An Albatross D-III
Monday 4th June 1917
The adjutant
of 1st Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment, in camp north of Arras mentioned in
passing today that German aircraft had dropped bombs on the transport lines at
Écurie. He expressed himself forcefully in registerting annoyance at the
seeming dominance of the German aeroplanes at the moment, which seem to be able
to fly over the lines and attack targets at will. Readers may remember that the
Battalion has mentioned hostile aircraft o two other occasions recently, the
24th and 31st May(1)
Source: X550/2/5
(1) At this
point in the war the Germans were enjoying air superiority, April 1917 is often
known as “Bloody April” because of the large numbers of Royal Flying Corps and
other Allied aircraft shot down by the new Albatross fighters, which featured
two forward-firing machine-guns, whereas British types such as the Sopwith Pup
and Sopwith Triplane were only just entering the fray and, anyway, only had one
machine-gun. In June the legendary Sopwith Camel, with two machine-guns would
begin to make its presence felt and the tide begin to turn.
