HEROES OF THE AIR
Heroes of the air in peace times have been numerous. We already know the
stories of many of the pioneers of aircraft, who risked their lives in
situations involving the utmost peril. The men who, in the first frail
monoplanes and biplanes attempted to fly the British Channel, or to make
dangerous cross-country flights under adverse weather conditions were
heroes indeed.
Yet undoubtedly the greatest exploits will be told of those heroes who,
in the Great War, flew daily over the lines, meeting the aviators of the
enemy in mortal combat.
Every allied nation engaged in the great conflict has her sacred roll of
honor of those who fought for her in the air. Americans will never grow
weary of tales of the great Lufbery; Englishmen will boast of the
prowess of Bishop, McCudden and the rest of them; while Frenchmen will
tell, with mingling of joy and sadness, of the immortal Guynemer, Prince
of Aces.
Georges Guynemer's name will always stand first on the record of the
war's great flying men. His short career was a blaze of triumph against
the Hun, but with many a hairbreadth escape from death and many a feat
of reckless daring. Young, handsome and dashing, anxious to give his
life for his beloved France, he became the adored idol of the French
nation. On one occasion when he marched in a parade in Paris, the people
strewed his path with flowers, and it was necessary for the police to
intervene and protect him from the enraptured multitudes who pressed
forward to embrace him.
Yet Guynemer came near missing the fighting altogether.
Guynemer was born on Christmas day, 1893, in the town of Compiègne. He
grew up a tall, delicate boy, who, his friends predicted, would never
live to reach maturity. Perhaps the fact that he was almost an invalid
turned his attention away from the athletic sports of the other boys and
gave him his intense interest in mechanics. He had one consuming
ambition: to become a student in the École Polytechnique in Paris; but
when by hard study he had finally prepared himself and came up for his
entrance examination, the professors of the school rejected him on the
ground that he might not live to finish the course. To help the lad
forget his overwhelming disappointment, his parents hurried him away to
a health resort at Biarritz. He had been there a year when in August,
1914, came the news that his country had been attacked. Burning with
zeal to help defend his beloved France, Guynemer offered himself again
and again for enlistment in the French army. Hard pressed as that army
was, its officers did not feel that they needed the sacrifice of a
frail youth with one foot in the grave. Gently but firmly, the young
candidate was rejected. Bitterly humiliated he went back to his life of
enforced inaction; and while he saw his comrades marching forth to war,
he eagerly pondered in his mind what service he could perform in the war
against the invader.
At length he hit upon an idea. Since he could not become a soldier, why
should he not turn his mechanical skill to some account in one of the
great airplane factories where France was turning out her swift
squadrons of the air. He volunteered and was accepted. In a short time
he had made his presence felt, for he had received a thorough
preparatory education in mechanics and was far the superior of the
majority of his fellow workmen. Little by little he won the friendship
and admiration of his superiors, who promoted him to the position of
mechanician at one of the big military aviation fields. Now for the
first time he was living among war scenes. While he performed his humble
duties in the hangar he burned with ambition to pilot over the lines one
of the swift French battle planes. But he hardly dared make the request
that he be taught to fly, fearing the rebuff which he had received on
every other occasion when he had sought to enlist.
But the officers at the aviation camp had been watching young Guynemer,
and their respect for his nobility of character and high intelligence
finally outweighed their fears that he might prove too delicate for the
service in the air. So the happy day finally arrived when he was
permitted to enlist as a student airman. In January, 1916, having
completed his course of training, he flew for the first time in a swift
scout plane.
From the day that he first flew out over the lines, his higher officers
realized that here indeed was a master airman. In three short weeks he
had won the distinction of "ace," having downed his fifth enemy machine.
The secret of his success lay partly in the frail constitution which had
come so near condemning him to inactivity. For the youth was fully
convinced that he had not long to live, and his one idea was to die in
such a way as to render the greatest possible service to his native
land. Perfectly prepared to meet death when the moment came, he was
scrupulously careful never to court it unnecessarily, for he realized
that the longer he lived the more damage he would be able to inflict
upon the enemy. The early morning invariably found him in his hangar,
going over with loving care every detail of the mechanism of his swift
scout plane. Not until every portion of engine, wings, struts and stays
had been tried and proved in A-1 condition, and every cartridge removed
from his machine gun and carefully tested, did he climb into his pilot's
seat and wing his way across the sky in search of enemy planes.
