Valor Friday

Last week I talked a bit about fighter aces. One category of ace that is confined to the First World War is that of balloon ace (aka balloon buster). These are the pilots who took out enemy observation balloons. As with the other categories of ace, a balloon ace shot down at least five enemy balloons. The top American balloon buster of the war was Frank Luke, who I’ve talked about previously.

Also worth mentioning is the German use of airships, Zeppelins to be precise, in the bombing of Britain. They deployed 84 air ships, with 30 being show down or lost in accidents. The Zeppelins were the start of the idea of strategic bombing. They were also the first in a line of German terror weapons used to bring the war home to the British. This line would include the V-1 and V-2 bombs of the Second World War.

With WWI being a war that spanned the old (horse-drawn implements, communication runners for examples) and the modern (the tank, aircraft), the balloon was still a major tactical element of the army. It was used predominately as an observation platform (for reconnaissance and artillery spotting), but also for communication. As such, they were a target for enemy fire.

While it would seem on the surface that shooting down a balloon would be as simple as popping a rubber balloon, the reality is that they take many shots to shoot down. They’re large, and designed such that a small hole, or even a series of small holes, wouldn’t bring them crashing down. A certain amount of the lifting gas (usually hydrogen gas) normally seeps through the seams in regular use. Therefore, shooting at them with guns, which make a small hole, requires many hits.

Alternatively, the war saw the first use of air-to-air rockets, which were more effective at bringing down balloons. They were unreliable though, and were very volatile to handle. By the end of the war they were replaced with incendiary bullets.

The hydrogen gas used to fill WWI and earlier balloons was easy to make. You might remember doing this as a 9th grade chemistry experiment where you run an electrical current through water. With each electrode placed under a beaker in the water, they’ll begin to bubble. You’ll get one beaker filled with about twice as much gas by the end of the experiment, that’s your oxygen. The other will be hydrogen. Hydrogen is also the lightest element, and so lighter than air. Since it’s easy to make, all you need is water and electricity, it’s easy to see why it was chosen for these early aircraft.

The problem with hydrogen, which you might have also experienced in that 9th grade chemistry class, is that if you put a flame to your two beakers, one does nothing (the oxygen) and the other explodes with a pop (the hydrogen). This demonstrates how flammable hydrogen is. It reacts violently with the oxygen in the air to create water. It’s so violent and powerful of a reaction that it’s literal rocket fuel for spaceships. The Space Shuttle’s liquid fueled rockets were powered by liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

This reaction is why observation balloons were so effectively targeted by rockets or incendiary bullets. One open flame piercing the fabric balloon, and mixing with the oxygen in the atmosphere, was enough to send it down in flames. Indeed, many balloon crewmen preferred to parachute from their aircraft when they came under attack.

The balloons themselves were hard targets, but any pilot that went after them had to fly deep into enemy territory to find them. The balloons were tethered to the ground. Though operating at heights of a few thousand feet in the air, the ground crews would reel them in at the first sign of enemy attack. This means that a balloon buster might only get one pass before the balloon was too low to reengage. If the pilot decided to make a second pass, the balloon was now much closer to the artillery battery it was flying from, and the supporting fire got more voluminous, and much more accurate, the closer one got to the ground. The supporting fire from the ground was particularly dialed in, as they artillerymen on the ground knew with specificity what altitude the balloons were flying at.

Once ignited, the enemy balloon made a spectacular display. While this ensured that any attacking aviator would get credit for his kill, it was equally visible to the enemy. The pilot was now a prime target for even more anti-aircraft and small arms fire from the ground, but the funeral pyre of the balloon was a potent indicator for enemy fighters on patrol that there was a plane nearby that needed to be shot down for his kill.

All of this adds up to make attacking a balloon something of a suicide mission. Most pilots refused to try. The crazy ones that routinely volunteered for the task were a special breed. The balloon ace of aces for World War I and all time (unless the technology makes a major return to modern warfare) is Belgian Willy Coppens.

Willy Coppens

Coppens was born in 1892 in Brussels. His father, Omer Coppens, was a noted impressionist painter. In 1912, Willy was conscripted into the Belgian Army. He served in the service’s preeminent infantry unit, the Premier Regiment de Grenadiers. He must have liked the military life, as he remained in the service until the start of World War I.

