After Captain Hawker's impressive triple victory in July the Royal Flying Corps started arming the remaining Bristol Scouts. The mechanics are nothing short of wizards. They mounted the guns on the upper wings and in short order me and Smithy (Charles Henry Smith) were ready to try out our armed Scouts. We drew straws and I got to take off first.
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Soon my wheels left the ground and I was airborne; the skies were so clear. It was hard to imagine a war going on.
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Smithy followed and pulled up on my right. I noticed my plane seemed a bit sluggish with the weight of the gun. I tried a couple of simple maneuvers and she seemed to handle it well. Smithy followed suit; it looked like the added weight wasn't going to encumber the old girls at all.
It was then we saw them; three Albatros Reconnaissance planes. Up to that point this hadn't been a combat mission, but I couldn't let those Huns fly our skies unmolested. I turned to Smithy and pointed. He had seen them too and nodded. We turned our birds towards the foe.
Once they saw us approach the took evasive action.
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We closed in and the blighters started to separate.
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I went after the Hun with the red and yellow markings while Smithy chased after the other two. In no time I closed and opened fire. I noted a distinct sound, like the engine cutting out and the pilot slumped a bit to one side. The observer had a gun, but the way he was bagging on the thing it must have jammed.
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I guess I got caught up in the hunt at that point. Soon he was trailing smoke and then flipped over and headed straight down. I felt a sick feeling in my stomach knowing neither pilot or observer would likely survive the meeting with mother earth. But, better them than me.
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I got too engrossed in watching him spiral down; bullets passing through my wing woke me up. I hadn't realized how crowded the skies had gotten. Where was Smithy? I couldn't see him anywhere. Had he gone down?
I couldn't worry about that now. Another target appeared before me and I fired.
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And dived under him.
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It was then I saw Smithy coming on like a bat out of hell.
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I left Smithy to finish the bugger off and went after the other Albatros which looked to be angling for its target.
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I came around and gave him a burst!
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And he exploded!
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Our work done I waved to Smithy and singled that we should fly home. We had scored three victories between us.
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