And when Guynemer encountered an enemy plane he maneuvered to overcome
it with the same care for exactness of movement. His cool-headed
precision made it almost impossible to take him by surprise, while there
was many a hapless machine of the enemy that he pounced upon unawares.
He was an accomplished aerial acrobat, and one of his favorite tactics
was to climb to a great altitude and then, pointing the nose of his
plane at his prey, to suddenly swoop down at enormous speed, firing as
he came.
Expert as he was, the great French aviator had a number of narrow
escapes from death. In September, 1916, seeing one of his fellow
aviators engaged in an unequal combat with five German _Fokkers_, he
sped to the scene of the affray. Maneuvering into a favorable position
above his opponents he shot down two of them within the space of a few
seconds. The remaining three _Fokkers_ took to flight, but Guynemer was
hot on their trail. Another of them went crashing earthward. Suddenly,
as the plucky Frenchman sped on, hot on the trail of the two that were
still unpunished, he was startled by the bursting of a shell just under
his machine. One of the wings of his plane had been torn completely
away, and from a height of ten thousand feet in the atmosphere, he began
falling rapidly. He struggled bravely with the controls but nothing
could check the ever increasing speed of his plunge earthward. At an
altitude of five thousand feet the airplane commenced to somersault, but
the pilot was strapped in his seat. Then, as if some unseen force had
intervened, the swiftness of the descent was unexpectedly checked. With
speed greatly lessened the airplane came crashing to the earth, and the
plucky aviator was rescued from the débris, unconscious but not
seriously hurt by his dreadful fall. It was for this exploit that he
received the rank of Lieutenant, while he was decorated with the
much-coveted French War Cross.
On another occasion Guynemer's machine was shot down by German shells,
and came crashing to earth in No Man's Land, between the French and the
German trenches. The Prussians turned their machine guns on the spot and
plowed the area with scorching fire. But the French had seen their
beloved hero fall, and without a thought for the consequences the poilus
in the trenches went "over the top" after him. Quickly they bore him
back to safety, and if they left some of their comrades fallen out in
that dread region, they did not count it too great a sacrifice to have
redeemed their idol with their blood.
Practically every fighting nation has had not only its favorite airman
but also its favorite aerial escadrille. Guynemer was the leader of the
famous band of "Cignognes" or "Storks," into which had been gathered the
pick of all the flying men of France. His historic opponent in the war
in the air was the German Baron von Richthofen, whose squadrons were
humorously nicknamed "Richthofen's circus" by the Allies, because of
their curiously camouflaged wings. The Germans were very jealous of
Guynemer's successes, and as the record of the number of machines he had
downed grew, they eagerly credited Richthofen with more victories.
Guynemer's final score was 54 and his enemy's much higher. Yet as a
matter of fact the Frenchman had destroyed many more machines than Baron
von Richthofen, for whereas the French gave no credit for planes sent to
earth where no other witnesses than the pilot could testify to their
destruction, the Germans were very glad to pile up a huge score for
their hero, and were not by any means critical in seeking proof of a
victory.
Guynemer's remarkable aerial victories made him a hero throughout the
world. It was reported that in one day he had been officially credited
with the destruction of four airplanes of the enemy. One of his chief
ambitions was to bring down an enemy machine within the allied lines, as
little damaged as possible. Such a plane gave him an opportunity to
indulge his interest in the purely mechanical side of aviation. With the
utmost patience he would examine it in every detail, making note of any
features which he regarded as improvements on the _Nieuport_ he himself
flew. Such improvements would very shortly appear on his own machine. So
while Guynemer flew a _Nieuport_, it was in reality a different
_Nieuport_ from any doing service over the lines. In its many little
individual features and appliances it reflected the active, eager,
painstaking mind of its famous pilot, whose mind was ever on the alert
to discover the tiniest detail of mechanism which might gain for him an
advantage over his adversaries.
It was on September 11, 1917, that the beloved aviator fought his last
battle in the air. While in flight over Ypres he caught sight of five
German _Albatros_ planes, and instantly turned the nose of his machine
in their direction. As he bore swiftly down upon them, a flock of enemy
machines, over forty in number, suddenly made their appearance and
swooped down from an enormous height above the clouds. Baron von
Richthofen with his flying "circus" was among them. None of Guynemer's
comrades was near enough to aid him. In the distance a group of Belgian
machines came in view, rushing to his assistance, but before they had
arrived at the spot the plucky French airplane was observed sinking
gently to the earth, where it disappeared behind the German lines.
