Jackson County journal. (Sylva, N.C.) 19??-19??, 1918-07-26

Washington, D. C.-The story of the
first victory over a German airplane by
an American aviator is told by the
American victor himself, Lieut.. Alan
F. Winslow, Signal Reserve corps Of
Chicago, in notes from his diary,
which were made public by the war
department. Written with no thought
of publication, and merely for the pur-
pose of preserving his own impress
sions, Lieutenant WinslOw neverthe-
less has produced document which
the war department regards as Of
great historical value and which i'm
presses the reader by it's descriptive
power. Here is his story:
"On Sunday morning, April II,
was 'on alert from 6 a. m. till 10
a. M, that is, I, with Lieut.. Douglas
Campbell Of Harvard and California
(since designated as the first American
'aceo was on emergency call duty. We
were sitting in the little alert tent
playing cards, waiting for a call. Our
machines were outside, ready at mo-
ment's notice. / was patrol leader.
At 8 AS / was called to the phone, told
by the information officer, who is in
direct touch with all batteries and OBJ
servation posts, that two German air
planes were about 1000 meters above
the city, which is only mile or so
from here. We were told they were
going east. We were rushed down to
our machines in side cars, and in an
other minute were off in the air.
81 Was Furious"
Doug started ahead of me, as wa:
to meet him above a certain point a
500 meters and then take the lead.
gave him about 45 seconds start, an(
then left myself, climbing steeply in {
left-hand spiral in order to save time
1 had not made a complete half turf
and was at about $50 meters wher
straight above and ahead of me in tn
mist of the early morning, and no
more than 100 yards away, l saw
plane coming toward me with hug
black crosses on it's wings and tail.
81 was so furious to see a German
directly over our aviation field that
swOre out loud and violently Opene
fire. AT the same time, to avoid m
bullets, he slipped into a left-hand re
versement and came down, firing O
me. | climbed, however, in a right
hand spiral and slipped off, comm
down directly behind him and on hi
tail. Again l violently opened fire.
had him at rare advantage, whic
was due to the greater speed and m,
neuverability of our wonderful m:
chimes. fired 20 to 80 rounds at nil
and could see my tracers entering h
machine.
Each "Got" His Man.
'Then, in another moment, his plar
went straight down in an uncontrolle
nose dive; had put his engine out
commission. l followed in a straig]
dive, firing all the way. At about 81
feet above the ground he tried to r
gain control of his machine, but cou
not, and he crashed to earth. dart,
down near him, made a sharp turn
the wreck, to make sure he was out
commission, then made victorio
swOop down over him, and climbed
again to see if Doug needed any he
with the other Boche, for 1 h,
caught glimpse of their combat O
of the corner of my eye.
II rose to about 800 feet again
see Doug on the trail Of his Bocl
His tracer bullets were passi
throughout the enemy plane
climbed little higher and was divi
down on this second German a
about to fire when 1 saw the Germ
plane go up in flames and crash
earth. Doug had sent his Germ
plane down one minute after | I
shot down mine
mind you, the fight took place O