FAMOUS ACES

Evening Post, Volume CXIX, Issue 126, 30 May 1935, Page 20

FAMOUS ACES

WAR-TIME FIGHTERS

THEIR RECORD IN THE AIR

.THBEND OF.-BICHTHOEEN

, iValour in the air was not the prero-"gative-of any one nation who fought in the Great War, writes Captain Nor.■mah Macniillan in the "Daily Mail." :>Britain, Germany, France, Italy, Aus- . tria, Belgium, America all produced .men who rose to fame. .V/ • :.' ,'). In almost every case these challeng,ing and successful fighting pilots flew ; single-seiater 'aerbplanes. .In their they, rode to war alone (as :; did the knights of old upon their chargers) to; single out their adversaries,, engage in mortal combat, and fight the swiftest-paced duels the world .has ever known. V llt is ever invidious to create dis.■tinctjons. .-And if. in this brief article, 'to leave; untold the tale of the magic '.worth'of Barker, McCudden, Mannock, . Schaefer; Voss, Boelcke, Fonk, and Ifungegser opens a pathway to dissen,sion among herb-worshippers, I would 'just" say "that I pick these thoughts of .remembrance from the many that fill .the siefcled lane of the flower of youth. .-■ Albert Ball was the youngest of the . thr.ee;aces whose feats I shall describe. .. As a .bpy he was keen on photography, chemistry, Vnkechahics, 'and gardening. He gaye'nb'.special sign 'of ebcceliehce .in. athletics; ■ But he made .thingsboats and, MaftSr-with' his own hands, and operated them single-handed. ■'";• When.the war broke out he: joined 'the 2nd. Gity" Battalion of the Sher"\wobd -Foresters. He was prwhbted; .sergeant .soon after, and was commissioned .second lieutenant in October 1,914. Tn';June 1915, tired of the endless training for ground' work he began tb take flying lessons on his 'own initiative, paying for theni himself. He was in the Royal Flying Corps by the middle of Octbber, 1915. HIS FIRST WOKK. He went to France in February, 1916, just at the time when fighting in the air was beginning to assume serious ■ ; proportions. His ■ first work was carried out in two-seaters. Ball's pleasure was found in the joy of flying. His work as a hunter in the air came . .second to the love of flight itself. . . But by the middle of May, 1916, he ...-/was mounted in a single-seater aeroplane and had brought dbwn his first enemy. He had started on his fighting career in the'air. ■ '-. . Sbrrietimes in patrol and sbmetimes .flyuig ;by himself, he fought and .scrapped his way through' the dogfights, by his skill in flying.. He brought his enemies down by his ability to shoot. ■'■,"■■■■ : . At last, a victor over forty-three aeroplanes, he himself fell on May 7, 1917, before he reached the age of jtwenty-one. None of his flying partners saw him,go. One writes: : "On either side machine guns were spitting death at him. A cloud of German machines were circling about, Recking at him just like great hawks after their prey. A dozen" of their machines were detached to engage us while,the others gave,the coup de grace to Ball. .He disappeared "in the midst of a ;cloud-of German machines,-and for a time it was impossible to distinguish friend from foe." And Ball went down fighting gamely to the last, killed in action by the" guns of Lowthar yon Richthofen, the brother of the famous Red Baron. •CHAMPION OF FRANCE. At the age of twenty-three, Captain : Georges Guynemer was the champion '! fighting airman of France. One of a family of three, he was. an only son. His mother was a niece ."of" Sir Walter Scott. ,- ' ■■■.. ..... ■;:>:z : .. :■:■'.■■■■-.{■.- ■ As a boy he was of a delicate and highly-strung constitution, and was still at school when war broke out. That clash of arms prevented him from entering.the, banking profession. He endeavoured to enlist,-but time after time was rejected on medical grounds. ■; Eventually, he got into: the Army as a mechanic in the French Air Service; ■ ; Fond of things mechanical and es- ;■ pecially of motor-cars and motor-cycles Ihe found himself in his element. His keenness soon gained him permission to train as a pilot. He was a born flyer. After a short course of training he got his brevet on April 26; 1915. Six weeks later he brought down his first enemy on the Soissons front. ;'' . . . ■ He'was then sent tolflyj.a sitjgle^: seater, and he continued tji vfightijm single-seaters until his'death. • His mount was usually a'Sjpati;'; He was wounded in March, 1916;. but by" the .; close of that year he was the victor, of twenty-two fights." ~ -—--••■■.