Guynemer's comrades cherished the hope that he had been forced to
descend and had been taken prisoner by the Germans. Such an ending to a
glorious career of service would perhaps not have been desired by the
aviator himself. He who had used his life to such good advantage for his
country had crowned his victories with death. The Germans themselves,
out of respect for his memory, undertook to inform his fellow-men of his
fate, and a few days later they dropped a note into the French aerodrome
stating that he had been shot through the head. The German pilot who had
killed him was named Wissemann, and he was an unknown aviator. When he
learned that he had actually killed the great Guynemer, he wrote home to
say that he need now fear no one, since he had conquered the king of
them all. It was scarcely a fortnight before he was sent to his death by
a devoted friend of his renowned victim.
The man who avenged the death of Guynemer was René Fonck, likewise a
member of the French "Cignognes." Fonck took up the championship of the
air where his comrade had laid it down. He stands to-day as the most
remarkable of all the French aviators. He has been called "the most
polished aerial duellist the world has ever seen." With an official
record of almost half a hundred enemy machines destroyed, he has
astounded his spectators by his aerial "stunts" and the absolute
accuracy of his aim. Many of Fonck's successful battles have been fought
against heavy odds, quite frequently with as many as five of the enemy's
airplanes opposing him. Yet with apparent ease he invariably succeeded
in warding off his would-be destroyers, whilst one by one he sent them
flaming to the earth.
It has been said of Fonck that in all his battles in the clouds he never
received so much as a bullet hole in his machine, thanks to his
unparalleled skill at maneuvering. He made a world's record at Soissons
in May, 1918, when he downed five enemy airplanes in one day. He was
flying on patrol duty when he came upon three German two-seater
machines, and in less than 10 seconds sent two of them flaming to earth.
Later in the same day he actually succeeded in breaking up a large
formation of German fighting machines, and after destroying three, sent
the rest fleeing in confusion.
On another occasion Fonck made a world's record when he brought down
three German planes in the brief space of 20 seconds. While in flight
above the lines he came upon four big biplanes of the enemy, flying in
single file, one behind the other. He quickly pounced upon the leader,
and in less time than it takes to tell, had sent him crashing to the
earth. The second had no chance to alter its course. Training his
machine gun on it Fonck soon sent it, a mass of flames, after its
fellow. The third big biplane dodged out of the line and sped out of
harm's way, but the fourth was caught by the plucky Frenchman, who
wheeled his machine round with startling rapidity and fired upon it
before it could make good its escape.
This remarkable feat, performed in August, 1918, brought Lieutenant René
Fonck's official total of victories up to sixty, and made him the
premier French ace, at the age of twenty-four. In all his aerial battles
he had never been wounded, passing unscathed through the most formidable
encounters by reason of his unparalleled skill at maneuvering.
Guynemer and Fonck are perhaps the two greatest names on the French roll
of heroes of the air. But there were many other Frenchmen who did
valiant service. Lieutenant René Dorine had an official record of 23
victories when he disappeared in May, 1917. He was nicknamed the
"Unpuncturable" by his comrades, since in all his exploits above the
lines his machine had only twice received a bullet hole. Lieutenant Jean
Chaput had a record of 16 enemy planes destroyed, when in May, 1918, he
made the great sacrifice; and there are many others, some living and
some fallen in battle, who, flying for France, day after day and month
after month, helped to make her cause at length a victorious one.
The "ace of aces" among British flying men of the war is Major William
A. Bishop, who holds the record of 72 enemy airplanes downed. Second to
him on the British list stands the name of Captain James McCudden, who
had disposed of 56 of his enemies when he himself was accidentally
killed. McCudden had had a most picturesque career. He joined the
British army as a bugler at the age of fifteen. As a private he fought
with the first Englishmen in France in 1914. His first flying experience
came at Mons, when owing to the scarcity of observers he was permitted
to serve in that capacity. He rapidly made good, and was soon promoted
to the rank of officer. He proved himself a clever aerial gunner, and so
won the opportunity to qualify as a pilot. With a fast fighting machine
of his own he became a menace to the Hun, with whom he engaged in over
100 combats during his flying career, yet never himself received a
wound.
Other English fliers made special records in the Great War, as Captain
Philip F. Fullard, who downed 48 enemy machines; Captain Henry W.
