wound Jäger will become a training officer, and the next year will apply for the flying service.
Gulf of Aden: The monitors' convoy ships, now stocked with ice chests and Arab stokers, departs Aden eastward for the Arabian Sea.
South Africa: HMS Kinfauns Castle reaches Simon's Town, and ceases to be part of the
Königsberg operation.
The train carrying Hellmuth von Mucke and his men passes from Syria into Turkey.