In attaining that victory, Göring and his men ended up some fifty kilometres northwest of their airfield and back in the Flanders Sector. Hence, it is not surprising that, after the German offensive began in Flanders on 9 April,⁵⁸ six days later Jasta 27 was relocated from Erchin to Halluin, less than ten kilometres from its former airfield at Marckebeke.

Troublesome Triplanes

Having fought against Sopwith Triplanes in the summer of 1917, Helmuth Dilthey and other Jasta 27 pilots had high regard for the three-winged aeroplanes. Consequently, German fighter pilots were eager to have aircraft manufacturer Anthony Fokker’s Triplane fighters when they became available some months after the British aeroplanes appeared. Unfortunately, operational and production problems delayed wide use of the Fokker Triplane until spring 1918. Thus, by the time Jasta 27 began to receive its allotment, it ‘never received enough … [of them] to equip the entire unit, and it operated a mix of Triplanes and Albatros fighters for a period’.⁵⁹

As Dilthey noted:

‘It became somewhat better when we received [Fokker] Triplanes. At that time they were no longer as good as the British single- and two-seaters; above all, they were too slow and the engines were too temperamental. Other than that, they were quite nice. Our Triplanes had yellow cowlings, yellow interplane struts, yellow tails and were in other respects in natural colours. Only the leader’s aeroplane, Oberleutnant Göring’s [Triplane] had a white tail and a white cowling.’⁶⁰

By then, however, the rotary-engined Fokker Dr.I Triplanes were due to be replaced by Fokker D.VII biplanes, which, with more powerful stationary engines, were less tricky to fly than Triplanes. But it was ominous when, on Sunday, 21 April, Germany’s highestscoring fighter ace, Manfred von Richthofen, was killed in combat⁶¹ while flying a Fokker Triplane. The following day, Hermann Göring flew a Triplane – Dr.I 496/17 – on a patrol with nine of his men and, upon returning to Halluin airfield, he was apparently caught by a cross current of wind and flew into a hangar. Göring was uninjured, but the aeroplane was listed as ‘damaged’⁶² and was not mentioned in further reports.

Despite ground fighting on both sides of the lines during the next phase of the spring offensive, generally unfavourable weather conditions kept air units in the 4th Army Sector from making gains for the remainder of April.⁶³ Indeed, Kofl 4 reported only one victory in its entire sector, on 25 April,⁶⁴ while Jasta 27’s log⁶⁵ noted an absence of aerial combats for the period.

That relatively calm time gave way to disappointment and loss in May. During good weather on the morning of the 3rd, Göring and seven comrades attacked a flight of British two-seaters behind their lines near Tournai,⁶⁶ but had to give up the chase when their Fokker Triplanes and Albatroses ran low on fuel.⁶⁷ Four days later, five of Jasta 24’s six-plane afternoon patrol returned without success.⁶⁸ The missing pilot, twenty-three-year-old Offizierstellvertreter Waldemar von der Weppen, had been shot down and killed near Ypres.⁶⁹

On Tuesday, 21 May, Göring led Jasta 27 to yet another new airfield, further south and east, at Vivaise in the 7th Army Sector. He could only hope that a new location would bring new luck and success.