ACES AMONG ACES 



By Laurence La Tourette Driggs 



A IR duels were unknown four years 



/\ ago. Boys of 18 or 20, untaught 

 / \ and inexperienced in the art, have 

 flown aloft and mastered it — mastered it 

 so thoroughly that less prudent antago- 

 nists have fallen before them, sometimes 

 six in one day. At least a score of such 

 duels have been reported where the victor 

 won by the expenditure of a single bullet ! 



Lufbery for America, Guynemer for 

 France, Bishop for Great Britain, and 

 von Richthbfen for Germany have tow- 

 ered above their comrades from the 

 popular viewpoint because of their con- 

 spicuous successes in this new art of 

 aeroplane dueling. 



To promote this new and spectacular 

 branch of warfare, the rival air forces 

 of the belligerents have constructed the 

 swiftest and deadliest types of aero- 

 planes, to be manned by their air duel- 

 ists — expert sharpshooters and pilots — 

 whose duty it is both to attack the heavy 

 bombing and reconnaissance planes of 

 the enemy and to defend their own slower 

 aeroplanes from chasing aviators. 



Each belligerent nation has collected 

 the cream of its sharpshooters into one 

 squadron, or escadrille, where as one unit 

 they can be hurled into a threatened area 

 with every prospect of success over less 

 skilled antagonists. 



THE PREMIER ESCADRILLE 



France has her Cigognes ("Storks"), 

 the celebrated Spad 3, to which belong 

 Fonck, Heurteaux, Pinsard, Deullin, 

 Gond, Herrison, the Americans Baylies 

 and Parsons, and those who have made 

 the sacrifice supreme — Guynemer, Au- 

 ger, Rene Dorme, and de la Tour. 



America has her Escadrille Lafayette, 

 which was commanded by Major Luf- 

 bery and which stands third among all 

 the fighting escadrilles of France in the 

 number of enemy aeroplanes shot down. 



The British have R. F. C. Squadron 

 No. 1, which is commanded by Captain 

 Fullard and which brought down 200 

 German aeroplanes in a short six months. 



And the Germans entrusted their hopes 

 to the famous Tango Circus, so nick- 

 named by the English pilots by reason of 

 the close formation in which the gaudily 

 painted aeroplanes of this enemy unit 

 flew. The victories claimed by this band 

 amount to more than double those ac- 

 corded to any single squadron of the 

 Allies. And the commander of this 

 JagdstarTel No. 11 holds the world rec- 

 ord in air dueling, for he lived to conquer 

 80 enemy machines. 



FOXCK, OE THE CIGOGXES 



The most polished aerial duelist the 

 world has ever seen is Rene Fonck, aged 

 23, now flying with the Cigognes, Spad 3. 

 This is the famous fighting escadrille that 

 was commanded by Guynemer at the time 

 of his disappearance, September 11, 1917. 

 Curiously enough, Lieutenant Fonck, 

 who was then a member of Escadrille 

 N. (Nieuport) 103, w r as Guynemer's 

 avenger. He shot down on September 21 

 f the German pilot, Lieutenant Wissemann, 

 who had written home to his mother in 

 Cologne, boasting that he had been vic- 

 torious over Guynemer and now need 

 fear no one. As no proof of Guynemer's 

 death has yet been found, the truth of 

 Wissemann's claim is doubted. 



Consider the details of Fonck's record. 

 Up to April 3, 1918, he had shot down 

 officially 32 enemy aircraft, engaged in 

 upward of 200 combats, flown over 1,000 

 hours above the enemy's lines, yet had 

 never received a bullet hole in his aero- 

 plane! Now he has 45 enemy planes on 

 his tablet and is the French ace of aces. 



Most of his combats are against for- 

 mations of five or more enemies. While 

 delivering the coup de grace to one he 

 must prevent a surprise from the others. 

 How he succeeds in this could never be 

 satisfactorily explained, yet that he does 

 succeed is beyond question. Such incred- 

 ible perfection in maneuvering and such 

 rapid and infallible accuracy of aim have 

 never been equalled by any other fight- 

 ing pilot. 



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