The summer of 1914 saw the various political alliances and mutual defense treaties bring the whole European continent to war. By Christmas, the war had descended into the stalemate of trench warfare that would define the conflict. The two sides were the Germans and Austro-Hungarians and their allies as the Central Powers and the British, French, Russians and their allies on the sides of the Triple Entente (though better known now as the Allied Powers after many countries joined them).

As part of the early stages of the war, Germany invaded their much smaller neighbor Belgium on their way to France. The Belgians were almost completely overrun. Their King, Albert I, personally led his men in battle (throughout the war). He was the last European king to do so and earned the nickname of the Knight King or Soldier King because of it. Their final stand in October 1914 at the Battle of The Yser is the stuff of legend, and prevented the whole of Belgium from being occupied as the Germans. He eventually led the Allied Army Group Flanders in late 1918 to victory at the Fifth Battle of Ypres to reclaim his country from the Germans.

With the start of the war, Coppens transferred to the Motor Machine Gun Corps. In 1915, the nascent heavier than air aircraft started to be deployed. Initially as reconnaissance and observation platforms like the balloons had been used, but soon enough as light bombers. To combat this, the first air-to-air engagements took place. Initially this was the pilots shooting at each other with sidearms, but quickly new aircraft types were developed that became dedicated fighter planes. In a short period of time, machine guns were mounted to the fighters, and then when they were synchronized to fire between the propeller as it rotated, what you would recognize now as a fighter plane was born.

Belgium had embraced the new airplane technology early. King Albert I was keen on its military uses, and instituted what would become the Belgian Air Force in 1909. By the beginning of World War I they had four squadrons of four aircraft. They began expanding as the war started and progressed.

As few men knew how to fly, it was important to train new aviators. Coppens transferred to the air arm of the Army on 9 September 1915 to become a pilot. Belgian policy at the time (as it had since 1909) been that men looking to become pilots had to take military leave and pay their own way through the training. Coppens took eight weeks leave and underwent training in Britain with 39 other Belgians at his own expense. He received his pilot’s brevet on 9 December.

After some additional training on France, he was assigned to the Sixth Escadrille and then the Fourth Escadrille as a sergeant first class in April 1917. He first saw combat flying a Sopwith 1½ Strutter. It was an outdated design by this point in the war (though only of a design that dated to 1915), but was noteworthy for being the first British fighter plane with a synchronized machine gun.

In July he was transferred to the 1st Pursuit Squadron. The squadron had been equipped with the Nieuport 17 fighter (the “best pursuit plane of its day” when introduced in 1916), but Coppens got the oldest plane, the lone remaining Nieuport 16. While outdated by the rapidly evolving standards of the time, the 16 is closely associated with the use of air-to-air rockets.

When the French declined the Hanriot HD.1 fighter in favor of the legendary Spad S.VII, the Belgians and Italians were offered the type. Both countries saw great success with it. When given the option to upgrade from his Nieuport 16 to the essentially state-of-the-art Hanriot HD.1, Coppens jumped at the chance. His enthusiasm for the airframe convinced his fellow pilots to also make the switch.

Coppens received a promotion to adjutant in August. This rank is considered equivalent to a senior non-commissioned officer or a junior warrant officer in English-speaking armed forces. For months Coppens flew against the enemy. Despite his dogged determination to shoot down some German aircraft, he was unsuccessful.

In February 1918 he took off with a set of full tanks. He flew 200 kilometers over enemy-held Belgium to Brussels. He flew over the enemy anti-aircraft by flying at an altitude of 18,000 feet.

The capital city of Brussels was also where his parents still lived. He flew low over the city, drawing much attention from the Belgians. He then circled his own house several times at treetop level. This roused his parents, who looked out the windows and saw their son circling in his flying machine. In addition to his parents, others on the ground are said to have recognized him, and he became a legend in the city.

On 17 March 1918, Coppens scored his first kill against a German observation balloon. The move helped support a Belgian Army ground assault. Though not outfitted with rockets or incendiary ammunition, he shot up two German balloons. He filled them with enough holes that the German aeronauts bailed out and the balloons collapsed to the ground. On 25 April he finally shot down an enemy airplane, a German Rumpler two-seater. On 8 May he shot down another two balloons.

