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| William Ludwig Deetjen |
I've was dipping into the excellent airwar19141918 blog for scenario research, specifically in relation to No.104 Squadron and No.55 Squadron, RAF, when I came across this very interesting entry:
After a relatively quiet few days, better weather brought the aircraft out again on the Western Front. The RAF Communique reported 25 enemy aircraft shot down and another 10 driven down with 20, 41 and 204 Squadrons RAF accounting for the majority of the claims. German records show only two pilots killed and 4 wounded.
104 Squadron. RAF, part of the Independent Force met particularly strong opposition following its early morning raid on Landau station. In response Captain Jeffrey Batters Home-Hay and Lieutenant Charles Cecil Blizard, claimed one enemy scout shot down.
2nd Lieutenant Francis Henry Beaufort and Lieutenant Cecil Gerald Verity Pickard were shot up in their DH9 (D1008) but got away unharmed. Their colleagues, 1st Lieutenant William Ludwig Deetjen and Lieutenant Montague Henry Cole were less lucky and failed to return from the mission. Their deaths were later confirmed by the German authorities.
As the name might suggest, Deetjen was in fact born in Germany. His parents were German but had emigrated to the United States and had been on a visit back to Germany when he was born. He had grown up in the US and served briefly with the US army before travelling to England for flight training in October 1917 in a group of Americans later known as the 2nd Oxford Detachment (as they initially trained at Oxford).
He spent the next few months training before finally being posted to 104 Squadron on 4 June 1918. As was standard practice at the time, new pilots spent three weeks acclimatising themselves to the front and Deetjen’s first combat mission was on 28 June. This ended in failure as he got lost in the clouds. The Squadron stayed on the ground on the 29th. The fateful mission today was only his second mission and the first that actually came into contact with the enemy.
Unfortunately, I can't use Lt.Deetjen in any of the scenarios, for obvious reasons, but it's a fascinating story nonetheless. Here's a link to the blog, which is well worth browsing for scenario ideas, not just relating to the Western Front, and has a very handy list of useful sources too:
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