WAR

On October 5, Capitaine Faure sent them on a mission to the region of
Rheims where they were to drop six ninety-millimetre artillery shells on enemy
troop concentrations. Over the Vesle near Jonchery, Frantz spotted an Aviatik
two-seater returning to the German lines. In his own words, Monsieur Frantz
has described the event:
"The Aviatik and, moreover, all German aeroplanes had a fuselage in the
fore part of which was the motor and the propeller.
"From this we easily drew some conclusions. It was necessary to attack
from the rear, a manoeuvre become classic from the very first combat.
"I therefore dived to cut off the retreat of the Aviatik and manoeuvred to
place myself behind the enemy.
"The manoeuvre completed, we had approached to a point at which we
could distinguish clearly the movements of the pilot and his passenger.
"At this moment, the man in the front seat, the passenger, shouldered a
repeating carbine and opened fire on our machine. The pilot and the tail assembly
visibly disturbed his
aim, completely masking our position.
"Quenault then opened fire, shooting ahead of him, over my head.
"The Hotchkiss, well steadied by the tripod, was easy enough to manoeuvre,
but was subject to stoppages when fired fully automatic.
"We had therefore decided to shoot one round at a time. Quenault fired one
by one forty-seven rounds—at
the forty-eighth the gun jammed. Quenault, whose
composure was astounding, commenced to strip the receiver to clear the jam,
when the German lurched before our eyes, began to dive, then turned on its
back in its descent and smashed into the ground in a cloud of black smoke."
Witnesses from the ground who had followed the encounter ran to the spot
where the aeroplane had gone down. It had landed in a wood beside a small
pond, in a marshy bit of ground where the motor had almost completely buried
itself. The pilot lay perhaps ten feet away from the twisted fuselage, among
shattered fragments of the wings which were scattered about. He had been
killed by Quenault's fire and the aeroplane had then fallen out of control bearing
the observer to his death. The latter was in his final convulsions when the
witnesses came up, and one of them carried away a vivid recollection of how
his well-tended hands clawed at the earth.
Frantz and Quenault had landed nearby, and now came up to view their
work. An automobile arrived and General Franchet d'Esperey alighted to congratulate
them. "I will give you the Medaille militaire," he said to Frantz.
"I already have it, mon General," said Frantz.
"Then I will make you Chevalier of the Legion d'Honneur and award the
Medaille militaire to your mechanic."
As the other witnesses crowded around to shake their hands, an old woman
came out of the wood to offer them bunches of flowers she had gathered.
Joseph Frantz, who was born August 7, 1890, at Beaujeu (Rhone), survived the war,
serving as chief test pilot for the Voisin company from 1916 to 1918. He is the founder
and President of the Societe L Electrolyse Frantz and a member and co-founder of the
Vieilles Tiges, an association of pioneer aviators. He still flies, having recently completed
a Mediterranean trip with Madame Frantz in a Jodel two-seater.
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