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From left: Gerstenberg (chief of German antiaircraft defense at Ploesti during the Second World War), Hauptmann Carganico, von Richthofen, and Hans Joachim Wolff. ^^^tt teng^^M^f The Rittmeister (left)—a rare grin of elation over his 62nd victory.
when the battle of cambrai opened, Jagdgeschwader Nr. 1, the Richthofen Circus, was moved in by train, set up and operational within two days. On November 23 and 30, von Richthofen scored his last victories of the winter of 1917-18. During the first half of December he visited the Pfalz works at Speyer on the Rhine to look over some new machines, but was unimpressed with what he saw and returned to J.G. 1 where he spent Christmas. Bad weather restricted flying to a few sorties through most of November and December and January of 1918. In January von Richthofen, as an advisor in aviation matters, went to Poland with the German delegation negotiating the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. He took the opportunity to do some hunting, then stopped at Adlershof aerodrome for a series of technical conferences and finally returned to J.G. 1 the first week in March 1918. He started active flying at once and began to score the way he had in the spring of 1917. He shot down five machines from March 12 to 25; on the twentysixth he shot down two; on the twenty-seventh, three. On March 28, he scored a single victory, then on April 2, 6, and 7 he scored four more. In 25 days he had shot down 15 aeroplanes, 12 of them fighters—Brisfits, Camels, and S.E.5's, the best fighters the British—or anybody else—had. He had been out of the fight three months and only semi-active for five before that. The better part of a year had gone by since the Rittmeister had scored like that. His return to action was spectacular. Der Rote Kampffieger was still the champion. Nobody could deny that. March 20, 1918, was a gloomy day of rain and heavy cloud. Toward evening the rain began to let up and the Rittmeister led a patrol of Jasta 11 from the field at Cappy, near Peronne, to the Front, which ran at that time roughly on a line from Albert to Montdidier. The squalls of the day had left thick banks of cloud ranged along the Front at various levels, and while circuiting one of these the Rittmeister came upon a patrol of six for Camels of No. 3 Squadron RAF. There had been 12 Camels in two flights, but in trying to rise above the clouds the two flights had become separated, so six Camels faced 15 Triplanes. The Camel leader spotted the Circus and turned to face the attack. The two patrols came together head-on. After the first pass von Richthofen turned onto the tail of one Camel and literally blew it up with a burst into the fuel tank. He turned instantly and was on the tail of a second Camel, sending splintering bursts into the center section and struts. The pilot, 19-year-old Second Lieutenant D. Lewis, flung his Camel about frantically to escape the fire of the red Triplane. His goggles were shot off. His tanks were hit and his machine flamed but did not explode like the other one. Lewis dived to the ground as von Richthofen broke off. Lewis hit the ground hard and was thrown clear. Scorched, stunned, cut and bruised, Lewis got unsteadily to his feet. He was standing between two blazing wrecks, von Richthofen's last two victories. The Rittmeister roared over, a hundred feet off the ground, and waved. 155
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*»&%gp&iiqfc THE MEN AND MACHINES
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Hanriot H-D 1 • France (here in B
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Photograph by Beverly Lebarrow
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COPYRIGHT © 1965 BY THOMAS R. FUND
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In acknowledging the help he has re
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the great war, as every schoolboy k
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perseverance have been beyond all p
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: ; o COLOGNE MAP Showing the Salie
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"A EUROPEAN WAR" "Never before the
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an American, Charles J. Biddle, of
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From 1300 metres the country is spr
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Pegoud
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In the autumn of 1913 Pegoud gave a
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In layout the new monoplane somewha
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Aviatik B I
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— — grudziadz is a town on the
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Stationed in home country near Bres
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Roland Garros *«« . •—;-*.;-
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twins jean and Pierre navarre were
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One day on a reconnaissance flight
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Pilot and observer/gunner in Halber
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in February of 1915 Roland Garros r
