WAR

the administrator of the Aero Club de France for the past 20 years is an
Ace of English extraction,
Robert Waddington. The French branch of the family
was established around 1800. The grandfather of Robert Waddington was a
professor at the College de France and Membre de I'Institute, and one of his
cousins was Ambassador to London, and Representative for France at the
Congress of Berlin in 1878.
Robert Waddington entered the army as a private in the 141st Infantry
Regiment, in which he served until the end of 1914. In 1915 he transferred
to the flying service as an air gunner. His brother was already in the air
service, a Voisin pilot later killed in action near Ostend in June 1916.
Waddington.
On the death of his brother, Robert Waddington
applied for pilot training, his application bearing the
words, "Requests to replace his brother killed in
aerial
combat." His pilot's commission was signed by General
Petain.
Waddington received his pilot training at Buc and
Avord, his aerobatics at Pau. He flew in Spa 12, then
Spa 154, and finally Spa 31. His machines always
carried the number 13.
Asked if he had ever met a German pilot, he
I said, "I did not have the opportunity to converse with
a German pilot during the war but one time only,
having shot down a German single-seater in French
territory near Rheims. I was able to meet the pilot who
was only slightly wounded. The interview was perfectly correct, I would even
say cordial, as was the custom in aviation between conqueror and conquered.
The German pilot, shaking my hand, said simply, 'You were the stronger,' and,
'Good luck.' "
April
His first success, although it was not registered as an official victory, was in
1917 on the Aisne front, not far from Berry-au-Bac. He attacked a German
reconnaissance two-seater at about 3500 metres. The Germans defended themselves
very well, the pilot snapping his machine about in tight vertical banks to
prevent Waddington getting into the blind spots, the observer-gunner triggering
off short, accurate bursts that kept him at a distance. Two or three more Spads
arrived on the scene and all took turns harrying the German until finally, at
about 800 metres, the pilot and gunner mortally wounded, the machine out of
control, the two-seater spun down and smashed into the ground.
Several times a day—three, in good weather—the chasseurs were out over the
trenches, taking off for the first patrol before dawn, and landing for the last time
after dark. At 500 metres the sun was blinding in the morning while the earth
below was still dark. In the distance one could see the Drachen bobbing at 200 or
300 metres over the German trenches.
Periodically, GQG requested that certain balloons be destroyed because they
were causing particular trouble. The chasseurs would then take off at dawn,
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