[Sailor Steve]

February 3, 1918


Air War:


1035 English RFC pilot Godfrey Bremridge, flying Sopwith Camel B5597, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 4.

1040 German pilot Otto Löffler, in Fokker Dr.I 190/17, shoots down DH.4 A7873 for victory number 2. Lts Ernest G. Green and P.C. Campbell-Martin are both taken prisoner, and Green is also wounded.

1045 English RFC pilot Henry Maddocks, in Sopwith Camel B5243, shoots down two Albatros D.Vs for victories number 6 and 7. One of these is 2-victory German pilot Karl Stock, who is killed. These are Maddocks' last victories. He will survive the war and become a barrister, then become Recorder for the Borough of Burton-upon-Trent in 1938 and finally a member of the Royal Commission on Marriage and Divorce in 1962. Date of death unknown.

1125 English RNAS Robert Compston, in Sopwith Camel B6340, shoots down a DFW C.V for victory number 23.

1145 German ace Otto Fruhner, in Albatros D.V 2329/17, shoots down Sopwith Camel B6430 for victory number 7. Cmdr R.R. Winter is killed.

1225 Three RNAS pilots share a victory over a DFW C.V:
Robert Compston, England, B6340, victory number 24.
Sub-Lt W.F. Crundall, B6356, nationality and victory number unknown.
Edward Johnsotone, England, B6377, victory number 9.

1230 Canadian RNAS pilot James White, in Sopwith Camel N6321, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 2.

1245 English RFC ace pilot Wilfred Beaver and observer Harold Easton, in Bristol F.2b B1156, shoot down an Albatros D.V. Victory number 6 for Beaver; number 3 for Easton.

1245 German pilot Siegfried Büttner, in an Albatros D.III, destroys a French observation balloon for victory number 2.

1245 English RFC pilot William Green, in DH.4 A7674 with 2nd H.S. Gros as observer, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 4.

1510 German pilot Paul Schröder, flying a Fokker Dr.I, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for his first and only victory. Schröder will be transferred to a training post, where he will survive the war. Further information unknown.

1510 German pilot Hermann Vallendor, in an Albatros D.V, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 1. 2nd Lt G.A. Lipsett is killed.

1600 German pilot Otto Esswein, in Fokker Dr.I 426/17, shoots down a Sopwith Camel for victory number 3.

1610 Otto Esswein scores his second victory of the day, shooting down another Camel for victory number 4.

1615 Otto Esswein claims a third Camel for number 5.

1615 Otto Fruhner scores his second kill of the day, shooting down Sopwith Camel B6370 for number 8. Sub-Lt W.H. Wilmot is killed.

German pilot Herbert Boy, with Jasta 14, shoots down a SPAD for victory number 2.
(Jasta 14 was one of only three squadrons to be fully equipped with the Fokker Dr.I, but it is uncertain whether this had happened yet.)

German pilot Konrad von Bülow-Bothkamp, with Jasta 19, shoots down a Bréguet 14 for victory number 2.

French ace Jules Covin, in a SPAD VII, shoots downa Fokker Dr.I for victory number 6.

French ace Omer Demeuldre, in a SPAD, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 8.

Omer Demeuldre scores his second victory of the day, shooting down an "Enemy Aircraft" for victory number 8. Sharing this kill as a Sgt Prouvost, victory number 1.

French ace Gabriel Guérin, flying a SPAD, shoots down an "Enemy Aircraft" for victory number 14. This is probably Uffz Otto Gumz and Ltn Karl Otto, both killed.

Gabriel Guérin scores his second kill of the day, sharing a German two-seater with Bernard Artigau. Victory number 15 for Guérin; number 4 for Artigau.

French ace Georges Madon, in a SPAD XII, shoots down a German "Scout" for victory number 22.

Georges Madon scores a second victory for the day, bringing down a German two-seater for number 23.

French pilot Del Vial, in a SPAD, shoots down an "Enemy Aircraft" for victory number 2.

German pilot Ltn Hans Joachim Wolff safely lands his Fokker Dr.I after suffering a partial wing failure.