It was June 27, 1917. Lieut Raymond

Collishaw led his five-man Canadian

"Black Flight" against seven

Albatroses of the dreaded Jagdstaffel

11. Flying a speedy Sopwith

Triplane, Collishaw downed Lt.

Allmenroeder - Richthofen's number

two pilot - on the first pass. He scored

sixty victories in World War I.

As the American watched, the

German pilot saluted smartly from

his biplane - a split second before an

explosion blew the plane to pieces.

The Hun had dropped an aerial hand

grenade in his own cockpit. Sgt. Bert

Hall of Kentucky, fighting for France

in a Nieuport XI, was a witness. Hall

was a founder of the famed Lafayette

Escadrille.

It was Oct. 27, 1918. The man World

War ace Billy Bishop called "one of

the worlds greatest fighter pilot" -Bill

Barker- took part in the most epic

dogfight in the history of aerial

warfare. Barker was on his way back

to England in a badly crippled

Sopwith Snipe when he found

himself in the midst of 60 Fokkers!

Badly wounded, he still shot down 4

Fokkers and escaped to the British

lines.

The British pilot clutched his

ammunition drum and prayed. Thrown

out as his Martynside Scout flipped

into a spin, he dangled helplessly. The

pilot kicked toward the cockpit behind

him, finally got his feet hooked inside

and jammed on full aileron and

elevator. As the Martynside righted it-

self, he fell back into the cockpit and

pulled out of the dive. It was an

episode Capt Louise Strange of the

Royal Flying Corps would never

forget.

TRUE STORIES

TRUE STORIES