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Archive Report: 1914 - 1918
Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.

Willy Coppens de Holthulst: Belgian Balloon Killer Extraordinaire

The leading Belgian ace of WW I, Willy Coppens de Houthhulst, was born on July 6, 1882 at Watermael Belgium. The son of a successful artist, Willy was called up for military service in 1912. After several years in the infantry, Willy was able to join the air arm as a pupil pilot in 1915.

He went to Britain for his flight training where he met Albert Ball. He earned his wings and returned to Belgium for advanced flight training at Etampes. Finally, he was posted to No. 6 Squadron flying the B.E. 2C on reconnaissance missions. He experienced his first aerial combat in May of 1917 when he survived an attack by four German fighters. Still disappointed about being in a reconnaissance unit, Willy was delighted in 1917 when he was transferred to Fighter Escadrille No. 1 based at Les Moeres airfield.

Initially flying Neuport Scouts, the unit was re-equipped with a capable French-made single seat fighter, the Hanriot HD.1. Designed by M. Dupont in 1916, the HD.1 was a single-seat, staggered-wing, biplane powered by a 120-HP Le Rhone rotary engine. The HD.1 had an interesting open fronted cowling, and metal panels reached as far back as the cockpit. In standard configuration the HD.1 was armed with only a single Vickers machine gun, and was capable of 114-MPH.

This lack of fire power caused many of the Italian pilots who flew the HD.1, including the top Italian ace to survive the War, to add a second gun. Although generally ignored in France, more than 800 were built for the Italians and more than 100 for the Belgians during WW I. Throughout the winter of 1917-18 Coppens had no meaningful enemy engagements.

However, on March 18, 1918 he agreed to attack an enemy balloon. These attacks were not easy because observation balloons were almost always protected by anti-aircraft batteries. His first attack was unsuccessful, and the young pilot learned that he must get special incendiary bullets, if future attacks were to succeed. On April 11 he attained his first victory over a German fighter.

This fine print of Coppens is available from Cranston Fine Arts

In May, Coppens received a very small allocation of incendiary bullets. He decided that he would fire only four bullets at a time, and would fire only from very close range. This formula proved unstoppable for the young pilot who went on to attain 36 more victories during the remainder of 1918, making Coppens clearly the Balloon Buster Extraordinaire. Working in the Houthulst Forest region, Coppens would pounce almost every time the Germans put up an observation balloon. In September of 1918 he was awarded the Legion of Honour from Georges Clemenceau.

The balloon busting ace decided to repaint his Hanriot from green to blue, because the original color reminded him of a toy snake. On October 14th, following a successful balloon attack, Coppens was hit with shrapnel. He managed to crash land his aircraft behind his own lines and he was rushed to a hospital where one of his legs was amputated. Coppens continued to fly after the War, and he also served as Belgian Air Attache in London.

19 May 1918: five minutes after Adj Willy Coppens landed with his Hanriot HD.1 H-D 24 having scored his 5th victory. Congratulated by his fellow fighter pilots from left to right.: Adj P. Dubois, Cdt F. Jacquet, Adj G. Kervyn de Lettenhove, 1SM G. Kervyn de Meerendre, Lt M. de Crombrugghe de Looringhe, Adj A. De Meulemeester and Lt J. Olieslagers (Photo: Courtesy Daniel Brackx)

Victories:

