El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1918-06-11
GREATEST ACE
IS YET To C0ME
Fame in Aviation Rests
Largely Upon the Planes;
Garros First Great Flyer.

greatest AR 4IA Ter L-e aA mas pro-
duced. one old timer said Capt. I'M
melmauu. another Mai Hawker. yet
another held out FOR Eittmeistc- van
Eichthofen of course, II was an
r. r. C.. officer who held thar opinion
another again argued in favor OF
Capt. Bali some one else suggested
Capt Bolcze.
Then a veteran of some IS years OF
age, with long string of air fights
and suudry victories 10 MS credit,
remarked that really 10 was not fair
TO pretend that any Of them was
greater than any other.
He held that one after another
came into prominence and did better
than amy Of his predecessors partly
because he had better airplsues and
better engines 20 fly. partly because
he had better guns and ammunition.
partly because NE had acquired the
accumulated knowledge Of those who
had gone before him. and chiefly be-
cause. owing 10 the enormous growth
Of all the bellige-enr flying services,
there were more rEcts-0therwis
vietius-tO be found.
As he pointed out. u there was only
one British airplaue and one German
airplanc e would take them a long
time TO find one another in such
big place as the air. and neither could
put up much or score IL he brought
the other down. Therefore. IL is GER
talnlE not fair 20 reckon the quality
Of an air fighter by the mere number
of enemy machines which he brings
down One should rather estimate
his ability hy the methods which he
employs and the quality and quantity
Of his opponents
Consequently. II one wants 90 dis
cuss air fighters one ought 90 dis
cuss them i'm order OF date and not by
any faucied prominence Of one over
the other
Garros the First.
Probably the first pilot 10 become
famous as an air fighter was Roland
EarrOs. but that was largely because
he was already popular hero -u
France before the war. for he was
brought down and captured by the /
Germans before he had the chance OF .
pilinE Up any score OF aerial VIC .
Following Garros in point Of time 1
comes lwuelmanu. the first OF the Z
German pilots 10 become world Ia I
nous as a fighter II is some .
times debated among fighting pilots &
Tmmelmauu or whether Die made the 7
Fobker. Certain 10 is that the two I
rose 90 fame together i'm 1918. Where 7
they had the advantage was THAI they /
were fighting entirely on the defen- /
The Fokke- was light and IL had a +
good engine. and because it was only &
used for defence behind the lines il !
lulr had 10 carry petrol Tor two
hours flying Consequently &C. could Il
climb much higher than the British .
-ecounaissance machines with heavy
engines and petrol for four and
hours 1mmelmenn. and his cOuteu1-
lOraries used 10 sit Up az 10000 feet
and dive onto their enemies who were
,rawliug along at 1000 feet or So
M##a- o En|n.rn
.houEh their careers overlapped 10 4
some extent. BOlcke was also a
'cSEcr pilot. To him belongs The
distinction OF first developing the
p pilots 20 fight On regular forEa-
ION. on the lines Of what later be-
anne known as circus" His men
r-arSeJ en- nasse. and achieved re-
narkahle results
Mai. HnUker's Success.
Contemporary with Immelmauu and
3olcke, though he survived them both
or some months. was Maj. Lance
iawker. v. c.. ID. s. %. lie was the
trs- r. Z. C.. officer 10 win tle v c.
or air fighting. and many hold that
Re- was the greatest OF all British
lot only a first class fighting
nam but was also splendid or
.anizer and born leader OF men, He
Commanded a full squadron for some
Inc before be died. not merely q
flight Of six machines and today
Jim as the ideal commanding officer,
indy and thoughtful for those under
im- q fine disciplinarian. fuI or
lever new IDEAS and as brave a man ,
ia army. an officer or the royal en-
iucers who passed through Wool
-ich before the war. and was learning
o. fly when war broke out
Quite early in the war he won his .
s. %. for his skill I'm destroying q
lite balloon i'm Flanders. despite i'm
ause anti aircraft fire using the ball .
bon itself as cover and so laying a
-ymie.' 20 the guns. Later he re- 8
aived also the legion d'houneur- His ,
p. T.. was awarded after @ long Sc q
les OF victories over German aero p
lanes. and before he had disclosed .
imself as the fine commanding Of
cer which he was The squadron /
hitch he led in the fighting on the I
omue did much towards establish
1ntri1uted so much TO our victories ,
1915.
He met his death at the hands OF Z
Irtmeister Won kicntrofcu after a
-olonEed duel during which a west q
ind drove the comhatants Tar be-
Ind the German lines. so that when Z
al HawSer. whose machine was out 4
assed by Won RichthOfen's newer
ld more powerful type. was forced =
own close 20 the ground. he was :
lliEed either 20 land and be taken e
-isoner or else fight 20 a finish lie
ected 90 die fighting
After Naj. Hawker's death The name 3
Albert Ball became familiar %
lose who were closely I'm toUcn with Z 2
be- fighting pilots Of the r. T. C.
hey talked OF him as q brilliant lad %
no specialized on lone hand raids
Apparently he did Wei as a patrol ,
adler or I'm formation fighting OF any =
IT.. and all spoke well Of him. but 7
was his habit OF going Off all alone ,
look Tor Germans. siuEly or in %
cups. which interested the others. r
the book on his too brief life. o.
lich has been compiled largely from j
s letters to his family. one gets a j
ne picture OF this modern version C.
the knight Grant e
Ball Downs -. =
BAH finally met his death--after "
inEing down g German machine 8
as good a fight against odds as
IS been fought iu the air. and as
en- Treuchard wrote. "his loss 20 80
e flying corps was the greatest loss
could sustain az that time" There
no doubt that 90 had a Eravelv de- D.,
essinE effect After HIS death he I,
ls awarded the Y. c.. and the legion "
1onueur. y
The most recent 20 fall OF the "a =,
Gus French pilots was Capt. Euv- q
me. who was brought down in y.
-@a IS
DON'T 5l !.