Headquarters had sent us orders to attack all the enemy observation balloons along that entire front this morning and to continue the attacks until the infantry's operations were completed. Accordingly every fighting squadron had been assigned certain of these balloons for attack and it was our duty to see that they were destroyed. The safety of thousands of our attacking soldiers depended upon our success in eliminating these all-watching eyes of the enemy. Incidentally, it was the first balloon strafing party that 94 Squadron had been given since I had been made its leader and I desired to make a good showing on this first expedition. Just here it may be well to point out the difficulties of balloon strafing, which make this undertaking so unattractive to the new pilot.
Pilots affect a scorn for it, and indeed at high altitudes the probabilities of a hit are small.
Archy becomes far more dangerous. So when a pilot begins his first balloon attacking expeditions, he knows that he runs a gauntlet of fire that may be very deadly. His natural impulse is to make a nervous plunge into the zone of danger, fire his bullets, and get away. Few victories are won with this method of attack. The experienced balloon strafers, particularly such daring airmen as Coolidge and Luke, do not consider the risks or terrors about them.