WAR

"Balloon strafing became highly developed in No. 84 Squadron. It was quite
a dangerous game, for the balloons normally flew at
1 500 feet or below and were
protected by nests of machine guns. The most successful tactic developed by
Proctor was for the flight to approach in a steep dive covered by another flight
from attack from above. The leader, usually Proctor, dived right up to the balloon
firing to the last moment before zooming away. Of his fifty-four enemy aircraft
destroyed, Proctor got 16 balloons."
On August 22, 1918, Proctor attacked a string of seven balloons, flamed
two of them, and drove the observers in the rest over the side to take to their
parachutes.
In June 1921, while practicing for an RAF aerial pageant. Proctor was
killed when his Snipe spun into the ground at
Upavon.
In May 1918 George Vaughn joined No. 84 Squadron, being assigned to
Saunders' flight. Saunders remembers Vaughn as an aggressive young man, "one
of a number of U. S. pilots who came to 84 Squadron to gain fighter experience
before joining U. S. fighter squadrons then forming in Europe. Vaughn was by
far the most successful. He was a first-class shot and courageous. He got his
first enemy aircraft on one of his earliest patrols."
Asked about this first victory, Mr. Vaughn smiled and said that he'd gotten
a strip torn off by Saunders because of it.
It happened on the morning of June 16, 1918. The German March Offensive
had driven No. 84 Squadron out of its flying field at Flez, near St-Quentin, and
the squadron had moved to new quarters at Bertangles where several British
units were located. At 8 o'clock in the morning, No. 84 took off from Bertangles
to fly fighter escort to the D.H.4's of No. 205 in a bombing attack on a German
aerodrome at Foucaucourt. Saunders was leading five S.E.5a's of his flight at
about 12,000 feet in a wide sweep to the southwest after leaving the target.
Vaughn was flying at the rear of the "V" formation, keeping what he supposed
was a sharp eye out for enemy scouts. His first inkling of trouble came when he
heard the shots going through the rear of the fuselage
and the sound of machine
guns overhead.
A Pfalz D III with a bright yellow body had dived on the British machines
and had apparently selected Vaughn as his target because he was at the rear of
the flight. Having delivered his burst, the German pilot zoomed and turned away.
Shocked and enraged at the thought that somebody had taken a shot at him,
Vaughn broke formation and went for the Pfalz. The S.E. had the edge in speed
and Vaughn quickly caught up as his adversary dived to 5000 feet. Combat Report
No. 205 for No. 84 Squadron gives Vaughn's brief narrative of the events
after the attack: "I did a right-hand climbing turn, and came out on the tail of
one E.A. which had turned east. I opened fire when at about 100 yards range,
expending 200 rounds from my Vickers gun. I was then within 50 yards of E.A.
who started to throw out clouds of smoke. After falling some 500 feet, E.A.
burst into flames.
"This is confirmed by Lieuts. Manzer, Mathews, and Fyfe of this squadron;
also by the bombers whom we were escorting. No. 205 Squadron."
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