It was the chief glory of the American air service to have finally conquered these most dangerous opponents who represented the ut most in skill, daring and equipment evolved by Germany chit-Mg the vvar. A brief description of a battle fought on the afternoon of 10 Oct. 1918 over Dun-sur-Meuse may serve as an ex ample of how these dangerous enemies were finally vanquished. The 94th squadron had been ordered to destroy tvvo enemy balloons, one at Dun-sur-Meuse and the other at Ain creville. 011 this mission 14 Spads of the 94th squadron flew toward the German lines vrith eight planes from the 147th squadron covering the rig,ht flank and seven planes from the 27th squadron protecting the left It was known that along this front north of the Verdun Argonne sector the Germans had concentrated then- best air units including the red-nosed von Richtofen Circus, the yellow-bellied fusi lages of the Loezer Circus and the checker board insignia of the No. 3 Jagstaffel. The Germans also had on this front the new scout machine—the Sieman-Schuckard— driven by a four-bladed propeller and c-apable of a much faster climb than even the' French Sped. This ability to climb fast is a tremendous advantage, as it enables a skilful tactician to gain the ceil Mg, i.e., secure an overhead position from which to fire or dive upon his opponent. Some new Fokker planes were equipped with four instead of two machine guns and, therefore, were capable of projecting a perfect shower of bullets upon an opponent Captain Ricken backer cammanding the 94th squadron assigned tc, Lientenants Coolidge and Chambers the task of setting fire to the balloons and directed all of the participants in the surprise raid to assemble in formations as arranged at 3,000 feet above Montfaucon at 3:40 (15:40 French time) o'clock. With the two balloon Strafers in the, lead the entire force were to fly toward the Dun sur-Meuse gas bag, intent upon protecting Cool idge and Chambers from German air forces certain to fly to the defense of their balloons, especially as the afternoon was clear. The en suing battle is of special interest because the secret intelligence reports conveyed the informa tion that the enemy had gathered here the strongest air force ever concentrated since the beguaning of the war.
The American raiders turned frorn the ren dezvous over tfontfaucon toward their first objective with the commander flying his Spad several thousand feet above the flotilla to watch its progress.
Over the lines they were welcotned by a tre mendous outburst of tarchies) which,.however, failed to injure any of the Americans. Inside German territory the Dun balloon was in sight and presently 11 Foklcers were observed flying to its defense from the direction of Stenay. Presently eight more could be seen coming up from Metz and it was evident that although the whole German front was falling back their methods of interior comnumication were still most efficient The 147th squadron under Lieut. Wilbur White of New York was at this time separated from the rest of the Americans by nearly a mile and von Richthofen's men passed under the American commander as they drove on to attack the dislocated unit. Having allowed them to pass, Rickenbacker banked sharply and gaining speed as he came down from the ceiling promptly secured a position close on the tail of the last of the Fokkers.
His first stream of shots set fire to the Ger man's fuel tank and the next moment the Ger man aviator leaped from the blazing machine, and due to his equipment with an umbrella paradmte settled to safety within his own lines. A similar device might have saved many an American aviator from the torture of roasting to death in a falling plane on fire. The Amen can ace immediately *zoomed° up to regain the advantage of the ceiling and by that time a regular battle was being fought by the remain ing 10 FokIcers and the eight Spads of the 147th squadron. The German leader selected the rear Spad for his own attack, and to protect his comrade Lieutenant White °zoomed° up and with a renversement rushed to the rescue of the apparently doomed American. White was one of the bravest as well as tnost skilful of the American airmen and as he completed his manceuvre he made a direct plunge upon the German. Without firing a shot White ratruned the Foldcer head-on while the two machines were approaching . each other at tremendous speed and the mingled debris fell in a heap on the banks of the Meuse far below. By an act of unsurpassed heroism the American com mander had saved the life of his subordinate, sacrificed himself and destroyed an enemy. The German squadron having seen their leader lcilled by this extraordinary attack abandoned the fight. Meanwhile the German balloon com pany had succeeded in pulling to earth their huge balloon, but Lieutenant Brotherton of the I47th squadron piqued upon it through a storm of projectiles until a °flaming onion° set fire to his wings and he fell into the German posi tion. At the same moment two Foldcers suc ceeded in manceuvring into a position on the tail of the Spad flown by one of the most fa mous of the American air fighters, Lieut. James Meissner. This American ace was saved by the prompt attack of Captain Ricken backe.r, whose accurate shooting destroyed one of the Fokkers and drove the other off. Lieu tenants Coolidge and Chatnbers, although fail ing to get the balloon, each shot clown a Fok ker, so that on that afternoon the famous 94th squadron added four victims to their score, all from the elite of the German air service.
This battle occurring as it did as part of the Meuse-Argonne offensive, the greatest battle ever fought by American troops, clearly dem onstrated the quality of the brave Allied air men who had fought and died to hold the en emy in chedc until Americans could be trained and equipped to take up and help complete the ta.sk. German airtnen were dangerously efficient.
Our brave boys inherited the splendid tra ditions of both. the French and British air services. They Icnew the story of that great Frenchman, Lieut. George Guynemer, who met his gloricrus death on 11 Sept. 1917 while en gaging five German Albatross machines in a battle where 40 Gertnan planes were up under the direct command of von Rkhthofen. At the time of his death Guynemer had accounted for 5.3 enetnies, of whom 25 had been shot down by the end of 1916 and the other 28 in a little more than eight months of 1917.