Eddie Rickenbacker

Name: Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34
Author: Eddie Rickenbacker

Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

Summary

“Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34”, published in 1919, is a work by Eddie Rickenbacker. It explores elements such as Fokker, pilot and Spad.

Quotes from Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (Eddie Rickenbacker)

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ A strange sort of fatalism fastens to the mind of an aviator who continues to run the gauntlet of Archy. He flies through bursting shells without trying to dodge them, with indeed little thought of their menace. If a bullet or shell has his name written on it there is no use trying to avoid contact with it. If it has not — why worry?
To score a fatal hit these invisible missiles of death have a great space to fill when a small aeroplane and a still smaller pilot are at a height of ten or twelve thousand feet above earth. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ In other words, he knows that the actual danger is almost nil. If a flying fragment of shrapnel happens to strike him it is bad luck. There is no way to avoid it. A hundred to one no hits will be received. Thus comes the fatalism that saves the experienced airman from worry.
On Sunday, October 27th, only a fortnight before the end of the war, Hamilton Coolidge, one of the best pilots and most respected men in the American Air Service, met an annihilating death from a direct hit by an Archy shell in full flight. The shell had not yet burst when it struck the Spad in which Coolidge was sitting. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ Even when flying through the defensive fire of a balloon battery at two or three hundred feet elevation or when cruising along the trenches but fifty feet above the rifles and machine guns of the enemy we learned to disdain the furious fire that was turned upon our swift flying planes. Experience had taught us that the non-flying sharpshooter is wofully ignorant of the rapidity with which we pass his aim when we are traveling at the rate of two miles a minute—exactly 176 feet each second! ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ How many riflemen can compute the exact point 176 feet ahead of their gun-muzzle where the bullet and the pilot's head must meet in order to bring down the prize? Not one! Occasional hits are made at random, but the percentage is ridiculously low. When tracer bullets are fired at one's aeroplane it is amusing to see how far behind the tail of the machine the streams of bullets are passing. When hundreds of Archy shells are bursting about one's vicinity one of the flying fragments may, of course, happen to take the path that coincides with that of the pilot. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ Naturally enough the pilot will turn his nose homeward when he falls far enough to get headway for a glide. Accordingly I kept control of the situation by heading him off and firing a few shots to show him that I did not mean to let him escape.
Now the tables are turned. Instead of my Fokker friend nursing homewards to Germany a captured and crippled American machine, I am endeavoring to impress upon him that an American is desirous of escorting back to the American lines a slightly crippled but very famous Fokker with a red nose. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ The aeroplane was moving forward at its usual fast speed when the mounting shell, probably traveling at the speed of 3,000 feet per second struck squarely under the center of the aeroplane's engine. Poor Coolidge must have been killed instantly. The Spad flew into fragments and the unfortunate pilot dropped like a stone to the ground. ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ On March 10th, 1918, there is the following entry in my flight diary: "Resolved to-day that hereafter I will never shoot at a Hun who is at a disadvantage, regardless of what he would do if he were in my position." ”

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Source: Wikisource

Eddie Rickenbacker, Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (1919)

“ Fortunately there was but a single enemy Fokker on his tail. The Yankee pilot was kicking his machine about and the gunner at the rear was managing to keep his enemy at bay when, at a favorable elevation above them both, I found an opportunity to pique down and catch the Fokker, unaware of my approach. The Liberty motor, I discovered, was almost dud. ”

Eddie Rickenbacker

Summary

Quotes from Fighting the Flying Circus — Chapter 34 (Eddie Rickenbacker)

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