THE NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC MAGAZINE 



21 



If he has seen you, he either flees or 

 accepts combat. 



If he flees, fire after him. 



If he accepts battle, each adversary ma- 

 neuvers to keep the upper position in the 

 air in order to be able to drop suddenly 

 behind and below the other. It is a ques- 

 tion of skill and quickness of eye. After 

 a few passes, one of the two gets the upper 

 hand. When the boche feels himself 

 beaten, he usually tries to escape by div- 

 ing. If he dives in a straight line, keep 

 firing at him, as at a target. If he zig- 

 zags, you must keep close behind him, 

 tacking every time he does. His only sal- 

 vation then lies in the tail-spin or in turn- 

 ing over on the wing. 



Often the single-seaters prefer to op- 

 erate in pairs. In this case they either 

 both attack at the same time, in order to 

 divide the attention of the German; or 

 one attacks above, while the other guards 

 the rear of the attacking machine. 



2. Attack on a two-seater by a single- 

 seater. To effect a surprise is always a 

 first consideration. The importance of 

 the attacking position is greatly increased 

 by the presence, on the hostile plane, of a 

 machine-gun operated by the observer 

 and often covering a large field. Before 

 all, one must never get into the three- 

 quarters position — rear, below, nor es- 

 pecially above — '4 or he would certainly re- 

 ceive some bullets. 



The best position is either in front 

 and a little belozv, or under the tail. If 

 he is coming from three-quarters front, 

 on the same level, he opens fire at about 

 ninety feet, and if the boche veers to give 

 the field to his observer, he takes advan- 

 tage of this move to get under his tail. 



3. Attack on a hostile group by a 

 single-seater. — The object of the first ma- 

 neuver is to isolate one of the airplanes, 

 so as to attack it separately. He drops 

 into the midst of the group while keep- 

 ing a little above and firing at all his 

 adversaries, so as to force them to ma- 

 neuver. It is seldom that one of the 

 enemy, in his excitement, does not de- 

 tach himself by turning to the right, while 

 the others turn to the left. It is upon 

 the former that our fighter precipitates 

 himself. 



4. Battle of a group of single-seaters 

 against a hostile group. — The group, con- 



sisting of four or five machines, holds 

 itself at a high altitude. The V forma- 

 tion of flying is adopted. The leader 

 flies at the point of the V, the others be- 

 ing terraced behind him. The planes 

 leave about 450 feet between them, in 

 terraces, the leader being the lowest. 



The Germans fly likewise in V forma- 

 tion or single file, in steps ; but, with 

 them, the last plane is the lowest, the 

 leader being the highest. 



This results in the following form of 

 attack. The French leader announces 

 that he is about to attack, by balancing 

 twice, and dives at the last German plane, 

 which is the lowest. The other boches 

 make a half-turn and fall upon him. The 

 remaining Frenchmen then attack them, 

 with all the trumps in their own hands, 

 the one uppermost in the air having the 

 initial advantage. 



DESTROYING GERMAN KITE BABOONS 



The other possible missions of the 

 fighting squadrons include : 



The destruction of the drachens (kite 

 balloons), which completes the fight 

 against hostile aircraft for the purpose 

 of blinding the enemy. This mission, in- 

 dispensable in the course of an important 

 operation, is executed at the request of 

 the commander interested. 



The method usually employed is the 

 following: An airplane is designated for 

 each drachen. It is protected by a second 

 airplane, on account of the single-seater 

 defending the balloon. Then our airplane 

 dives in such a way as to make the last 

 900 feet at an angle of 45 degrees. It ap- 

 proaches the drachen facing the wind, so 

 that the latter will present its maximum 

 of surface, while protecting him from the 

 machine-gun in the basket. At a distance 

 of 300 feet he fires a volley of incendiary 

 bullets. This mode of attack is often suc- 

 cessful. If not, the Germans pull the 

 balloon to the ground. In either case 

 the object is attained. 



To blind the adversary by destroying 

 his aircraft is the fundamental result 

 sought by the fighting group ; but it can 

 also assist in the battle by getting infor- 

 mation and by attacking the ground 

 forces. 



Having very swift machines at their 

 disposal and being able to open the way 



