25 October 1914

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1108: We were given a deep scouting raid, to Chalons, Epernay and Reims. Not much to see but a lot of fog on the ground. Lucky for us there was none when we took off. Luckier there was none when we landed. 2 hours 24 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1119: Everything seems to be quiet on the Diksmuide run. 1 hour 19 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1202: Flew again today. Same route - Lens to Arras. Heavy artillery over the trenches beside Lens. Smaller barrage in the outskirts of Arras. 1 hour 5 minutes."

Saint Omer, No 3 Squadron
Corrigan Aujla writes: 1202: Back flying. Diksmuide to Bailleul again. 1 hour 19 minutes."

Saint Omer, No 4 Squadron
Ries Meismer writes: "1233: Back flying again. The assigned route - Bailleul to Loos. 1 hour 23 minutes."

October 26, 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1252: Another quiet run. Some artillery along the way, not aimed at us. 1 hour 19 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1321: Lens to Arras again. Fighting for Lens continues. 1 hour 4 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1335: Same patrol - Diksmuide to Bailleul. 1 hour 26 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1410: Patrolled Bailleul to Loos again. Not much going on. 1 hour 26 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Cloud cover is too low for flying today. We could do it, but we would be too close to the ground fire. Hauptmann Wilhelm Boelcke has been awarded the Iron Cross, 1st class, and apparently this has caused some stress between him and the other officers. Our outdoor games continue."

27 October 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1427: Too much haze to really see anything, and no fighting to speak of. 1 hour 28 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1440: Heavy artillery battle outside Lens. No enemy troop movements. 1 hour 5 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1515: Fairly quiet today. Lots of haze and some fog. 1 hour 24 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1550: Same run, Bailleul to Loos. Same result - quiet. 1 hour 21 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Still too low a ceiling to stay safely above the ground fire. We had another couple games today, and Ltn Boelcke attended, with three other officers."

28 October 1914

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0753: Mild rain showers. Quiet in our sector. 1 hour 27 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "0825: Morning patrol today. Light rain. Sector still quiet. 1 hour 29 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1549: Quiet patrol. Lots of mist and fog up around Niewpoort. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1559: Some rain, but still flying. Much artillery fire all down the line. 1 hour 9 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Cloud cover still keeping us down. We had a treat today. Ltn and Hptmn Boelcke both showed up, along with a couple of other officers I don't know, and asked if they could join us! Of course we said yes. Hptmn Boelcke and one other were on our team and Ltn Boelcke and the other officer were on the other team. Sad to say we lost both games. Still and all, it was a great change to our everyday pace. One almost hopes it stays this way for a few more days. Almost. Flying is still much more fun."

29 October 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0814: Routine patrol. Some artillery, no assaults. 1 hour 9 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "0922: Hazy day. The only artillery was by Lens. 1 hour 7 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0934: Hazy day. Very little activity. 1 hour 37 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1009: Average patrol. Hazy. Not much going on. 1 hour 32 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Still grounded. Cloud cover has settled in, leaving us in haze and fog. Played a couple more games today, but without officers. The Boelcke brothers had business to take care of, and the others didn't show up without them. Starting to feel like we're going to live here forever, unless they transfer us to the infantry."

30 October 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0938: Routine patrol. Nothing to report. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1043: Light haze. Fairly quiet. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1146: Nice day for flying. Some activity north of Poperinge. 1 hour 26 minutes."

Saint Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1156: Another fairly quiet patrol. 1 hour 25 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Weather is worse. Raining all day. No outdoor sports. Mostly playing cards and chatting, with some reading thrown in. The magazines we have are getting old."

31 October 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1103: Routine patrol. Some artillery along the lines. 1 hour 14 minutes.

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1210: Beautiful day for flying! Much artillery between Loos and Lens, and some south of Arras. 1 hour 6 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1316: Hardly a cloud in the sky. A lot of artillery all up and down the line. 1 hour 23 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1336: Routine patrol. A bit of artillery in a couple of spots. 1 hour 24 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1347: Weather clear enough to fly, but just barely. Patrolled from Reims westward. Some activity, but not much. 1 hour 36 minutes. The Boelcke brothers are just about to depart to do some more testing of the Hauptmann's artillery-guidance system.

1 November 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1231: Wet, misty day. British shelling Germans east of Veurne. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1331: Nothing unusual to report. Misty weather, more artillery. 1 hour."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1453: Misty weather. Not as much fighting as yesterday. 1 hour 23 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1514: Misty day. Average patrol. Not much happening. 1 hour 24 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1537: Flew over to Verdun. Circled the city drawing flak, then came home again. 1 hour 38 minutes."

2 November 1914

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "0830: Long flight to the forest east of Compiegne. There is a large enemy battery there and they want some of our people to bomb it. Hptmn Straub and I spend some time marking The locations of the guns. 2 hours 51 minutes.