Wollett, who accounted for 28; and Lieutenants John J. Malone, Allan
Wilkinson, Stanley Rosevear and Robert A. Little, all with scores of
from 17 to 20. Captain Albert Ball, who was shot down by Baron von
Richthofen in 1917, had an official score of 43 victories over the Hun,
with the additional honor of having conquered the great German aviator
Immelmann.
And now we come to the story of America's great fliers. Long before
America herself had entered the World War there had arisen a valiant
little company of her sons, who, remembering our ancient debt to
France, had gone to fight beside her men in the war against the invader.
Many of these Americans became skilful aviators and members of the
squadron which the French had appropriately named the "Lafayette
Escadrille." In 1916, three of its most distinguished fliers--Norman
Price, Victor Chapman and Kiffen Rockwell--gave their lives to France.
Probably the name which all Americans know best is that of Major Raoul
Lufbery, till his death American "ace of aces," who flew with the
Escadrille under the flags of both countries.
Major Lufbery's personal story is romantic as any fiction. He was a born
soldier of fortune. When a very young chap he ran away from home and for
several years rode and tramped over Europe and part of Africa, working
at anything that came to hand. After his early wanderings there followed
two years of strenuous service with the U. S. regulars in the
Philippines; and after that another long, aimless jaunt over Japan and
China. It was in the Far East that he came by chance upon Marc Pourpe,
the French aviator who was giving exhibition flights and coining money
out of the enthusiasm of the Orientals. The two men became fast friends
and Pourpe took Lufbery along with him on his travels. As an airplane
mechanic under Pourpe's direction Lufbery found his first serious
employment and also his first serious interest. He conceived a deep
interest in aviation and became an apt pupil.
Then came the war, and Pourpe offered his services to France. Lufbery
went along as his mechanic. It was only a few months before his friend
had fallen, and Lufbery, anxious to avenge his death, sought admission
to the ranks of French fliers. In 1916, after much excellent service
over the lines, he became a member of the Lafayette Escadrille. The
spectacular period of his career had now begun. He had soon claimed the
five official victories necessary to make him an "ace," and in addition
was presented with the Croix de Guerre for distinguished bravery in
action. With his swift _Nieuport_ he engaged in combat after combat,
coming through by sheer cool-headedness and skill born of long
experience. He was officially described by the French Government as
"able, intrepid, and a veritable model for his comrades."
In November, 1917, America had the honor of claiming back her son, when
he became a major in the U. S. service and commanding officer of the
Lafayette Escadrille. And it was with the utmost sorrow that the
American public, a little over six months later, read that our great
aviator had met his death. He fell on May 19, 1918, in an attack on a
German "armored tank," which already had sent five American airplanes
plunging to earth. Lufbery's official total was 17 German planes
destroyed, but actually he had accounted for many more. He had been made
a Chevalier of the Legion of Honor by France, and like others of his
American comrades had done much to cement the friendship between the two
countries.
Another American ace who deserves the gratitude of the American people,
not only because he brought down twenty-six German aircraft but because
of the extraordinary inspiration of his example as a leader at the front
to other American air fighters, is the present premier American ace,
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, idol of the automobile racing world before
the war.
America's entrance into the war fired Rickenbacker with an ambition to
get into the fighting at all costs and after an attempt to organize a
squadron composed of expert auto racing men, unsuccessful because of
lack of funds, he enlisted in the infantry. He became General Pershing's
driver at the front and while serving in this capacity watched his
chance to get into the flying end of the air service. An opportunity
soon presented itself and Rickenbacker advanced rapidly. In eighteen
months he had, as commanding officer, perfected the finest and most
efficient flying squadron in the Allied armies, and had become America's
ace of aces. His service was distinguished by untiring energy, devotion
to his men and sacrifice of personal ambition in the demands of his duty
as a leader, for it is a self-evident fact that had Rickenbacker been a
free lance, he might easily have doubled his score of victories. He is a
chevalier of the Legion of Honor, has received the Croix de Guerre with
three palms, and also the Distinguished Service Cross with nine palms.
[Illustration: CAPTAIN EDDIE RICKENBACKER]
A particularly lovable figure in American aviation during the war was
Edmond Genet, who fell in the Spring of 1917 while serving under the
Stars and Stripes. Born in America, young Genet was descended from the
first French minister to the United States. The two countries were
equally dear to him. When he died, at his own request the Tri-color and
the Stars and Stripes were placed side by side over his grave, as a
mark, so he said "that I died for both countries."
