Tough Day Over St. Mihiel
September 15, 1918
To: Cmmdrs, 95th Aero Sqd, 1st Pursuit Grp US. and 52nd Sqd "Bulldogs" RAF
Sirs,
At 0500 this morning Capt. Gillette and myself were summoned to HQ. As we entered the office none other than Col. "Billy" Mitchell was there to give us our briefing. Our mission for this morning was to provide air cover for 3 companies of infantry and one tank company from the 4th Div. US as they attack a group of trenches around an artillery position on one of the foothills in front of Mont Faucon. Col. Mitchell stated that 4th Div. has attacked this position for four straight days without success and that we need to take out that position today. Capt. Gillette and I checked out our SPADs and we were in the air shortly. By 0630 we approached the front and identified the infantry and tank companies. Seconds later we both observed a puff of smoke to the southeast. As we approached I could see it was a British two-seater being chased by two Fokker DVII's.
The two-seater was smoking and had a bomb dangling on a bracket on its lower wing. We immediately moved to engage the Huns. On our first pass we both fired but did not appear to do much damage. Capt. Gillette performed an Immelman turn, thus exposing one of the DVII's to fire from him and from the rear gun of the Brit. After a few shots from both planes, the Hun exploded.
The British pilot then turned around and began to approach the German trenches. Capt. Gillette pursued the other DVII while I broke off to investigate another aircraft coming from the southeast. The other airplane turned out to be a German Halberstadt two seater. I attacked the plane but did no apparent damage but I caught fire from his rear gun.
As I maneuvered to put out the fire, I could see the British pilot approach the artillery position. Fortunately his last bomb dropped at the right time and did a direct hit on the artillery. Good thing, that artillery has already taken out the tanks
I was able to put out the fire but my SPAD was heavily damaged. I was able to see that the gunner on the Brit was having problems and both Hun planes were bearing down on him. Gillette and I moved toward the DVII, exchanging fire when Gillettes SPAD exploded.
I then engaged the Halb, but with all the damage that my SPAD had taken a few shots were enough to knock out my engine. I was able to crash land behind our lines. As I climbed out of my plane, I saw the Brit plane come down. I went over to assist and could see that the pilot was fine but the gunner was wounded. As we moved the gunner out of the plane a squad of our infantry approached and helped out. Within minutes we were able to get the gunner into an ambulance while the British pilot and I were able to get a ride in a truck back to base. During the ride back I found out that the Brit was Col. Kyte from the renowned 52nd Sqd. The Col. and I had quite a chat on the ride back and I commended him on his extremely bold maneuver to turn a heavily damaged plane back into the fray. Personally, I hope the two Brits get medals for their actions today.
Respectfully Submitted,
2nd Lt. Joseph Linden, 95th Aero. 1st Pursuit Grp.
buthchers bill
US
Two Spad XIII's, Capt. Charles Gillette, KIA
1 Infantry Co.
2 Renualt light tanks
Britain
1 Bristol fighter, gunner wounded, pilot OK
Germany
1 Fokker DVII, pilot unknown, assumed KIA
One
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