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "0853: Cloudy, threatening rain. Some fighting along the front, but not much. 1 hour 20 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0929: Much the same as yesterday. Weather a little better. 1 hour 26 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1356: Weather a little better today. Not much activity. 1 hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1445: A little nicer today. Usual artiller exchange between Loos and Lens. 1 hour 15 minutes."

3 November 1014

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "0814: Foggy today, but not so much we can't fly. Artillery back and forth all down the line. 1 hour 5 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1027: Some fog. Routine patrol. 1 hour 25 minutes.

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1109: Dreary, foggy day. Nothing much happening. 1 hour 21 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1135: Flew to Verdun again, then all the way down to Saint-Mihiel. Marked troop and battery positions for HQ. Flew home directly across enemy territory. 2 hours 13 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1521: Foggy day. Routine patrol. 1 hour 16 minutes."

4 November 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1014: After a test flight to check some control problems, we finally took off into a mild rain. Any worse and we won't be able to fly. It was hard to see the ground properly from our patrol flight, but everything seems to be normal. 7 minutes, then 1 hour 8 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1206: Took off for patrol. Rain got bad, forced to turn back. 18 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes"1405: Forced to turn back because of rain. 15 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1515: Patrolled from Reims eastward along the lines. 1 hour 45 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "Grounded today due to heavy rain."

5 November 1914

The entire Flanders region is once again grounded due to intense rain. Even the troops in the trenches are occupied with trying to stay dry and war, so fighting has almost completely stopped.

On the border between Marne and Verdun the weather is not so bad. From Pontfaverger Odis Först writes: "0802: Exploratory flight down to Chateau Thierry, then to Epernay and finally Reims. Patchy fog here and there. 2 hours 22 minutes.

6 November 1914

Flanders is still rained out. The area from Reims to Verdun is now covered by a heavy fog, so no one is flying there either.

7 November 1914

Yet again the entire front is either raining or foggy. No flying for me today.

8 September 1914

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "0952: The sun came out today. Flew the usual patrol. 1 hour 13 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1137: Sunny day, routine patrol. 1 hour 6 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1238: Sky is clear for the most part. Back to our usual patrol. 1 hour 22 minutes."

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1437: Weather much better. Usual patrol. 1 hour 26 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "We are still fogged in today.

9 November 1914

Flanders is still rained out, and the area around Reims is still foggy, but the men of FFA 13 are getting things done.


Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "The Boelcke brothers came to the field today to give us instruction on conducting spotting and communication with the artillery. They have already done so with the officer pilots,and now it is our turn. We spent three hours this morning going over procedures with Ltn Oswald Boelcke, then spent time with our own officer observers learning to follow flight paths as each one likes to conduct them. Finally we learned the most by standing in front of the crowd as if we were the instructors, and explaining to each other how it's done. As soon as the weather is good enough we'll be going up in groups and practicing with some officers from the artillery."

10 November 1914

Rain and fog everywhere. Nobody is flying today.

11 November 1914

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "0818: Misty day, but good enough for flying. Usual patrol. 1 hour 34 minutes."

Saint-Pol Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1119: Rain has let up. Able to fly a patrol today. 1 hour 15 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1257: Slight rain showers. Same patrol as always. 1 Hour 11 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1414: Sky cleared enough for a patrol. 1 hour 24 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "We are still grounded due to heavy fog."

12 November 1914

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1007: Lovely day for flying. Sun, not a cloud to be seen anywhere. 1 hour 28 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1248: Nice flying weather. Routine patrol. 1 hour 15 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1422: Beautiful day! Standard Patrol – Loos to Arras. 1 hour 8 minutes."

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1552: Last patrol of the day. The sun was close to setting when we took off. By the time we reached the start of our run it was getting dark. We couldn't see too well, but there was still some artillery firing. We landed by the light of the fire pots. 1 hour 25 minutes.

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "Still grounded, waiting for the fog to lift."

13 November 1914

Saint-Omer Extension
Ries Meismer writes: "1031: Morning patrol this time. Overcast, occasional rain. Routine. 1 hour 27 minutes."

Pontfaverger
Odis Först writes: "1039: Today it was our turn. The fog had lifted somewhat, so the Boelcke brothers flew over to their favorite artillery unit to inform them that the enlisted pilots were ready for flight training. They arrived at our field around 0900 and explained exactly what we would be doing. At 0930 they departed for the field where we would be conducting our exercise. We didn't have to know anything about the flag signals. We only had to follow the directions of our officer-observers. The operation lasted all day, and our total time over three flights was 2 hours 26 minutes.

Saint-Omer
Corrigan Aujla writes: "1149: Heavily overcast but dry. Routine patrol. 1 hour 35 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Mer
Filimor Hance writes: "1417: Overcast, some rain. Usual patrol, nothing to report. 1 hour 14 minutes."

Saint-Pol-Sur-Ternoise
Noel Kay writes: "1550: Late afternoon patrol in the rain. Returned to field just after dark. 1 hour 6 minutes."