Eddie Rickenbacker

Name: Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10
Author: Eddie Rickenbacker

Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

Summary

“Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10”, published in 1919, is a work by Eddie Rickenbacker. It explores elements such as Lufbery, Smyth and Albatros.

Quotes from Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (Eddie Rickenbacker)

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ General Liggett, commanding the 26th Division, came with Colonel William Mitchell, commanding the Air Forces of America. All bore with them quantities of beautiful flowers. Hundreds of officers from all branches of the service came to pay their last act of respect to the memory of America's most famous aviator.
I watched the great assemblage gather. Their flowers covered the casque of the dead airman and formed a huge pyramid beside it. At one-thirty I hurried back to the aerodrome. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ Captain DeRode, the Commanding Officer of a French escadrille near by, met us and stated that one of his pilots, in fact his leading Ace, had witnessed the death of Lufbery and had immediately taken up the pursuit of the Albatros to revenge him. At the first attack he too was shot through the heart and fell immediately. His machine had crashed but a mile or two from the spot where Luf had fallen. But the German machine was finally shot down by another French machine, and it fell a mile inside our lines, where both pilot and observer were captured. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ It was rare enough that an aviator ever set eyes upon any part of the machine he had shot down. Usually the enemy machine fell far within the German lines, for the German policy was to fight only above their own territory. If we were ever fortunate enough to catch a Boche inside our lines and down him there the last scrap of his machine was carried away by the men in the trenches or by the lorry drivers, who, happened to be in the vicinity, long before the victorious pilot appeared upon the scene. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ I had asked Luf what he would do in a case of this kind— jump or stay with the machine? All of us had a vast respect for Major Lufbery's experience and we all leaned forward to hear his response to this question.
"I should always stay with the machine," Luf responded. "If you jump you certainly haven't got a chance. On the other hand there is always a good chance of side-slipping your aeroplane down in such a way that you fan the flames away from yourself and the wings. Perhaps you can even put the fire out before you reach the ground. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ Already the little plot bore this name, and quite half a dozen of our fellows lay side by side in this foreign clay, so far distant from the land and dear ones they loved. They were now to be joined by one whom all France and America considered preeminent in aviation. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ Accordingly I set off with Smyth close by my right wing. A slight northerly course brought us directly over Mars-la-Tour, where I knew was located a fighting squadron of Germans. We should satisfy Smyth's curiosity even if we had to descend onto the Hun aerodrome.
As we crossed the little town of Mars-la-Tour I detected a German two-seater making off towards Verdun almost directly ahead of us. It was an Albatros and was several thousand feet below us, and about two miles ahead. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (1919)

“ I asked him what he meant by "all."
"Why," he said, "I've been over the lines two or three times and I haven't had a single look at an enemy machine. I would like to go across with some one like you who always gets into some fun. Will you take me with you on a voluntary patrol?"
This was the spirit I liked to see in a pilot and I immediately told Smyth I would take him over at nine o'clock this very morning if he could get ready. ”

Eddie Rickenbacker

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Quotes from Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 10 (Eddie Rickenbacker)

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