Air Stories — page 77: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AN ACE FROM “THE STORKS” victory, and collected a flesh wound in his right thigh. Thirsting for revenge, he went out with Dorme in the afternoon of the 25th, and they ran into two Rumplers south of Barleux. With masterly skill, Dorme found the two-seater’s blind spot and his chosen victim went down, manned by a dead pilot and observer. Heurteaux was having a harder struggle with his opponent, but had made himself an opening when two Rolands and a Fokker piled into the fight. The Fokker pilot attacked Heur- teaux nose-on, only to go down in flames when a well-placed burst reduced his engine to scrap-iron. Dorme, in the meantime, had sent the other Rumpler down with a holed petrol-tank, but as_ the machine made a good landing in a field, he did not receive credit for a victory. The two Frenchmen then chased the Rolands back home, and * strafed ’’ the machines which were run out to help the pilots. A machine-gun mounted on a cart- wheel opened fire from a hangar roof, but suddenly became silent after Heurteaux had sprayed it with lead. The afternoon’s combat thus brought Heurteaux his eighth victory, and Dorme his twelfth. During the last week in September the weather began to break up and offensive patrols were considerably curtailed. Go- ing out on October 17th Heurteaux lost his way in a heavy mist, and upon coming down very low to spy out the land, he almost collided with an Albatros that had evidently dropped down for the same reason. Before the startled German had recovered from the shock of the near collision, Heurteaux opened fire, and a five-round burst hit the German’s petrol tank. The Albatros immediately blew up and a tongue of flame licked up at the Nieuport. With his left wing already smouldering, Heurteaux put his machine into a steep sideslip, and the danger of fire was past. Three days later he caught another two-seater near Le Transloy, and that, too, went down in flames. 4 te 4 ie Ty 17% René Dorme, Heurteaux’s greatest friend and rival in «‘ The Storks.”” only two bullet-holes in his machine in two years of Dorme scored 23 victories, and received war flying Commander of “ The Storks” HREE machines fell to Heurteaux’s guns during November, a Fokker on the 3rd, an Albatros on the 11th, and another Fokker on the 16th, but during the next month Heurteaux did very little flying. Commander Brocard, leader of ‘‘The Storks,’’ was due to retire, and Heurteaux, who was to be his successor, had to devote much of his time in learning the ropes of leadership. Brocard left early in December, and Heurteaux soon proved himself to be an efficient leader, although at first he was rather too apt to neglect the tiresome paper- work and sally forth on his lone patrols. Heurteaux celebrated his promotion to captain by destroying three machines in two days. An Albatros Scout went down in flames on the 17th, an Aviatik on the 26th, and a Rumpler on the 27th. The crew of the Rumpler were unlucky, for they died because another two-seater shot down by Heurteaux at dawn had been reported to have landed safely in its own lines and could not be counted asavictory. Going up again at 11.30 a.m. comuicloooks (©