A week later he closed with another German balloon and shot it lose from its ground tether. When the balloon broke lose, it actually came up under Coppens’ aircraft, pushing him up with it. Recognizing that the balloon was taut enough to support his landing gear, he quickly deduced his propeller would foul in the balloon itself, so he shut down his engine. As the balloon sagged to the ground, his plane slid off the untethered enemy balloon, he put his plane a shallow dive to windmill the propeller. There were no electric starters, so engines had to be started by hand. When flying, the force of the wind turning the prop was enough to get the nine cylinder rotary engine spinning. Upon restarting his engine he was able to return to base. This kill meant he was now a balloon buster.

Coppens had found his stride. “I had started attacking the Drachen by sense of duty,” he explained, using the German word for dragon, which is also used to mean a kite or a glider. “I went on by pride.” He racked up an astonishing number of kills against enemy balloons. From that first kill in April and through October he shot down 34 of the Kaiser’s balloons and three airplanes. His record was better than the next four Begian aces combined. Instead of using .303 or 7.62mm ammunition, Coppens had upgraded his aircraft’s armament (sometime prior to June 1918) to utilize the larger 11mm Vickers machine gun with incendiary ammo.

In mid-June, upon landing back at base after a successful mission, his flight leader found him shaking in his cockpit. When he asked Coppens if he’d been hit, he replied, “I just killed a brave man, and I killed him in the worst way I could. The balloon observer didn’t jump—he kept firing at me with a little handgun. The burning balloon just swallowed him up.” It was an image that he never forgot.

Coppens had received promotion in June to sous lieutenant, becoming a commissioned officer. Like many of the fighter aces on both sides, he decorated his aircraft distinctly. He flew a royal blue plane with a logo of a thistle sprig and top hat. The Germans gave him the nickname “der blaue Teufel”, literally “The Blue Devil.”

He became so well known that the Germans went to great lengths to kill him personally. This culminated in his near death on 3 August when he shot down a booby trapped balloon. It was rigged to explode by trigger from the ground as he passed. It nearly succeeded. The stunt backfired on the Germans as the flaming balloon is said to have “fell swift as doom on the watching [German] staff officers, killing many and injuring the rest”.

His last mission would be on 14 October, less than a month before the end of the war. He’d downed an enemy balloon near Praatbos and was attacking one over Torhout. He was hit by an incendiary bullet. Striking his left leg it smashed the tibia and severed the artery. He crash landed near Diksmuide, Belgium. He was rushed to hospital where he lost the leg to amputation.

The war was over before he could recover. All of his victories were while flying the Hanriot HD.1.

Coppens being decorated by King Albert

In recognition for his wartime service, Coppens was knighted by the king. He became Willy Omer Francois Jean Coppens de Houthulst, receiving the appellation of his surname after a Belgian forest in the area in which his squadron operated. He wrote his memoirs, published in 1931 as Days on the Wing.

Coppens remained in the service during the inter-war years. In 1928 he set a parachute jump record. Despite having only one leg, he leapt from 19,700 feet. The record stood for four years. His military duties brought him to four foreign countries, where he served as the Belgian air attache to each.

In 1940, Coppens retired as a major to Switzerland. When his country was again invaded and occupied by the Germans he fought them from afar. He organized resistance work from the neutral country. He also married during this time. Coppens returned to Belgium in 1960, living there until his death in 1986.

In addition to his knighting by King Albert, he was made Baron Coppens de Houthulst by King Baudouin in 1960. He was given three additional high honors from his country. He was a Commander in the Order of the Crown (with swords), a Commander in the Order of Leopold II (with swords), and a Officer in the Order of Leopold (Belgium’s highest order of knighthood). He received the Belgian Croix de Guerre with 27 palms and 13 bronze lions. Each attachment indicating a citation in orders at various levels of command. The Croix de Guerre most closely translates to an American Silver Star or Bronze Star Medal depending on what level he was cited at.

Coppens also received honors from Allied countries. He was given membership in top national orders from Morocco, Tunisia, Benin, Spain, Poland, and Italy. In September 1918 he got the Legion of Honor from French Prime Minister Georges Clemenceau. Poland awarded him their Virtuti Military (their highest purely military award). The UK awarded him the Distinguished Service Order (the second highest award at the time for combat gallantry of officers) and the Military Cross (the third-level gallantry decoration). Italy gave him the Silver Medal for Military Valor and France their version of the Croix de Guerre (with two palms). This is in addition to his service medals from his native Belgium and several Allies.

Category: Air Force, Historical, Valor, We Remember, WWI