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One day on a reconnaissance flight Navarre and an observer named Girard espied another parasol harrying two German machines. The French pilot, Pegoud, as it happened, had run out of ammunition and was unable to do more than worry the Germans. Girard stood up in his seat and fired a hand-held Hotchkiss machine gun over the wing while Navarre banged away with a pistol. The motor of the nearer Aviatik was hit and it died, sputtering. The pilot tried to get away by diving. He might have been able to coast to the German lines because he had built up a good turn of speed in the dive, but he pulled out too low over the French trenches and the poilus opened up with a fusillade that brought him down for keeps. Navarre turned for the second without following the first one down, but that one had already gotten away by diving. Navarre and Girard almost shot themselves down, for Girard, in his excitement, had accidentally put a couple of shots through the blades of the propeller which was now vibrating badly. They force-landed at Sainte-Menehould. 24
— — Boelcke. as A leader, an innovator, and an inspiration to his men, one of the great aviators of the war was a Saxon named Oswald Boelcke. He was born in Giebichenstein near Halle on May 9, 1891, and gained his army commission by way of the Prussian Cadet Corps. He first witnessed military aviation before the war while on manoeuvres, and, his interest aroused, applied for flying training. He was accepted and sent to the Halberstadt Flying School, where he obtained his pilot's certificate two weeks after the outbreak of the war, on August 15, 1914. In September Boelcke reported to a squadron on active service in the field, one in which his brother Wilhelm, a Regular Army officer, was serving as an observer. For the next few months the brothers flew regularly as a team, Oswald as the chauffeur. The squadron in which the brothers flew was one of 30 German and four Bavarian units of which the German air service's field strength was composed. The equipment for each squadron was six machines, uniformly biplane two-seaters with 100 horsepower motors. They were regularly issued without armament. The squadrons were ancillary to the usual Army Corps service units and were called simply Flying Sections Fliegerabteilungen. (Or Field Flying Sections Feld Fliegerabteilungen.} These six-machine Fliegerabteilungen were under the command of an Inspekteur or Director at Corps level, and were completely subservient to Army Corps commanders. Their work was reconnaissance, observation, artillery-spotting, photography, and liaison. The latter was pretty simple. It consisted chiefly of shooting pre-arranged signal flares or dropping messages so that ground units could more or less keep in touch with one another. For the first year of the war all the air services had the same jobs, worked out on manoeuvres before the war, and no improvisation was allowed. Reconnaissance flights were those whose object was to spy out new developments on the other side of the line; observation and photography were methods of keeping those developments under surveillance. Spotting for artillery meant signalling battery commanders, either visually or by wireless, exactly where their shots were falling. It meant circling one spot for an hour or so, bored and frightened to death, keeping a watch on the shoot and reporting every shot so the gunners would know if they were putting them over or short, waiting for the anti-aircraft guns to blow you to bits. It was the dullest, most dangerous work in the air. After the war had gone on long enough for everyone to realize it was not going to be over "by Christmas" because Christmas was already past, the air services began expanding. In April 1915 Oswald Boelcke was selected, because of his experience, to help shape up a new Flying Section, Fliegerabteilung 62, and get it operational. Boelcke had been awarded the Iron Cross First Class in February 1915 for having completed fifty observation missions, which was very nearly a record. The standard aeroplanes in use in the German air service up to the spring of 1915 were two-seater biplanes of the "B" class, the Albatros, Aviatik, and L.V.G. being among the more common. These machines had proved their value for observation and artillery-spotting, but were unable to defend themselves. 25 D.F.W. B I A.E.G. B II
Page 1 and 2: *»&%gp&iiqfc THE MEN AND MACHINES
Page 3: Hanriot H-D 1 • France (here in B
Page 6 and 7: Photograph by Beverly Lebarrow
Page 8 and 9: COPYRIGHT © 1965 BY THOMAS R. FUND
Page 11 and 12: In acknowledging the help he has re
Page 13 and 14: the great war, as every schoolboy k
Page 15 and 16: perseverance have been beyond all p
Page 17: : ; o COLOGNE MAP Showing the Salie
Page 21 and 22: "A EUROPEAN WAR" "Never before the
Page 23 and 24: an American, Charles J. Biddle, of
Page 26 and 27: From 1300 metres the country is spr
Page 28 and 29: Pegoud
Page 30 and 31: In the autumn of 1913 Pegoud gave a
Page 32 and 33: In layout the new monoplane somewha
Page 34 and 35: Aviatik B I
Page 36 and 37: — — grudziadz is a town on the
Page 38 and 39: Stationed in home country near Bres
Page 40 and 41: Roland Garros *«« . •—;-*.;-
Page 42 and 43: twins jean and Pierre navarre were
Page 46 and 47: Pilot and observer/gunner in Halber
Page 48 and 49: in February of 1915 Roland Garros r
Page 50 and 51: so became enthusiastic about flying
Page 52 and 53: them disappeared in the direction o
Page 54 and 55: one of navarre's closest friends wa
Page 56 and 57: — CO. condemning the ship the men
Page 58 and 59: iefed their mechanics and packed th
Page 60 and 61: although Kriegszeitung stated expli
Page 62 and 63: ehind the British lines near Arras
Page 64 and 65: Boelckc returned to Douai in Decemb
Page 66 and 67: artillery-spotting that they didn't
Page 68 and 69: an American ace who flew in British
Page 70 and 71: The same day two other men from the
Page 72 and 73: observer seized his Parabellum and
Page 75 and 76: "THE INEVITABLE RESULT" "As I have
Page 77 and 78: 21, 1916, the German Fifth Army beg
Page 79 and 80: — — * * * since the Germans hel
Page 82 and 83: among the flying personnel assemble
Page 84 and 85: on june 17, 1916, Navarre, Pivolo,
Page 86 and 87: — hnmelmann On June 18, 1916, obs
Page 88 and 89: en route to verdun the end of Febru
Page 91 and 92: 5- 3 a*i& rT& A striking demonstrat
Page 93: late in 1915 the Halberstadt Aeropl
Page 96 and 97:
Seven such units were initially pro
Page 98 and 99:
the quality of disinterestedness wi
Page 100 and 101:
The results were uniformly nil, but
Page 102 and 103:
11,000 and about 7 p.m. saw a hosti
Page 105 and 106:
British machines reached their obje
Page 107 and 108:
y January 1917 von Richthofen had a
Page 109 and 110:
During the summer of 1916, two Nieu
Page 111 and 112:
Ball was awarded the M.C. for his e
Page 113:
from the beginning of 1917 a warnin
Page 116 and 117:
. The aeroplane he had destroyed wa
Page 119 and 120:
Bristol F.2 "Brisfit." 99
Page 121:
On this day he had just taken off w
Page 124 and 125:
The Sopwith Triplane appeared in sm
Page 126 and 127:
Naval Ten was formed in February 19
Page 128 and 129:
It would appear that the raid was a
Page 130 and 131:
1 "Collishaw led a (second) offensi
Page 132 and 133:
fast as the three machines spun aro
Page 134 and 135:
— Hermann becker was born in Treb
Page 136 and 137:
gilbert sardier of Clermont-Ferrand
Page 138 and 139:
— the storks— Groupe de Combat
Page 140 and 141:
no. 20 squadron rfc was a two-seate
Page 142 and 143:
122
Page 144 and 145:
on the last day of July 1917, the T
Page 146 and 147:
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 and 198:
177
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 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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