Date	Time		Plane		Location	Enemy
Thursday, 25 April 1918	1220		Hanriot HD		St. Joris	Scout
Wednesday, 8 May 1918	0710		Hanriot HD		Zarren	Balloon
Wednesday, 8 May 1918	0955		Hanriot HD		Houthulst	Balloon
Wednesday, 15 May 1918	0807		Hanriot HD		Houthulst	Balloon
Sunday, 19 May 1918	0945		Hanriot HD		Houthulst	Balloon
Wednesday, 5 June 1918	0640		Hanriot HD		Houthulst	Balloon
Sunday, 9 June 1918	0922		Hanriot HD		Zonnebeke	Balloon
Monday, 10 June 1918	0747		Hanriot HD		Ploegsteert	Balloon
Monday, 24 June 1918	0645		Hanriot HD		Warneton	Balloon
Monday, 24 June 1918	0646		Hanriot HD		Ploegsteert	Hannover CL
Sunday, 30 June 1918	0630		Hanriot HD		Bovekerke	Balloon
Sunday, 30 June 1918	0830		Hanriot HD		Gheluvelt	Balloon
Sunday, 30 June 1918	0834		Hanriot HD		Passchendaele	Balloon
Sunday, 14 July 1918	0930		Hanriot HD		Passchendaele	Balloon
Tuesday, 16 July 1918	1855		Hanriot HD		Bovekerke	Balloon
Friday, 19 July 1918	1920		Hanriot HD		Ruyterhoek	Balloon
Saturday, 20 July 1918	0557		Hanriot HD		Houthulst	Balloon
Monday, 22 July 1918	0730		Hanriot HD		Gheluwe	Balloon
Monday, 22 July 1918	0731		Hanriot HD		Wervicq	Balloon
Monday, 22 July 1918	0734		Hanriot HD		Comines	Balloon
Wednesday, 24 July 1918	1920		Hanriot HD		Ruyterhoek	Balloon
Saturday, 3 August 1918	0750		Hanriot HD		Reutel	Balloon
Saturday, 10 August 1918	0605		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	Balloon
Saturday, 10 August 1918	0625		Hanriot HD		Ruyterhoek	Balloon
Saturday, 10 August 1918	0745		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	Balloon
Saturday, 24 August 1918	1455		Hanriot HD		Ploegsteert	Balloon
Saturday, 24 August 1918	1457		Hanriot HD		Warneton	Balloon
Tuesday, 3 September 1918	1102		Hanriot HD		Tenbrielen	Balloon
Wednesday, 4 September 1918	0923		Hanriot HD		Wercken	Balloon
Friday, 27 September 1918	1105		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	Balloon
Friday, 27 September 1918	1106		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	Balloon
Sunday, 29 September 1918	1005		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	2-seater
Wednesday, 2 October 1918	1520		Hanriot HD		Leffinge	Balloon
Thursday, 3 October 1918	0814		Hanriot HD		Lendeleede	Balloon
Saturday, 5 October 1918	0820		Hanriot HD		Cruypenaerde	Balloon
Saturday, 5 October 1918	0600		Hanriot HD		Praatbos	Balloon
Monday, 14 October 1918	0605		Hanriot HD		Torhout	Balloon

In 1914, following the German invasion of Belgium, Coppens transferred to The Motor Machine Gun Corps. On 6 September 1915, he signed up for flight training in the Compagnie des Aviateurs. Ultimately, due to insufficiencies in Belgian training, he took eight weeks of leave to train to fly. He and 39 other Belgians learned to fly on their own expense in Britain. He received his pilot's certificate on 9 December 1915. After this training in Britain he had further training at the Farman School in Étampes, France and joined the Sixieme Escradrille as a sergent 1ere class (Sergeant First Class) on 8 April 1917 flying BE-2c two seaters. Later that month, he was assigned to Quatrieme Escadrille to fly a Farman pusher. On 1 May, he received a Sopwith 1½ Strutter two seater and promptly flew it into his first aerial combat.

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In mid July, he transferred to the single seater fighter unit 1ère Escadrille de Chasse (1st Pursuit Squadron). He received the last remaining Nieuport 16 in the squadron; everyone else had upgraded to Nieuport 17s. When Hanriot HD.1s were offered to the squadron, he was the only pilot to initially accept one. His enthusiasm for the aircraft type prompted other pilots to also move over to Hanriots.

