WAR

was of the semi-monocoque method, its basic shape being defined by light plywood
"O" formers connected by half a dozen spruce longerons. To this skeleton
was attached the shell which came in two pieces like the halves of a walnut
shell. These halves were made separately by wrapping and gluing six layers of
paper-thin wooden strips around master pattern forms. The strips were three to
four inches wide and were wrapped spirally in opposing directions, the joints reinforced
by cloth tape. The halves were fitted to the skeleton and screwed in place,
then covered with fabric and doped. The technique was time-consuming compared
to the welded steel tube technique regularly used at the Fokker works, but it
was marvelously strong.
The armament was two synchronized Spandau machine guns and the engine
was the 1 60-horsepower Mercedes. While the top speed and rate of climb were
comparatively slow, the Pfalz D III offset these drawbacks to a large extent by
its manoeuvrability, which was good, its responsiveness, which was better than that
of the Albatros fighters, its ability to hold together in a dive, which was perfect,
and its cockpit view, which was excellent.
Rudolf Stark was flying a Pfalz D III when he first joined a fighter squadron,
Jasta 34 at Verdun. In March 1918 the Jasta was transferred to a new base at Le
Cateau, about fourteen miles east of Cambrai, to take part in the March Offensive.
During the last half of the month the weather was soft and springlike, fairly clear
in the afternoon, but frequently misty in the morning and evening.
One evening Stark was out over Peronne when his motor suddenly started to
act up. It would sputter spasmodically then run for a moment then misfire and
sputter again a few times. This was no place to be out alone with a bad engine
so Stark headed for home, nursing the aeroplane along and trying to hold his
height. At this awkward moment two British two-seaters appeared out of the
mist ahead of him. Knowing that he was an easy victim and that the best form
of defense is an attack, he banked slightly to take a sight on the nearer machine
and fired. After only a few rounds the guns jammed. The machines turned
toward him and, wild with rage, Stark decided to ram one of them. His engine
was alternately stopping and starting, then suddenly it caught on and roared up
to full power and his guns began to fire—he hadn't taken his finger off the firing
button. The observer in the British machine collapsed and the pilot lurched
forward. Stark pulled back hard on the stick and just managed to clear the twoseater
which passed under him and dived straight down. The other British machine
had turned wide and by the time it came around to join in, Stark had lost
himself in the mist, his engine sputtering again. Losing height, he nursed the
aeroplane along, looking for some place to set down safely, until he spotted the
aerodrome of Jasta 79 at Villers-le-Sec. He landed and the mechanics there went
to work on his engine.
His first victory; hardly the way he had pictured it. It had happened much
more quickly than he had supposed it would, all over in a few seconds, such an
utter fluke it was difficult to feel proud of it.
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