WAR

in the same month, April 1915, in contrast to the grim and terrible experience
of Garros, a young man named Fonck knew the clean and innocent joy that
flying gives to those who are young enough to have no thought for the future;
who fly to fight only the elements, conquer only the air, kill only distance.
Paul-Rene Fonck made his debut on a Penguin rouleur at Le Crotoy the
first day of April. The stench of gasoline, castor oil, and aircraft dope was intoxication;
the rackety noise of the engines, delight; and for a youth four days past
his twenty-first birthday, the knowledge that he would fly was the realization of
a dream. As a boy, Fonck had followed the pre-war careers of Pegoud and
Garros, and when he soloed about the middle of April the world was no longer
big enough for
him, for he had seen the stretch of the sky.
at about the time that Hellmuth von Zastrow arrived at Flieger-Batallion Nr. 1
at Berlin-Doberitz, one of the old-timers of the German air service left. This
old-timer was about 25 years old, and had served in the Fliegertruppen since its
inception in
1912. He was a member of an old Saxon military family named von
Teubern, and he, Walter von Teubern, had served for some time in the Royal
Saxon Light Artillery Regiment Nr. 19 when he was selected for training as an
air observer. After completing his
special instruction he was assigned to Festungsfliegerabteilung
Metz, where he served from June to September 1913. In October
he reported to the Albatros Works Flying School at Johannisthal for flying
lessons. Learning to fly was Walter's dream and he was delighted with his orders.
He soloed in November 1913 and from then to the outbreak of the war served
as a pilot in Flieger-Batallion Nr. 1.
In February 1914 Walter gave his brother Ehrhardt his first ride in an aeroplane.
That aeroplane ride was the big step in Ehrhardt's career, for he became
so enthusiastic about flying that he soon decided to make it his profession.
(Both brothers are retired Lieutenant Colonels today, and have served in
the German air service for the better part of half a century.)
At the outbreak of the war Walter von Teubern returned to the field in
Fliegerabteilung 29. Ehrhardt impatiently waited for his transfer to the air service.
Ehrhardt von Teubern was born on February 23, 1890, in Geising, Saxony,
where his father was serving as a customs control officer. He was raised in
Chemnitz and attended the Realgymnasium there. In October 1904 he entered
the Royal Saxon Cadet Corps in Dresden where he met and became friends
with a
young man named Max Immelmann. Together Ehrhardt and Max passed
the happy years at the Cadet Corps, true comrades, and graduated at Easter
1911. Ehrhardt entered the Royal Prussian Infantry Regiment Second Posen
Nr. 19 von Courbiere. It was while serving with the von Courbiere regiment at
Berlin that Ehrhardt had the chance to take a ride with his brother Walter and
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