BALL V. IMMELMAN

Dominion, Volume 11, Issue 203, 16 May 1918, Page 7

BALL V. IMMELMAN

STOEY OF AIE DUEL CONTRADICTED.

In The Dominion of Saturday last fe\™ e » nWW »» from the "Literary dud oth BtoI 7 ° f aaab aiul Tm , dMtI A bfltffeen Oa P ta "i Bail and Immelman. Our attention has since been drawn to the following, which T Tfrh ln the "Cape Times" Lfh fournn '"V M f H th ° editor * that journal. It speaks for itself-and also ior American writers of a certain type',2 -I , n reference to the article which appeared in your special edition, I beg to write and contradict the story as an out-and-ou-t fabrication. The "Literary s 'f\<=h first published the K nn?# I ,. b « llove . an American paper MackL e ' W ?H e tP f Or ,? f Coloi,ol W ' in AW v* tt v t0 T hh llM n M "d friend jn Newark, New Jereoy, savours of 1W Jonrnaliem. On July 11, 1016 in the House of Comnnse, the name ° t L tt f ?. Bnbs who W defeated announced ine uthcer Commanding tho EV C Sjnndron, to which my son was attact «l, wrote and informed me that my son was badly wounded, but prior lo this encounter he had on Sunday, June Jb, attacked and shot down the celebrated Immelman." The Gorman papor, W.iUanzeiger," in a letter from ono ot Immelman's brother officers, who troin the groimd eaw the encounter, mentions tho tima as about 9 o'clock in the evening, and cfecribos tho finding of the German aviator's body, and the manner I n which- tho Fokker machine was broken aud fell-no mention is made of i fc ,"! "V. nto flamea " an 'i "charred | i t." \ i s s " lt(!I "<-'nt was forwarded i by Jleuter s corresiwndent in Amsterdam to London, and published in one paper. day Pictorial," «f June 25, 7010. Mv Tn n n S o^nJV 8 from :Franco ( dated June 21, MIG-three days after tiie fight with Immelman-mentions tho time of the encounter rs about 9 p.m. Hβ was not aware at the time who his opponent was but on June 23 wrote .ind told me that it was reported that the great Immelman,was the mail he had brought down. Captain Ball was not killed four days after Immelnian's death, as I have re erence to his being alive in August, 191b. It has recently been stated in tho South African Press that it was Major A. Miller, D.5.0., R.F.C., now in the Union of South Africa, who dropped the wreath. The wreath is mentioned in a Munich newspaper as being inscribed "as a tribute to a bravo and ! chivalrous opponent, who Uied in battio i on June 18, J916." It is also stated that tho wreath was dropped on June 30. Colonel Macklin's letter ie now published some 18 months after cho oncoiui- ! ter, and is eo full of wlmt is termed •tosh" that 1 at first decided not to contradict it-for instance: ■'Hβ (Caprain Ball) settled down, rose fgain, turn- I ed back and released a luigo wreath of : flowore' almost directly over tho spot | whore Immelinan's charred body was beAng lifed from a tnnglsl u\nss of metal. " That wrauh lO'.ist hnvs boon already to hand, I reckon, 'llierp. are, i howevnr, jicuulo in Ihin wor'ii who be- ! liovo Urn l.'i-it thing they « !n in pnnt; already I havo been commiserated with Ujnin tliti fact; that, afttr ail iha and congratulaiiona, it was Mot my sm," ' but iinother'.-?, who foiled the doughty Gorman, anil, iui tha Tiarrative has a;ipearetl in other South African papers besides this, and also it tome of the ! English papers, I much against my eus- i torn of lotting eiiicli people 4iink as they chose, fool compdicd to throw what ' light I possess upon the matter. The whole utory as staled in .tho gailunt Cu!onel's letter is so highly roloured and ■ contradictory to t'uet, tliai: tno in if hi wonder if he (tho Colonel) roally exists, or is- this an insidious wicmy attempt to discredit the value ot cur yoiui" South African recruits to the Air Service? Cnptnin Immclumn was, from the testimony of British and Fronch flying officers, a great aviator and a chivalrous foe, and I think there can be no dotibt that a certain section of tho German people were greatly chagrined by lii 3 death in an encounter with a youth •fresh from school. The niodicino would not havo tasted so bittor if it had been sugared by tho knowledge that their hero had been vnnquishod by such a redoubtablo champion as Captain Bali, V.0., D.5.0., MX'., Great Britain's foremost air fighti'V at that lime—l am, etc., J). A. M'CUBBIN. Johannesburg, February U.