On 19 August Coppens was promoted to Adjutant. He continued his nervy but unsuccessful combat career against enemy aircraft until 17 March 1918. On that day he carried out his first attack on German observation balloons, as an aid to a ground assault by the Belgian Army. Though handicapped by lack of incendiary ammunition he punctured two balloons, causing the observers to bail out and the balloons to collapse to the ground.

Finally, on 25 April Coppens scored his first victory by downing a Rumpler two seater. On 8 May he finally found his metier, when he shot two balloons down in flames.

A week later, using his usual tactics of close range fire, Coppens cut a balloon loose from its ties. It bounced up beneath him and momentarily carried his Hanriot skyward. After his aircraft fell off the balloon, he restarted its engine and flew back to base. The balloon sagged into an explosion.

Later when on another attack run, he got shot at from a balloon. He parked his plane on top of the damaged balloon, shut down his engine in order to protect its propeller, and waited until the balloon descended to slide off the balloon and fly away.

From then on, Coppens' record was spectacular. Between April and October 1918 he was credited with destroying 34 German observation balloons and three airplanes, nearly as many victories as Belgium's other five aces combined. Unlike most fighter pilots of World War I, who used .303 caliber or 7.92 mm guns, Coppens used a larger bore 11 mm Vickers machine gun, having upgraded his weaponry prior to June 1918.

In June, he was promoted to sous lieutenant, thus becoming an officer. His royal blue plane with its insignia of a thistle sprig wearing a top hat became so well known that the Germans went to special pains to try to kill him. On 3 August he shot down a balloon booby-trapped with explosives that when detonated from the ground narrowly missed killing him. The flaming wreckage of the balloon 'fell swift as doom on the watching [German] staff officers, killing many and injuring the rest'.

(Left: Coppens being decorated by King Albert)

On his last mission, 14 October, Coppens downed a balloon over Praatbos and was attacking one over Torhout when he was severely wounded by an incendiary bullet, smashing the tibia of his left leg and severing the artery. Coppens crash landed near Diksmuide and was taken to hospital, where his leg was amputated.

Coppens achieved all his victories flying a Hanriot HD.1 fighter.

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Additional Information:

Willy Omer François Jean Coppens de Houthulst joined the army in 1912 and served with the 2nd Grenadiers before he transferred to the Compagnie des Aviateurs in 1915. At his own expense, he and thirty nine other Belgians enrolled in a civilian flying school at Hendon, England.

After additional training in France, Coppens began flying two-seaters in combat during 1916. The following year, he was assigned to single-seat fighters and soon became an expert at shooting down enemy observation balloons. After downing a balloon, Coppens would often perform aerial acrobatic displays above the enemy. On one occasion, the balloon he was attacking shot upward and Coppens actually landed his cobalt blue Hanriot HD.1 on top of it.

Switching off his engine to protect the propeller, he waited until his aircraft slid off the top of the balloon, then restarted the engine and watched as the German balloon burst into flames and sank to the ground. On the morning of 14 October 1918, his days as a fighting pilot came to an end near Thourout in northwestern Belgium. Just as he began the attack that would culminate in his 37th victory, Coppens was hit in the left leg by an incendiary bullet. Despite a severed artery and intense pain, he shot down his target and managed to crash land within the safety of his own lines.

His badly shattered leg had to be amputated. Nevertheless, Coppens set a parachute jump record in 1928, which he held until 1932, jumping from an altitude of about 19,700 feet. Before he retired from the army in 1940, Coppens served as a military attaché in France, Great Britain, Italy and Switzerland.

Sources: Belgian Archives, Wikipedia, theaerodrome.com, private sources in Netherlands, belgian-wings.be

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© Aircrew Remembered Last Modified: 03 March 2019, 13:57

Alan 2018-03-18

Superb story. This guy must have been an amazing pilot to land on the balloon itself! What a character! Thanks for these WW1 stories, too little is known about this important era.

Editor: Thanks for your comments. We really agree about the importance. We are always looking for specialists to contribute their stories.