SOMEWHERE IN FRANCE,
November 13, 1917.
Dear Father:
Campbell was in the Lafayette Escadrille and they are a member of the
same group as Spa 84, so I have asked them about him. He was on a
patrol with another chap, they attacked some Boches and when it was
over the other chap was alone. Campbell was brought down in German
territory and so reported missing. I believe that the chap he was with
has seen and talked to Campbell’s father or some close relative since.
Another chap named Bulkley was brought down in similar circumstances
about the first of September. Ten days ago, word was received from
the American Embassy that he had communicated with them, a prisoner
in Germany. There are many similar cases, where men brought down with
crippled machines or wounded escape destruction by a miracle. The only
sure thing is when a machine goes down in flames or is seen to lose a
wing or two.
For instance, there are two officers in the group who are in the best
of health and daily working. Several months ago, they were on patrol
together, collided in the air. One cut the tail rigging completely off
the other and they separated, one without a tail and the other with
various parts of a tail mixed among the cables and struts of one side
of his machine. They both landed in France, one on his wheels followed
by a _capotage_ or somersault turnover, the other quite completely
upside down. Then a term in the hospital and back they are again.
Kenneth Marr, an American, had the commands of both his tail controls
cut in a combat, the rudder and elevator, leaving him nothing but the
_aileron_--the lateral balance control and the motor. He landed with
only a skinned nose for casualties and got a decoration for it.
Another chap in an attack on captive balloons, _drachens_, dove for
something like 10,000 feet _vertically_ and with _full motor_ on,
thereby gaining considerable speed as you can imagine. He came right
on top of the balloon, shot and to keep from hitting it, yanked as
roughly as he could, flattening out his dive in the merest fraction of
a second. Imagine the strain on the machine! When he got home, all
the wires had several inches sag in them; the metal connections of the
cables in the struts and wood of the wings had bit into the wood enough
to give the sag.
Machines are built to stand immense pressure on the under side of the
wings. In some acrobatic manoeuvres I was trying the other day, I made
mistakes and caused the machine to stall and then fall in such a way
that the full weight was supported by the _upper surface_--by the wires
which in most machines are supposed merely to support the weight of the
wings when the machine is on the ground. Yes, the Spad is a well built
machine, the nearest thing to perfection in point of strength, speed
and climbing power I’ve seen yet. Of course it’s heavy and that’s why
they put 150-230 HP in them. The other school, that of a light machine
with a light motor--depending for its success on lack of weight rather
than excess of power, may supplant the heavier machine in time--I can’t
tell. So, as anyone who knows has said right along, there is a long
way to go in the development of the J N or even the little tri-plane,
before American built planes get to the front. Of the bombing game, I
don’t know anything at all.
Yesterday there was a _revue_ here in honor of Guynemer, and
decorations for the pilots of the group who had won them. Three
Americans received the Croix de Guerre--members of the Lafayette
Escadrille. Lufberry, the American ace, carried the American flag
presented to the _escadrille_ by Mrs. McAdoo and the employees of
the Treasury Department--besides the two aviation emblems of France.
He was called to receive his decoration “for having in the course of
one day held seven combats, descended one German plane in flames, and
forced five others to land behind their lines” (which means that he is
officially credited with one, his thirteenth, and that the other five
though probably brought down, do not count for him because there were
not the necessary witnesses required by the French regulation). Being
the bearer of the flag, he was a very worried man to know what to do
with the flag when he should go up to get his medal, till one of the
fellows in 124 (the Lafayette) came to his rescue.
For a military _revue_ it was decidedly amusing. Aviators are not
very military. The chief of one of the _escadrilles_ was commissioned
to command the mechanics who are plain soldiers with rifles and
steel helmets for the occasion. He is a bit of a clown and amused the
entire gathering, kidding with the officers. The pilots of each of the
five _escadrilles_ were in more or less formation, most of them with
hands in their pockets for it was chilly, and presenting a mixture
of uniforms unparalleled in its heterogeneity. Every branch of the
service represented and endless personal ideas in dress. Because of
the occasion, _repos_ has been granted to the entire group for the
afternoon, another group taking over our patrols. So that after the
_revue_, everyone had the afternoon to waste--a sunny day which is
quite unusual this month. Within a half hour, every machine that was in
working order was in the air--forming into groups and then off for the
lines, just looking for trouble--a voluntary patrol they call it. Which
opened my eyes a bit to the spirit in the French service after three
years of war.
Word from Paris that those Americans in the French service who have
demanded their release to join the U. S. A. have obtained that
release--which probably means that all we wait for now ... is the
commissions.
This afternoon I took another trip with one of the old pilots to look
over the sector. We stayed over France and didn’t get into trouble
although there were lots of Boches around. Hope to get really started
soon.... An amusing one this morning: two pilots from the group were
on patrol and attacked a single German about two kilometres behind
the German lines. They completely outmanoeuvred him, he got cold feet
and started for the French lines, giving himself up. The funniest
part about it is that the machine gun of one of the attackers was
jammed and he couldn’t possibly have hurt the Boche--just had the
nerve to stay and throw a bluff. They came back to camp just before
dark this evening, one of them flying the German machine and the
other guarding him in a Spad. The machine is an Albatross monoplane
(biplane)--finished in silver with big black crosses on the wings and
tail--a really beautiful thing. It flew around camp for several minutes
before landing. It is the second machine that has been scared down
since I’ve been out here.