Lieutenant Hanning Saves The Day

No.59 Squadron RE8 crew

Hans Muller and his damaged Pfalz DIIIa

I did a bit more online research about the action of 27th March 1918, in which Ltn.d.R.Hans Müller shot down at RE8 and, in return, was shot down himself. I was hoping that he was flying one of Jasta 18's few remaining Pfalz DIIIa scouts, but it turns out he was in an Albatros DVa. This is a bit of a bugger but the story is really interesting nonetheless.

The RE8 (B7722) was from No.59 Squadron and crewed by pilot 2nd Lt.Christian and observer Lt.Hanning, RFC. They were on a low level flight near Graincourt at around 6.15am, when they were intercepted by Müller and forced down. Müller ended up crashing in No Man's Land but all three airmen survived, with the future Jasta 18 ace making it back to the German front lines.

Lt.Hanning received the Military Cross for this action, his citation providing some valuable detail, even though the date is incorrect:

On 28th March 1918, while on patrol with 2nd Lieutenant Christian as pilot, he endeavoured to shoot down a hostile balloon over Miraumont. His machine was at once attacked by a hostile scout, and after firing 90 rounds his gun jammed. 

Although wounded in the leg by an explosive bullet, he rectified the trouble, and was about to fit a new drum on the gun when a bullet hit it and destroyed it.

The enemy aircraft then dived underneath the tail, did a climbing turn, and again attacked. Lieutenant Hanning again repaired his gun and fired a long burst into the enemy scout. The enemy pilot collapsed in his seat and his machine spun to the ground. 

The controls of Lieutenant Hanning's machine were, by this time, so damaged that his pilot could not fly it. He, however, fitted the dual control and succeeded in bringing the machine back to our lines and landing it. 

By his courage and determination, though wounded, Lieutenant Hanning undoubtedly saved the life of his pilot.

There's still some scope for a scenario here but I'll have to devise a new twist to keep it interesting and different from my existing RE8 based scenario.