New Mexico state record. (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1914-19??, 1918-08-09

I siSting Of six men each-gOt ready to
go out again. AS | started to put on
my tunic l noticed that ! was not
marked up for duty us usual.
asked the commanding officer, II
major, what the reason for that was,
and he replied that he thought | had
done enough for one day. However,
knew that If l did not 60. someone
else from another flight" would have
to IL k my place, and | insisted upon
going up with my patrol as usual, and
the major Reluctantly consented. Had
he known what was In store for me-, l
am SURE he wouldn't have changed his
mind so readily.
As it was we had only five machines
for this patrol, anyway, because as we
crossed the lines one of them had to
drop out on account Of motor trouble.
our patrol was up at 8 p. m, and up
to within ten minutes Of that hour it
had been entirely %uneventful.
At 1850 p. M. however, while we
were flying mt n height Of 1900 feet.
we observed three other English ma
chimes which were about 1900 feet
below us pick n fight with nine Hun
machines.
| knew right then that we were in
for 1t, because I could see over toward
the ocean n whole flock of Hun ma
chimes which evidently had escaped
the attention Of our scrappy country
men below us.
So we dove down on those nine
Huns.
At first the fight was fairly even.
There were eight Of us to nine of them.
But soon the other machines which I
had seen in the distance, and which
were flying even higher than we were,
arrived on the scent, and when they,
in turn, dove down on us. there was
just twenty Of them to our eight!
-Four Of them singled me out. I was
diving, and they dived right down after
me, shooting as they came. Their
bullets were coming closer to
me every moment. These tracer bull
lets are balls Of fire which enable the
shooter to follow the course his bull
are taking and to correct his aim
accordingly. They do no more harm
to n pilot if he is hit than an ordinary
bullet, but if they hit the petrol tank,
good night! When a machine catches
fire in flight there Is no way of put
ting it out. 1t takes less than a min
ute for the fabric to burn off the wings
and then the machine drops like an
arrow, leaving Il trail of smoke like d
AS their tracer bullets came closer
md closer to mt l realized that my
chances Of escape were nil. Their very
next shot, l felt, must hit me.
Once, some days before, when I was
lying over the line. l had watched u
light above me. A German machine
was set on fire, and dived down
through our formation in flames on it's
way to the ground. The Hun was div
ny at such n sharp angle that both
lis wings came off, and as he passed
n few hundred feet Of me | saw
he look Of horror on his face.
Now. when I expected any moment
% suffer a similar fate, | could not
lelp thinking of that poor Huns last
ook of agony.
| realized that my only chance lay
II making an zimmerman turn. This
llaneuver was invented by n German
me of the greatest who ever flew and
Who was killed In action some time be-
ore. This turn, which I made success
ully, brought one Of their machines
light In front of me, and as he sailed
long barely ten yards away, l had
he drop on him, and he knew it.
His white face and startled yves
still see. He knew beyond ques-
ion that his last moment had come,
ecause his position prevented his TAX
ng aim at me. while my gun pointed
traight at him. My first tracer bullet
asSed within a yard of his head, the
ecOnd looked as If 1t hit his shoulder,
he third struck him in the neck. and
| let him have the whole works, I
nd he went down In a spinning nose t
All this time the three other Hun I
lachines were shooting away at me.
could hear the bullets striking my |
n after another. | hadn't S
lp slightest idea that : could ever