Aeroplane Fighting.

Levin Daily Chronicle, 8 December 1917, Page 4

Aeroplane Fighting.

AUCKLAND AIRMAN'S PEAT. FOURTEEN MACHINES DOWNED. The following is extracted from a /otter written by Captain Olive F. Collet t, of the .'loyal Flying Corps, to his mother, who resides at Epsoia:—"l am buck in England and in hospital, having been slightly wounded. I shall iuse the little Jinger of my left hand, as il is shal tered to pieces, but after all it is nothing to complain about, for il i",uM hurii.y Jv less. J t, a „ "ii :cv:. si u 1 during this last . peil in i:'i .nu;e, and manag d to shoo ..n, u i '■ I'i/.aii aeroplanes; .hi.- iij. i v,; ..c,.uaily conliriued by independent w.t-ue.-ses*, and L fancy J. iiave a few more besides. In my last fight I shut down two double-seater aeroplanes, one after the other, then attacked and drove down one of their fast lighting scouts. The latter machine tried to land, but turned upside down and 1 dived on it and shot it into llames before the pilot could get out. I used all my ammunition. doing this, however, and was attacked by three more of their scouts. Being a long way back over German territory, and only about 30ft from the ground, I had to run the gauntlet through their machinc-gun lire from the ground, and with the three machines flying about me, peppering for all they, were worth. I dodged about so much that they could not keep their sights on me, and after an cxciting five minutes, I got back without hurl', except the wound in my left hand. I never flew above 50ft all the way back, and though my engine was hit, my machine still managed to do 125 miles an hour, so you can imagine I had little time to worry about my hand. I suppose Claude told you I recently got the Military Cross for an another affair. I have not been before the King yet to rcccive it officially, but had the noticc of its award from the commander-in-chief in France. I have been loading patrols in France, as our machines now operate in formation, and do what is termed offensive patrols. In my ease I had half a dozen of our latest and best fighting scouts, all single seaters aud very fast. We used to go right over the enemy country, and fight pitched battles in the air with their lighting scouts, so it got quite exciting at times. The leader always lias a hot time in these shows, as he has to attack and is backed up by tlie other machines in his formation. I had a splendid crowd of fellows with me, they used to stick like glue, and really it is very hard to keep together when lighting. Our casualties were fairly neavy, but we had a good reputation, and always came out top dog.''