Revealed,How German pilots risked their lives to ...........

[Vergennes]

@SMS Derfflinger @Kaptaan @waz @The Sandman @Blue Marlin @Providence @AUSTERLITZ
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Revealed, how German pilots risked their lives to drop photos of captured British pilots behind Allied lines to let their families know they were safe

• Diplomatic missions discovered in rare collection of a Tommy's belongings
• Lieutenant Charles Cotterill created the archive in 1929 called 'Sporty Huns'
• Among letters to loved ones, were photo postcards of Ypres and medals
• Archive focused on Lt Cotterill service at air bases in Egypt and Syria

A Tommy's incredible archive has revealed that German pilots risked their lives to deliver letters from British flyers shot down over Syria in the First World War.

The Germans performed the daring diplomatic missions to let the comrades and loved ones of their enemies know that they were being treated well.

The revelation was made when the great-nephew of an officer who served in the Royal Flying Corps discovered the compelling archive.

Pictured, captured pilots Lt Palmer (third right) and Lt Floyer (fourth right) stand alongside the remains of their wrecked plane and German pilot

Lieutenant Charles Cotterill was never captured by the enemy but collected some of the letters and photos they later delivered.

His archive contains a written account titled 'Sporty Huns' Lt Cotterill wrote in 1929 in which he described the missions.

On one occasion a German pilot was seen to wave over the fuselage of his plane at the British below after completing a sortie.

Another time, a native Bedouin was sent by the Germans to a British outpost on the frontline at the Battle of Gaza with a letter for the British commanding officer.

The missive informed him that a 'brother officer' whose plane had crashed over Turkish-German lines was safe and well.

Lt Cotterill wrote: 'On Monday 5th March 1917 Lieut. Floyer and Lieut. Palmer set off from our aerodrome to do an aerial reconnaissance over the Turkish lines, on the border of Sinai and Syria.

'Their aeroplane was brought down by Turkish gun fire and upon landing safely are taken prisoner.

'On the following Thursday (8th March) a Turkish aeroplane, piloted by a German, comes over our aerodrome and drops a packet which contains letters from Floyer and Palmer saying they were prisoners.

Pictured, the impressive medal haul belonging to Lt Cotterill who served in both the army and the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War

'On Sunday 18th March another Turkish aeroplane appears over our aerodrome and is subjected to gun fire from our machine guns. The pilot as we afterwards found out was a Hun, circled above us and threw out a message bag which we momentarily thought was a bomb, caused us to lie on the ground.

'However, he turned tail and waving his hand over the fusilage (sic) of the machine, went back to the Turkish aerodrome.

'Upon the message bag being picked up it was found to contain letters from our brother officers who were prisoners and a photograph of Floyer and Palmer amongst German and Austrian Officers.

Among the incredible archive of Lieutenant Charles Cotterill is an account titled 'Sporty Huns' that recalls the chivalry of the German pilots while flying over Allied lines in Northern Africa

'The Huns had marked the photograph showing that Hun No.1 came over on 8th March and it was Hun No.2 that came over and dropped the photograph with letters.'

Lt Cotterill's archive also contained over 800 photos charting his career, firstly in the British Army with the Cheshire Regiment and then in the Royal Flying Corps.

The snaps depict his time flying on sorties in Egypt and aerial views of the trenches, downed British aircraft and RFC officers relaxing.

There is also a collection of postcards that carry images of scenes at Ypres, two of his campaign medals and two German Iron Crosses that he picked up during his military career.

Pictured, an account by Royal Flying Corps officer Lt Cotterill of the immense chivalry shown by German pilots when delivering correspondence from their British prisoners

Simon Nuttall, of auctioneers Wright Marshall of Knutsford, Cheshire, said: 'The archive has come from the great-nephew of Charles Cotterill and he now wants it to be out there for others to see.

'Cotterill was an observer in the Royal Flying Corps and was never captured but his Sporty Huns account documents what he saw.

'These men were gentlemen of the skies and there was a tremendous amount of chivalry displayed by both sides towards each other.

'Members of the Royal Flying Corps didn't have parachutes and were lucky to survive if they crashed.'

After the war Lt Cotterill became head of the drawing dept at Irlam Steelworks in Manchester and retired from there in 1960.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...lots-Allied-lines-let-families-know-safe.html

 

[The Sandman]

I didn't knew that these kind of things actually happened that's really brave of German pilots good share vergennes. After reading this i thought of sharing this here too.

 

[TMA]

The Germans had honour! We respect this!

 

[Providence]

Even during second world war, several German generals had the honor and the gumption to raise their voice against the nazi SS.

The following is an excerpt from dailymail article. My respect went a notch higher for the honorable german pilots.

In the skies above northern France they were the deadliest of enemies. Yet there still remained time for chivalry among the First World War flying aces.

When a British plane was shot down in 1916 the German pilot followed the stricken aircraft and landed nearby to check the two-man crew had survived.

He then braved French and British fire to cross enemy lines and drop a letter to Allied forces telling them the pair were alive

The astonishing tale of gentlemanly conduct in the heat of battle emerged yesterday when the letter and photographs of the incident were put up for auction.

