The Courage of the Early Morning by William Arthur Bishop

Author:William Arthur Bishop
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: BIO000000, book
ISBN: 9780887627392
Publisher: Thomas Allen Publishers
Published: 2011-04-08T16:00:00+00:00

TWELVE

THE AUDACE

OF IT

BEFORE FIRST LIGHT six Albatros scouts and a two-seater had been wheeled out of the hangars of Estourmel aerodrome, the base of Jagdstaffel V. The scouts’ engines were warming up. One pilot was already in his plane preparing to take off. The others were straggling across the field from breakfast in the mess.

Without warning a silver Nieuport with a blue nose streaked over the roof of the hangars, spraying bullets among the waiting planes.

Bishop had no idea where he was. He had lost his way in the cloud and had flown further into enemy territory than he intended. When he descended from the overcast he found himself over a deserted aerodrome. So he hunted around for another field and a few minutes later he sighted the shadowy shapes of hangar buildings away to the right. The aerodrome that Bishop had found was Estourmel, near Cambrai, although he did not know it at the time. In fact in his report he stated it to be either Esnes or Awoignt. He came down to two hundred feet and turned towards them. As he drew near he saw the line of machines and went into a shallow dive. His first burst carried him to the far edge of the field, where he pulled his Nieuport into a tight climbing turn. He could see men running on to the field and a machine-gun opened fire at him from the ground. Bullets ripped his wingtips. He swerved to dodge the bullets that crackled all around him. The Albatros pilot who was already in his plane had gunned his motor and was gaining speed for takeoff. Bishop went after it.

The German fighter was only ten feet off the ground when Bishop pressed the firing button from sixty yards’ range. Without enough speed to dodge the attack, the Albatros took the full blast of a burst of fifteen rounds, sideslipped, and crashed. Another Albatros started to roar across the field. Bishop fired at it from a hundred yards and missed, but the attack so unnerved the pilot that he crashed into a tree at the edge of a field, tearing off the right wings. Bishop fired one last volley into the wrecked machine, then hauled back on the control stick and climbed.

Two more machines now started to take off in opposite directions. (“There won’t be any wind at that time of the morning and the planes will be able to get off in any direction,” Grid Caldwell had warned. “In that case I’ll just have to streak for home,” Bishop had replied.) But he had no choice but to stay and fight it out.

One Albatros flew away from the aerodrome and hovered at a safe distance, but the other made straight for Bishop, who turned as the German pilot closed in behind him. The enemy tried to follow, taking a fast shot. Bishop saw an opening and fired. Twice the machines circled around each other, but neither pilot could get in a position for a decisive burst.

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