On a murky and misty day – “frightfully dud” was the verdict – Greg was down for a Counter Battery Patrol/Artillery Patrol in the morning but signalled that the weather was unfit. He dropped one bomb, had an elevator rocking bar shot, made a bad landing and bust the prop. Then he took another machine up, but the weather was still bad.
Log Book
Date: 7.7.18 Hour: 8.15 Machine type: RE8 No.: E27 Passenger: Lt Pring Time: 30 mins Height: 1500 Course/Remarks: CBP. V Dud. Elevator rocking bar shot.
Date: 7.7.18 Hour: 9.45 Machine type: RE8 No.: 2327 Passenger: Lt Pring Time: 1 hr 10 m Height: 1500 Course/Remarks: CBP. Very misty & cloudy.
Diary
Sunday July 7th 1918. Wrote AD [?]. Sent field card home. 8.15-8.45 Took off with four bombs. Could only get one of them off. Frightfully dud morning, low clouds and heavy mist. Got the right hand elevator rocking bar shot. Overshot on landing & ran into some boxes & broke propeller. 1 bomb. 9.15-11.0 Took up Hutchinson’s bus with a shoot. Too dud. Good landing.
Squadron Records
The day’s flying is fleshed out a bit in the official report:
Type and Number: R.E.8.27 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Pring Duty: Artillery Patrol Hour of Start: 8.15am Hour of Return: 8.45am Remarks: 8.30am 1-25lb bomb dropped at K.34.b.5.5. [Rue de Bournoville, Merville] Burst unobserved. 8.35am sent U.L. U.R. U.D. C.8. [Unfit for counter-battery work; unfit for artillery registration; unfit for photography; clouds at 800 ft] Very heavy ground mists and fog. Machine hit on elevator rocking bar. No E.A. A.A. or E.K.B. [No enemy aircraft, anti-aircraft fire or enemy kite balloons] Vis. very poor. Obs. By P. & O.
Because there were no enemy aircraft and no anti-aircraft fire, it looks as if the rocking bar must have been hit with small arms fire from the ground. Something of a lucky hit for the shooter at 1500 ft through cloud.
Type and Number: R.E.8.2327 Pilot and Observer: P. Lt Gregory. O. Lt Pring Duty: Artillery Patrol Hour of Start: 9.55am Hour of Return: 10.55am Remarks: 10.0am small explosion at E.30.d.4.4. [La Couronne, between Vieux Berquin and Neuf Berquin] 10.5am sent U.L. U.R. U.D. C.15. [Unfit for counter-battery work; unfit for artillery registration; unfit for photography; clouds at 1500 ft] Clouds in places below 1200'. Very thick mist prevented observation. No E.A. A.A. or E.K.B. [No enemy aircraft, anti-aircraft fire or enemy kite balloons] Vis. very poor. Obs. By P. & O.
Wrote AD [?]. Sent field card home.
So there was time left for correspondence. Not sure who “AD” is – or even if it is AD. If it were AG (which is just possible), it could be either Alice Gregory (Greg’s sister) or Albert Gertrey (Greg’s fellow student from flying training in Yatesbury).
