WAR

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dfc*!fc Late one day in September, Leutnant Hermann Becker was leading his men home to the field at Giraumont (near Confians-en-Jarnisy, 25 miles east of Verdun) —seven Fokker D VII's in V-formation, the flanking machines ranged in echelon upward from the leader. They were returning from a hunt over Verdun and were heading east. Ahead of them Becker spotted another flight of seven machines at about the same height traveling in roughly the same direction. Keeping an eye on them, Becker held to his course and slowly overtook the other machines. They were two-wingers, big ones. Two-seaters. As the Fokkers closed the distance between them, the other machines suddenly turned north. Americans! D.H.4's. Becker fired a red flare and opened his throttle. He brought his nose up a trifle and turned north on an interception course. Following his signals the men to right and left spread out into a line abreast and began to close with the DeHavilland machines whose rear gunners swung their Lewis guns around and opened fire as the Fokkers bore in. At point blank range the Germans started shooting. The D.H.'s dropped or dived one by one and disappeared in the clouds below. Becker waved his formation back into a V and led them down through the clouds. Penetrating the wall of cloud they became aware how dark it had grown— -it was virtually night on the ground. A familiar pattern of railroad tracks gave assurance that they were over Conflans. Looking about, Becker was amazed to see all seven D.H.'s wrecked on the ground as if they had gone down in formation. Back at the aerodrome the flight was received with great excitement. The ground crews had heard the aeroplanes but had not been able to see them. They had heard the noise of the machine guns and had seen a few torches falling without being able to make out what they were. They had been wildly jubilant when, a moment later, all seven Fokkers of the flight had buzzed the field. Hardly a week later they intercepted a flight of eight DeHavillands just south of Briey, shot down five of them and "captured" one, forcing the machine down on their own field at Giraumont. Pilot and observer were guests in the squadron Kasino before being led away as prisoners. Only the Americans could have absorbed, or would have sustained, losses like that. All the D.H.'s were from the same squadron. The loss of 13 machines and 26 men would have obliterated two Fliegerabteilungen. 178 * * *
of the 95 Congressional Medals of Honor awarded by the United States for service in the Great War, four went to members of the Air Service: Captain Rickenbacker of the 94th Aero Squadron, Lieutenant Frank Luke of the 27th, and Lieutenants Harold Goettler and Erwin Bleckley of the 50th. The 50th Aero Squadron was a D.H.4 squadron that took part in the battle for the Argonne Forest in October 1918. Based at Remicourt, its job was the usual two-seater job of observation. On October 2, Major Charles Whittlesey, commanding the First Battalion, 308th Infantry, 27th Division, and supported by the Second Battalion under Captain (acting Major) George McMurtry with additional detached units, began an advance through the Argonne Forest on the American left flank. His object was to penetrate the forest and dig in on the far slope of the Charlevaux Valley. Whittlesey and his 550 men were the only Allied troops in the sector who had attained their objective by night. The next morning he realized the awful truth that the Allied offensive had stalled and he and his men were surrounded. The only contact with the rear was by means of carrier pigeons, so Whittlesey sent off a message to Division requesting artillery support and supplies to enable the two 179
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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
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The Sopwith Triplane appeared in sm
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Naval Ten was formed in February 19
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It would appear that the raid was a
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1 "Collishaw led a (second) offensi
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fast as the three machines spun aro
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— Hermann becker was born in Treb
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gilbert sardier of Clermont-Ferrand
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— the storks— Groupe de Combat
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no. 20 squadron rfc was a two-seate
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122
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on the last day of July 1917, the T
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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 and 174: Nodding, von Richthofen turned to g
Page 175 and 176: when the battle of cambrai opened,
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: 177
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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