WAR

In the meantime, the Flugmeldedienst had spotted the three Nieuports and
requested an interception from a neighboring Jasta. Two German scouts, an Albatros
and a Pfalz D III, were sent up but not only could not find the Americans,
they lost themselves in the process. The Germans were finally spotted by ground
observers and were reported by telephone to the 94th aerodrome at 8:45 when
they were no more than 15 miles away. Campbell and Winslow had their aeroplanes
warmed up and took off. The two Germans came out of the mist near
Toul and headed for the field, possibly to try to identify it or stage an impromptu
shoot-up. Winslow, with Campbell right behind him, came up behind the Albatros
and opened fire.
"I was just a stupid kid," says Campbell today. "We knew there were two
aeroplanes. When I saw Winslow attack one, I should have been looking around
for the other one." The Albatros had turned hard when Winslow opened fire.
Winslow went after him. Campbell turned too, and it was lucky he did for just
at that moment the Pfalz had come up behind him and started shooting. Campbell
threw his machine violently to one side when he heard the sound of machine guns.
He saw the Plafz then and for a moment was occupied in keeping out from in
front of the other man's guns. He ducked down and came up underneath the
aeroplane and put one burst into it, seeing several of his tracers go into the
engine. The Pfalz immediately went down in a dive and Campbell dived after it.
He had seen Winslow's victim go down out of the corner of his eye. He put one
more long burst into the Pfalz and it began trailing flames.
Both German pilots were taken alive. Their machines had come down one
on either side of the aerodrome, Campbell's victim within five hundred yards of
the
hangars. The two Americans landed within four minutes of having taken off.
It wasn't always that easy. Chambers once came back with 80 holes shot
through his aeroplane. He had made a terrific attack on his target, but returned
with nothing more to show for his effort than the 80 bullet holes.
On one other occasion an enemy aeroplane was intercepted over the
field, but this time the tables were turned. Instead of a novice, it was a veteran
who went after it; instead of winning a victory, the 94th suffered a stunning loss.
At about 10 a.m. on Sunday, May 19, an Albatros two- or three-seater
appeared over the area, apparently on a photography mission. Antiaircraft guns
opened fire, but did not succeed in bringing the machine down or chasing it away.
Major Lufbery jumped into a Nieuport and took off alone. The men of the
squadron confidently expected Lufbery to make short work of this affair. He
attacked several times, without any apparent effect
while the German rear gunner
fired back. Then suddenly fire streaked back from the engine of the Nieuport.
Long flames swirled over the cowling, seeming to engulf the whole ship. The
body of Lufbery was seen to fall away from the burning aeroplane and
plunge down.
Fire in the air was one of the things that his
boys had asked Lufbery about.
Reed Chambers remembers his saying that he would never go down a flamer.
He didn't.
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