- • On one occasion he .shot .down thre^ enemy machines, jnj.th'e;'course of a fight lasting only*:a'few'mindtes; on another occasion h^ shot .down four , enemy aeroplane's in1 one dayi' He was the -leading fighter ■ ;o£ the famous Storks' Squadron. .■•:•■ r. ,;,:,: i In ,spite 9f. a, -delicate, constitution and a vivid imagihatibn—two" great handicaps "to an air^fighter—he became one of file.'foremost airmen of'th^ world., :..■- ;N : r - :•■::• ,v'-iJ;" v >, '^.< Early in ti&e year^of his deatii he feli that he had onlyj; six months .-more <to Hve and that cif the'war was'ndf over before their he would give -his life for JFrance.r~;-ptf September Ii;-1B1T, Guynemer was" shot down and killed, and France 'inearried'a VaHaiifpirbi' >vith fifty-three'victoriesi to; his name; The name Richthofen lives in Germany as that of Nelson lives in England. s Those of us who fought on the western front in. the second" half of the war knew his name as well as did his comrades who opposed us. There was something of his spirit that seemed to fill the air as music is carried silently through the ether on Hertzian waves. ■ High above the waving corn that leant and rustled to the summer breeze of Flanders his red aeroplane ranged the skies. Behind his windscreen his keen blue eyes searched the skies fon-:his next bag—often the bursts -of the anti-air-craft shells revealed its position. The Rcdi Baron climbed above hjs foe. When he dived he dived to kill. His % shooting was practised and deadly. Baron Manfred yon Richthofen was a sportsman, son of a landowning squire, whose family sports were hunting and shooting and riding. Eleven days short of twenty-six when he fell to the ground in his all-red. Fokker triplane, Manfred' was the,.greatest hunter of them all. He looked upon air fighting as a sport. \ ", He graduated to the air force from the cavalry, and first became' anobserver on the Russian front, then a bomber on the western front. His restless spirit longed to handle the controls himself. He met Boelcke and worshipped him, for Boelcke ■ was then the air god of Germany. On his first'solo flight Richthofen icrashed on landing. But persistance was rewarded. He learnt to fly twoseaters. Still he fought to gain entry into the single-seater class, while he piloted his heavy aeroplane above the Russian troops. . ' Then he met Boelcke once more. Joyfully he accepted the invitation of the great ace to join his squadron. Under the expert training of his leader, Richthofen learnt his art of killing on the Somme front. His bag began to grow. He presented himself wjtjj a silver cup for each new victory. H;li Waie. was made. Boelcke fell and

was killed when his aeroplane crashed' into another German machine in the middle of a dog-fight. ' IN COMMAND. Richthofen took his place in command. He was wounded. A bullet seared his head. He went on leave. That, wound left him wondering if his life was quite invincible. His confi^ dence was shaken slightly. But he came back and fought on. His fame spread across the world. He.had.-shot down.eighty aerbplanes; killed eighty-seven men in air duels; the toll. Of'his prisoners stood at twen-ty-two. On April 21, 1918,-in a terrific dog-fight he met his death. Guns were firing, ; machine v guns rattling from the ground and in the air. Pursuing a Camel in relentless flight, Richthofen in turn was pursued by another Cache!. ■ ■ Captain Roy. Brown's stream of bullets penetrated ttie Fpkker's cockpit. The Fokker glided :down and landed almbst intact. In thecbekpit, strapped to'his seat, sat the' Red Baron, dead, with a bullet from Brown's guns through his head. Among these three great aces of the war there is a difference in the tally of machines brought down, but there is ■not one hairs-breadth between them in ■the, bravery of their work. Were they alive today they would salute each other with pride and honour. Instead, their souls rest in the. Valhalla of the glorious dead., '