I was flying in a student pursuit formation of SE-5s. Another student
pursuit formation of MB3As was flying several thousand feet above us.
The formation above us was supposed to be enemy pursuit on the
offensive. My formation was supposed to be on the defensive. We were
staging a mimic combat. Kelly Field, the army Advanced Flying School,
lay beneath us.
I had to watch my flight leader, the other ships in my formation, and
the enemy formation.
I saw the enemy formation behind us and above us in position to attack.
I saw it nose down toward us.
I looked at my flight leader's plane. He was signaling a sharp turn to
the left. He banked sharply to the left. Everybody in our formation
banked sharply to the left with him. The attacking formation passed over
our tails and pulled up to our right.
I saw the attacking formation above us to our right, banking to the
left, nosing down to attack us broadside.
I looked at my flight leader. He was signaling a turn to the right. He
turned sharply to the right. Our whole formation turned with him. We
were heading directly into the oncoming attack of the other formation.
Just as I straightened out of my turn my ship lurched violently and I
got a fleeting impression of something passing over my head. I couldn't
figure out what had happened. My leader was signaling for another turn.
I followed him through several quick turns in rapid succession. We were
dodging the enemy formation. I kept trying to figure out what had
happened when my ship had lurched.
Then it occurred to me: Somebody in the attacking formation, when the
formation had been diving head on into ours, had pulled up just in time
to keep from hitting me head on. I had passed under him and immediately
behind him as he pulled up, and the turbulent slip stream just back of
his ship was what had caused my ship to lurch.