WAR

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aeroplane was lying upside down on the ground, Rochling still strapped in his seat. Rochling was shaken up but not hurt in the crack-up, and he was groggy from his bullet wounds. He was fumbling for his cigarette lighter to fire the aeroplane. Since he was still strapped in, it was fortunate that he couldn't find the lighter. Theobald and Rochling were split up. Rochling received excellent care and m* trW^y* " IM' was exchanged after the signing of the treaty of Brest-Litovsk. Theobald was IP* ^flPHK 1 sent to a r ' P soncr or war camp near Moscow. Transferred somewhat later to another camp, he escaped during the disorders attendant on the Revolution and made his way back to German territory by hopping freights. There were few railroads in western Russia but he knew them all, having flown over them many times. On February 15, 1918, he returned to Fl. Abt. 31 to the general § amazement of his comrades, all of whom had supposed him dead. There was a rule that one who had escaped from capture was permanently relieved of duty at the Front, and Theobald was accordingly posted to the I Geschwaderschule at Paderborn as an instructor in aerial gunnery and photography. In the spring of 1918 Fl. Abt. 31 was transferred to the Western Front, &* being based at an aerodrome at Puxieux in the St-Mihiel salient, a few miles Cavalier: Club, weS £ f Metz. Hauptmann Bohnstedt was desperate for experienced men, for the ' ^liegerabteilung 31 at Slonim, . . / summer, 1917. At left, game cm the Western Front was immeasurably rougher than it had ever been on Rochling; to his the Eastern, and he asked Theobald if he wanted to volunteer to return to the ac ' ° ' squadron. Bored with his teaching job, Theobald accepted the invitation and reported to Puxieux at the beginning of August. Missions, as before in Fl. Abt. 31 , were mostly photographic reconnaissance, inspired by the necessity of keeping a watch on the build-up of American forces, but Allied air opposition made a big difference. The only way the German two-seaters could operate with reasonable safety was to go singly, or at most in pairs, make one photographing pass and come back fast. It was rare that fighters could be spared for escort. Shortly after returning to the squadron, Theobald was sent out with a new pilot to photograph some American positions flanking the salient. They got their pictures and were returning home at a medium altitude when suddenly a single-seater rushed in from the side. Theobald was looking around to guard against a surprise attack, but between the time that he had scanned that piece of sky and returned to search it again, a dark gray Nieuport 28 had materialized out of nowhere. The aeroplane didn't fire, but rolled slightly to one side, flashed under the D.F.W.'s tail and was gone. Theobald hadn't had time to fire. Why the Nieuport didn't fire, we'll never know. Theobald had still had one good look at the Nieuport as it crossed behind him. The insignia painted on its side had brought back to him, in this incongruous place, the memory of a Christmas from his childhood at Sengerhof. His father. Baron Heinrich, was a collector. He collected for the fun of collecting and never concerned himself with the value or purpose of his collections which sometimes lacked both. Once, he had brought home a china figurine of Uncle 188
Sam, over two feet tall and acquired Heaven knows where or how. The figure, complete in every detail—from red-and-white-striped trousers and blue coat, to goatee and stovepipe hat with red and white stripes and blue hat band—had eventually been pressed into service at the parish church one Christmas to substitute in the traditional creche for the figure of one of the Magi which had been accidentally broken. Theobald immediately recognized the Uncle Sam hat painted on the fuselage of the Nieuport and concluded that the aeroplane was flown by an American, and that the insignia probably represented an American squadron. Thus Fl. Abt. 31 was introduced to Captain Rickenbacker's 94th Aero Squadron. In September 1918, Fl. Abt. 31 moved to Doncourt, about 20 miles eastsoutheast of Verdun, and switched to Halberstadt CL II two-seaters. The Halberstadt was an excellent aeroplane, almost as fast and manoeuvrable as a single-seater. Its small size made it look like one from a distance, and many Allied pilots, making a "surprise" attack from the rear, were surprised themselves to find this wasp had a sting in its tail. In a CL II, Theobald and a veteran sergeant-pilot were once attacked by a swarm of American fighters. Theobald never fired a shot—it would not have been possible to do so even if he had not been hanging on with both hands, for the pilot threw the ship around like a fighter. He looped and spun so that none of the attackers got a shot in, and finally dived in a split-S to the safety of the German lines. Halberstadt CL 11 In October Theobald was sent to F.E.A. 4 at Posen as a gunnery instructor. The transfer was Hauptmann Bohnstedt's gift to an old comrade, one that Theobald has always felt saved his life, for things were bad on the Western Front and most German aviators believed it was only a matter of hours. Every mission was regarded as the one from which there would be no return. Theobald served the final weeks before the Armistice at Posen, one of the few who survived the entire war, or the horrors of the peace that followed. 189
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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
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a powerful one, but that hardly mat
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in august 1917 Naval Ten switched f
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I "The Germans kept shooting at me
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mm me Caudion G.3. ktN erwe
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Commandant Brocard. 136
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Page 161 and 162: "THE SUPREMACY OF THE AIR" "Despite
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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.
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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: — On October 1, 1917, at five o'c
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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