Between heaven & hell

Flight Journal, Aug 2003 by Broze, Jay

Aerial combat is seldom neat or orderly. It is three-dimensional chaos, and nowhere was it more chaotic then over the Somme in the summer of 1918. In "Between Heaven & Hell," artist James Dietz captures a moment in one of the many layered air battles of the time. Planes from several RAF squadrons tangle with a mixed bag of aircraft from two Jastas, and at the moment battle is joined, the often-used phrase "Suddenly the sky was full of airplanes" is given new meaning.

Pivoting around RE-8s from 52 Squadron RAF, Fokkers and Albatros from Jasta 7 dive through the British formation from the high right, while SE-5As of 41 Squadron race to the rescue from the left. In the lower action, a flight of Camels climbs up to the fray, while a Pfalz D.III-equipped Bavarian Jasta dives in from the background. Placing the scene in summer of 1918 gave artist Dietz the opportunity to bring together many of the war's important German and British fighters.

The arrival of the Fokker D.VII reinvigorated the German Jastas, but virtually none of the German units was fully equipped with the new type. Jasta 7 was typically mixed and was commanded by a true devotee of the old Fokker Dr. I. Hauptmann Josef Jacob, Jastafuhrer of Jasta 7, preferred the maneuverable little Fokker to all other types and flew his signature black triplane until it was destroyed on the ground in October 1918. To keep his beloved Fokker competitive, he had a standing offer of champagne for any army unit that salvaged Clerguet rotary engines, with airscrews, from Allied aircraft. With these more powerful engines, Jacob stayed effective until the last days of the war. He finished the war with 48 kills, and he lived 60 years beyond the summer day depicted here.