WAR

the quality of disinterestedness with Boelcke, and preferred to help a new man
get a victory rather than to increase his
own score.
In September 1916 Tarascon engaged a red Albatros in a duel over the
Somme. The fight lasted seven or eight minutes—an incredibly long time,
suggesting
an even match. Both pilots exhausted their ammunition.
Tarascon.,
^^^ | Each time one was set up for a killing burst,
the other managed to whip away with some astonishing
manoeuvre. "I can still see the black leather helmet
h*
I
of Boelcke"—Tarascon's favorite recollection— "as I
crossed him like a flash and he tossed me a sporting
salute."
With ammunition gone, there was nothing to do
but wave. Tarascon and Boelcke, calling it a draw,
headed home.
"It is with a great pleasure that, in a sense of
sportsmanship, I render hommage to the great aviator
that was Boelcke.
"Our combat was without mercy, for Honor, but
of such a dignity, such a knightliness, that, if our combat
had been favorable to me, I would have solicited
for him, for this knight of the air, privileged treatment."
Thus Tarascon, after 48 years, returns Boelcke's
salute.
By the end of October, Boelcke's Jasta 2 was well blooded. There had been
losses, but Boelcke was satisfied with his team. He himself had 40 victories;
no other pilot of the time had anything like such a phenomenal score. He had
been the leading fighter pilot of the war for so long that both sides had come to
think him invincible. His number came up all the same.
During the morning and afternoon of October 28, 1916, Boelcke had led
Jasta 2 on four separate patrols. Between 3 and 4 o'clock in the afternoon he
led again and came across a pair of D.H.2's from No. 24 Squadron RFC, Major
Hawker's squadron. A short fight ensued over Pozieres. At one point Boelcke
dived on one of the D.H.2's whose pilot, a Canadian named Lieutenant Knight,
turned hard to the left to avoid his fire, and Boelcke broke away to his right.
As he turned away, Boelcke slammed his top wing against the landing gear of one
of his comrade's machines. The collision was not violent, but it damaged the
wing and burst the fabric, which then tore loose in the wind. He went down
in wide circles while his men watched. He seemed to have his machine under
control—it looked as if he might be able to set it down safely. Then the damaged
wing collapsed and the Albatros dropped like a stone.
On November 3, 1916, von Richthofen shot down an F.E.2b in the morning
for his seventh confirmed victory and attended Boelcke's funeral in the
afternoon. Six days later, he had achieved his eighth confirmed victory. Immel-
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