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so became enthusiastic about flying
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them disappeared in the direction o
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one of navarre's closest friends wa
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— CO. condemning the ship the men
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iefed their mechanics and packed th
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although Kriegszeitung stated expli
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ehind the British lines near Arras
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Boelckc returned to Douai in Decemb
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artillery-spotting that they didn't
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an American ace who flew in British
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The same day two other men from the
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observer seized his Parabellum and
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"THE INEVITABLE RESULT" "As I have
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21, 1916, the German Fifth Army beg
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— — * * * since the Germans hel
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among the flying personnel assemble
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on june 17, 1916, Navarre, Pivolo,
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— hnmelmann On June 18, 1916, obs
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en route to verdun the end of Febru
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5- 3 a*i& rT& A striking demonstrat
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late in 1915 the Halberstadt Aeropl
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Seven such units were initially pro
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the quality of disinterestedness wi
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The results were uniformly nil, but
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11,000 and about 7 p.m. saw a hosti
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British machines reached their obje
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y January 1917 von Richthofen had a
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During the summer of 1916, two Nieu
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Ball was awarded the M.C. for his e
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from the beginning of 1917 a warnin
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. The aeroplane he had destroyed wa
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Bristol F.2 "Brisfit." 99
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On this day he had just taken off w
Page 124 and 125: The Sopwith Triplane appeared in sm
Page 126 and 127: Naval Ten was formed in February 19
Page 128 and 129: It would appear that the raid was a
Page 130 and 131: 1 "Collishaw led a (second) offensi
Page 132 and 133: fast as the three machines spun aro
Page 134 and 135: — Hermann becker was born in Treb
Page 136 and 137: gilbert sardier of Clermont-Ferrand
Page 138 and 139: — the storks— Groupe de Combat
Page 140 and 141: no. 20 squadron rfc was a two-seate
Page 142 and 143: 122
Page 144 and 145: on the last day of July 1917, the T
Page 146 and 147: the last instant he would tilt his
Page 148 and 149: a powerful one, but that hardly mat
Page 150 and 151: in august 1917 Naval Ten switched f
Page 152 and 153: I "The Germans kept shooting at me
Page 154 and 155: mm me Caudion G.3. ktN erwe
Page 156 and 157: Commandant Brocard. 136
Page 158 and 159: Fonck was the best shot at the Fron
Page 161 and 162: "THE SUPREMACY OF THE AIR" "Despite
Page 163 and 164: "if von richthofen liked a man it w
Page 165 and 166: albert deullin was born in Epernay,
Page 167 and 168: tion, full motor and diving slightl
Page 169 and 170: Pfalz D III In the summer and autum
Page 171 and 172: was of the semi-monocoque method, i
Page 173: Nodding, von Richthofen turned to g
Page 177 and 178: Cerisy, a hamlet on the left bank o
Page 179 and 180: As the two machines ahead of him zi
Page 181 and 182: "Balloon strafing became highly dev
Page 183 and 184: eed Mckinley chambers was born at O
Page 185 and 186: On March 29, James Norman Hall arri
Page 187 and 188: Lufbery. Assuming command of the 94
Page 189 and 190: IN February 1918 Oberleutnant Adolf
Page 191 and 192: y the end of May both Douglas Campb
Page 193 and 194: — Brigadier General Everett R. Co
Page 195 and 196: Biddle.
Page 197 and 198: 177
Page 199 and 200: of the 95 Congressional Medals of H
Page 201 and 202: Rickenbackei eddie rickenbacker's o
Page 203 and 204: when hellmuth von zastrow began fly
Page 205 and 206: In August 1917 Theobald was posted
Page 207 and 208: — On October 1, 1917, at five o'c
Page 209 and 210: Sam, over two feet tall and acquire
Page 211: — climb all the way to ceiling go
Page 214: A dispatch from the Wolff Telegraph
Page 217 and 218: Gibbons, Floyd, The Red Knight of G
Page 219 and 220: 43,53, : : : Frantz: ix, 13, 15,26
Page 222 and 223: Spad 13 • France (here in Italian
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WAR

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