AN AIR FIGHT

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2859, 25 August 1916, Page 5

AN AIR FIGHT

marlborough aviator: downs ....'■■.;•' a:;german.\ ••■" -' Successful" work has been.dono by, Flight-Lieut. Rollo D. Vavasour, sou of' Mr. H.D. Vavasour,- : Ugbrooke,: Marlborough, as a member of a Flying Corps operating in Northern France.: Having learned of a fine feat performed by him at''the end of .June,- in: which "he brought down a German machine after an exciting combat, the 'Marlborough "Express".'secured; the, following extract from a letter,written by him on July 1:— / k : "Our- aeroplanes are:; doingi 'great work out here just now. - In-fact, we . have got-the Hun thinking at last. Ho hasn't half' the dash and pluck, our men have in the ; air; and rarely ever; comes -over; our lines: ..Last, night I, deft the aerodrome at about 6 o'clock in. order to strafe' some hostile ■ bat-: teries with some of our guns. This I did, and had just finished when my observer saw a suspicious-looking machine about five miles' inside the 'Hun lines. lat once made towards it, and found it was a Him aeroplane. We. were -delighted, and my observer got his : gun ready. I was "at about 9500 feet, and the Hun about 7600, so I manoeuvred for position and dived down .to within about .100 feet./ My. observer then opened fire: The Hun had opened when we were about 200 feet off; After about 15 minutes of vertical ,turns and all ' sorts'-. of 'stunts,' we managed to get. a: shot in the Hun's engine, which emitted a, cloud of smoke and steam, and he' dived through the clouds to 'earth, as : his engine at .once stopped. ' W©;were both delighted, as it .was our firstreal. fight, and we wer^' awfully pleased to the Hun down/as he had all the hdvantage in speed, 1 being about'; 40 milesper hour faster than us.: J, of course..started, off with, the, advantage. 5n height, and also manoeuvred to keep him,firing at id'. with;\the> sun,in his; eyes.., He tried' to ' get. above, but; I. stopped that game at once. The fight: took place on the top of a large bank or beautiful white clpudsj on a perfect evening. Wo eventually 'settled hiß hash' at about 6"ooo:ieet. >As eobn'as the, Hun was-shot down the German: -'Archies' took part, and shot at us. the whole way home. It took about 20 minutes to get back to £iie lines again.' - as "the Hun' had drawn us about" 10-; miles back, and there was a wind of. CD miles an hour dead against us. ~ I think 'Archie''would have got'us only for: the clouds, as I kept my maohine skimming over thotop of them. Everyone was very pleased here, especially my C.0., who congratulated its. .-/.. .

This morning we again -went out, and after I had finished'my job of work a"5 : the lines I headed for the place of last night's fight in the hope of seeing an. other Hun. When about ,10 miles back at jnst ovor 10,000. feet I spotted one at somo 3000 feet below. I manoeuvred for position, 1 and again dived, and when about'2ooo feet off the Hun saw us and did a quick turn, fleeing for Ills aerodrome. As ,he was also about SO miles per hour faster than us, wb had to give up the chase. . . . They 'don't dare to come to the lines, and if ono wants a fight one has to practically sit oyer their aerodrome. I roally can't describe what an air fight is like. Personally I think it is the most thrilling thißg possible." '■'■.'".■