It was on January 5, 1916, that the British single-engine biplane, crewed by pilot Lieutenant William Somervill and observer Lieutenant Geoffrey Formilli, took off on a reconnaissance flight from Lille.

Unfortunately, they encountered legendary flier Oswald Boelcke – known as the father of the German fighter air force and the aviator who trained the Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen – roaming the skies in his Fokker E IV fighter.

Boelcke sprayed the British plane, a BE2c reconnaissance aircraft, with hundreds of rounds from his machine-guns, forcing it to crash land.

The German ace wrote about what happened when he landed and approached his two enemy airmen.

‘I went straight up to the Englishmen, shook hands with them and told them I was delighted to have brought them down alive,’ he wrote.

‘I had a long talk with the pilot, who spoke German well. When he heard my name he said with a grin, “We all know about you!”

‘I then saw to it that they were both taken in a car to the hospital where I visited the observer today and brought him some English papers and photos of his wrecked machine.’

Lieutenant Formilli then wrote a letter to a Captain Babington of the Royal Flying Corps that Boelcke dropped over the British lines.

The letter said: ‘Just a line to say that Somervill & I are alright. We had a scrap with a Fokker. Willy got a graze on the side of his head & I got one through the shoulder half way through.

‘We had most of our controls shot through & had to land & crashed very badly.

'I am in Hospital now & Willy is in Germany. Will you let my people know please, yours G Formilli. PS. It was Boelcke who brought us down.’

Blast! Oswald Boelke takes a picture of Formilli's crashed aircraft in January 1916 after shooting it down

Sorry about that, old bean: The amazing tale of chivalry in the air in the First World War shows just how gentlemanly combatants were, even in the grim battle

Chivalry: German Ace Oswald Boelke risked his life to deliver the letter of the man he shot down

The letter was later forwarded to Formilli’s mother by a soldier, C F Murphy, who watched it being dropped by the German pilot.

Dropping a line: The chivalrous German visited the British observer Lt Geoffrey Formilli in hospital, and then incredibly undertook a perilous mission to drop a note from Formilli over his Squadron's HQ to let them know he was alive

Good news: The auction also contains the letter from Formilli's grateful Squadron commander to his parents confirming his survival

He wrote: ‘The German machine very sportingly held on through heavy shell fire from us and the French and was chased by several of our machines and had to run a hot gauntlet on its errand but it escaped all right.

‘The news has given us all great pleasure and I rejoice to be able to send it to you.’

The archive of letters and several photos taken by Boelcke – who downed 40 enemy planes before dying, aged 25, after a mid-air collision with another German plane later in 1916 – is being sold by Formilli’s family through Mullock’s of Ludlow, Shropshire, later this month. It is expected to make a four-figure sum.

Richard Westwood-Brookes, from the saleroom said: ‘This is an extraordinary tale that made headlines at the time.

‘Pilots at this time were quite gentlemanly even though they were trying to shoot each other down.’

Caught on camera: A picture of Formilli's aircraft taken by Oswald Boelke in January 1916

@Vergennes

 

[hassamun]

“History is always written by the winners. When two cultures clash, the loser is obliterated, and the winner writes the history books-books which glorify their own cause and disparage the conquered foe. As Napoleon once said, 'What is history, but a fable agreed upon?” - Dan Brown, The Da Vinci Code

This quotation sums up the First and the Second World Wars...Allies are always good and the Axis are always bad...

 

[flamer84]

So,not quite the "evil hun"

 

[TMA]

So,not quite the "evil hun"

The anti-German propaganda even continued after WW II.

 

[flamer84]

The anti-German propaganda even continued after WW II.

Tends to happen when you cause a war with 60 million victims and reduce Europe to ruins.Now,I know that Germany was treated unfairly after WW1 but it was given some compensation...the Sudetenland,after that it was allowed to occupy entire Czechoslovakia,it was allowed to remilitarise.But noooo.....they wanted more and transformed Europe from the light of the world into half commie territory,half US dependency.

Germans are great warriors,hard working people but suck at the grand scheme of things like imposing new world orders.So,I say....:" You build those Mercedes lads but leave world domination to others"

 

[TMA]

Tends to happen when you cause a war with 60 million victims and reduce Europe to ruins.Now,I know that Germany was treated unfairly after WW1 but it was given some compensation...the Sudetenland,after that it was allowed to occupy entire Czechoslovakia,it was allowed to remilitarise.But noooo.....they wanted more and transformed Europe from the light of the world into half commie territory,half US dependency.

Germans are great warriors,hard working people but suck at the grand scheme of things like imposing new world orders.So,I say....:" You build those Mercedes lads but leave world domination to others"

History is written by the Victors.
Yes I agree they are hard working and great warriors and generally sincere.

 

[waz]

There were quite a few examples of honourable things like this done during war. I remember one account of a British officer who ran out to rescue a young solider who has been shot, during the Battle of the Somme. The officer went out unarmed, and the Germans were told to not fire upon him by their own officers. He picked up the young lad and made it back to British lines.
RIP to all those who fell during the two great wars.