Next is a German Albatross Fighter. - There is a story behind this one:
albatross02 by
David Freeman, on Flickr
albatross01 by
David Freeman, on Flickr
albatross03 by
David Freeman, on Flickr
LT James Sandy (Pilot) and SGT Henry Hughes (observer) were the crew of an Aussie RE8 from 3 SQN AFC flying an artillery observation mission over the front in late 1917. Hughes was previously a mechanic - this is his first operational mission.
During the mission they are attacked by 6 Albatross fighters. Hughes fights back, and doesn pretty well, hitting one Albatross and damaging it's fuel line, forcing the aircraft to land behind the Aussie front lines. The aircraft is captured by Aussie troops and eventually is taken over by 3 SQN AFC.
Meanwhile, Sandy and Hughes are still in trouble - 5 v 1, but then two more RE8's arrive and for some reason the Germans no longer like the odds, so break off. Sandy and Hughes are last see flying straight and level, so the other crews assume they are continuing their mission.
But Sandy and Hughes don't return that night.
The next morning the SQN gets a message about an aircraft down in a field beside a hospital about 80KM from where Sandy and Hughes were last seen - so they go to investigate.
The SQN find Sandy and Hughes still in the aircraft - killed by ONE single bullet. The round had passed through Hughes lung and lodged in Sandy's spine - likely killing Sandy immediately. Hughes, wounded and with no parachute, was now a passenger and bled to death - the aircraft so well rigged/trimmed that it had flown on until it ran out of fuel and crashed itself in the field.
RIP James Sandy and Henry Hughes.