A FIGHT WITH GERMAN FOKKERS

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 74, 21 December 1918, Page 9

A FIGHT WITH GERMAN FOKKERS

Flight Lieutenant Norman Barloir, of Chrietohurch, in his latest letter (o his 'father,, give a vivid picture of what ho calls a "scrap with German Fokkers." I must toll you, he says, about the very solid scrap our flight got into before returning to the aerodrome a couplo of evenings ago.- This wae in the middle of October. Four Fokkcre were about 20,000 feet cruising well over tliqir own lines. Wo wero at 15,000 feet doing our patrol. Finishing, we turned l'i go home, when the Fokkers came down, and the first thing I saw was one on tho tail of our rear mnn. Our fellow was going down in a spin; I wheeled round and dived on the Sun. I got him dead in the sides and opened both-guns into him, and I saw my tracers going into him. Tho Hun turned on his back :ii>d went down in a , vertical dive and disappeared in a cloud bank at 7000 feet. .Well, befm-e I had time to breathe tln-ee other Foklcore got on to my tail, and one of our fellows, named Longion, came to my rescue. Ho dived on one and it turned to earth. Ho followed it down. The other two disappeared. Another bird and myself followed Longton down. Longton had got his Hun, and at 10,000 feet wo ran into seven more Fokkers, and three of these went after Longton. This other S.E. and myself just came down in time to assist Longton. There was a terrible mix up, and we got away in some clouds at 7000 feet and came home. It was tho most exciting scrap I have ever been in. We got back/ 0.K., which is more than our opponents did, but it was quite dark and we had to land by flares. ... A very fine flight commander, Hazel by name, has just got tho D.5.0., and we had a great "binge" here to celebrate the occasion. Hazel has been out nlmoat ever since the war began, and from the bunch of Huns he has got to his credit, ho certainly deserves the decoration. . . . We are expecting to move again soon, adds Flight Lieutenant Barlow, and at tho rate wo havo been going lately we will be on the Rhine soon. In another letter he said his aerodrome was ninety miles from the eea, and it was hie habit with an afternoon off to fly to a seaside watering place for lunch—an hour's flight—and spend tho afternoon bathing, returning to the aerodrome in time for dinner.