[Illustration: _Copyright International Film Service, Inc._
THE FIRST BAG OF MAIL CARRIED BY THE U. S. AERO MAIL SERVICE]
It would be impossible to enumerate in one short chapter all the
brilliant records that were made during the war by the aviators of the
allied nations. The best we can hope to do is to remember those names
which stood out most prominently in the long story of victories won and
sacrifices made to the cause of the world's liberty. Opposing our brave
men there was, from time to time, a German flier who attained
considerable renown, and who, for a time at least, baffled his
opponents. Thus in the early days Immelmann and Boelke were much heard
of. Each had his peculiar method of maneuvering and fighting. Immelmann's
favorite trick was to "loop the loop" in order to get out of the way of
an enemy's gunfire, suddenly righting himself before the loop was
finished, in order to fly back and catch the opposing airman unawares.
By this "stunt" he succeeded in sending 37 Allied aviators to their
deaths, before he himself was shot down by Captain Albert Ball of the
British Royal Flying Corps.
Captain Boelke had a totally different method of attack from that of
Immelmann. His favorite pastime was to lurk behind a cloud at a great
altitude, until he spied an airplane of the Allies below him, when he
would point the nose of his machine straight at his victim and dive for
it, opening fire. In case he missed his target he never waited to give
battle, but continued his descent until he had made a landing behind the
German lines. According to the lenient German count, he had scored 43
victories up to the time of his death. It was an American, Captain
Bonnel, in the British air service, who finally defeated and killed him
in October, 1916.
Early in the war the Germans discovered that, however perfect their
airplanes might become, their airmen were not the equals of those who
were flying for the French and British. The German works much better
under orders than where, as in aerial combat, he is required to rely
entirely upon his personal initiative. The Allied airmen therefore soon
claimed supremacy over the lines, and it was in order to wrest it from
them that the Germans began turning over various schemes in their mind.
The one which proved acceptable in the end has been credited to Captain
Boelke. It was that of sending German aviators out in groups to meet the
Allied fliers, each group headed by a commander. This plan at least
proved much more successful than the old one of single encounter. Thus
Boelke became the commander of a German squadron, which after his death
passed to the leadership of Baron Max von Richthofen.
Richthofen was one of the cleverest of the enemy aviators and in time he
made his squadron a formidable aerial weapon. He conceived the idea of
camouflaging his planes in order to render them invisible at high
altitudes. Accordingly he had all the machines under his command gaudily
colored. He presented a curious spectacle when he took to flight with
his gaudily painted flock of birds and the British promptly nicknamed
his squadron "Richthofen's circus." The "circus" usually consisted of
about 30 fast scout machines, with every pilot a picked man. Freed from
all routine duties over the lines its one object was to destroy, and so
it roved up and down, appearing now here, now there, in an effort to
strike terror to the hearts of British and French airmen. It took a
large toll of our best fighters, although Richthofen's personal record
of 78 victories was undoubtedly exaggerated.
The most effective fighters against this powerful organization were the
members of the world-famous Hat-in-the-Ring Squadron commanded by
Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, America's ace of aces. Day after day they
went out against the boasted champions of the German Air Service and day
after day they came in with German planes to their credit. At the close
of the war they had won a greater number of victories than any other
American squadron. The Hat-in-the-Ring was the first American squadron
to go over the enemies' lines, the first to destroy an enemy plane and
it brought down the last Hun aeroplane to fall in the war. After the
signing of the armistice it was distinguished by being selected as the
only fighting squadron in the forces to move into Germany with the Army
of Occupation. It will doubtless go down in history as the greatest
flying squadron America sent to the war.
On April 21, 1918, the "circus" was in operation over the Somme Valley,
over the British lines. Several of its fighters attacked a couple of
British planes unexpectedly, and quite as suddenly the whole squadron
swooped down out of the blue. Other British airplanes rushed to the spot
from all directions and there followed a confused battle which spread
over a wide area.
One of the German planes which had been flying low came crashing to
earth. When the wreckage was removed and the body of the pilot recovered
he was found to be no other than the great Richthofen himself.
Thus the greatest of the German champions was downed. He was buried with
military honors by the British, but the menace which he stood for had
happily been destroyed.