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00:02In 1915, the French fitted a plane with a machine gun firing through the propeller arc.
00:09It was a devastating weapon.
00:13Germany discovered the secret and built the world's first real fighter,
00:18the deadly Fokker Eindecker.
00:20The Fokker scourge began.
00:26France answered with the agile Newport,
00:29and the war in the air became a race for technical superiority.
01:07In early 1915, military aviation was making powerful friends among the military hierarchy in Paris.
01:15In March, the Battle of Neuve-Chapelle was fought entirely on the basis of maps made from aerial photographs.
01:22Bombers were coordinated with infantry for the first time.
01:27General Joffe, the French Chief of Star, became convinced that aircraft could be the tool to break the deadlock of
01:34the trenches.
01:42By the time the winter weather cleared and conditions became better for flying,
01:46the French Air Service was well on the way to being reorganized, based on the lessons of 1914.
01:57Photoreconnaissance units were centralized. Mechanical support was improved.
02:02The air service was split into three groups.
02:05Fighting, bombing, and reconnaissance.
02:20There was an Allied air base on the coast near the port of Dunkirk, called Saint-Paul-sur-Mer.
02:27On April the 1st, 1915, it was a location for an event of great significance to fighter aircraft.
02:38France's pre-war aviation hero, Roland Garros, was stationed there.
02:45He was trying out an idea that could make machine guns more effective in the air.
02:51Steel deflector plates were fitted to the propeller of a Moran Solnier N.
02:57A machine gun was fitted to fire straight ahead, through the propeller arc.
03:02In every 100 bullets, about seven would hit the deflector plates and bounce away.
03:07The whole plane could be aimed at the enemy.
03:12Garros tried the system in combat on April the 1st, fitted to a Moran Solnier L.
03:18It worked. He shot down three German planes in three weeks.
03:24On April the 18th, he took off from Dunkirk again.
03:28But this time he wasn't so lucky.
03:32His plane was brought down behind German lines.
03:36The secret was out.
03:38Germany asked Tony Fokker, the young aircraft designer, to improve on the French system.
03:45And he did just that.
03:47The Fokker team synchronized gun and propeller, allowing all the bullets through the blades.
03:53They fitted the system to a Fokker single-seater and renamed the plane the E-1.
03:59E stood for Eindecker, meaning monoplane.
04:03The great German pilot, Max Immelmann, had the first confirmed victory in an E-1.
04:12Three weeks later, his colleague, Oswald Boelker, was successful.
04:16Boelker and Immelmann led what became known as the Fokker Scourge, through 1915.
04:21Their tally of downed allied aircraft mounted.
04:25The German press created a rivalry between them.
04:29Boelker's approach was simple.
04:31I always wait for the favorable moment and put in a few well-directed shots.
04:39Tony Fokker improved the Eindeckers.
04:42This is a scaled-down replica of an E-3, the ultimate version.
04:46It had a 100-horsepower engine and sometimes two machine guns.
04:54It appeared in December 1915.
04:58Allied fear of the Fokker continued to mount.
05:03The Royal Flying Corps issued this order.
05:06Until we are in possession of a machine as good or better than the German Fokker,
05:10a machine on reconnaissance must be escorted by at least three fighting machines.
05:24But in some ways Germany squandered the advantage the Fokker gave it.
05:29Tactics for fighter aircraft were still to be developed.
05:32The Fokkers often hunted alone or in twos.
05:40Sometimes, as in this rare film, they took off to provide escort for Aviatik and Argo reconnaissance aircraft.
05:56They were held behind German lines to keep the secret of the gun synchronizing system intact.
06:02If they had been organized into strong fighting units,
06:06the Fokker scourge could have been much worse.
06:15The Germans didn't have things all their own way in the skies above northern France.
06:20Allied fighter aircraft may have been outclassed for the moment,
06:24but sometimes pure natural talent could beat new technology.
06:31Lain O'Hawker was a British pilot with a reputation as a deadly shot.
06:38His observer, who was also the machine gunner, complained that...
06:42He had the foul habit of carrying an ordinary rifle
06:45which he used to loose off if he didn't think I was doing too well.
06:49The noise was most alarming.
06:59The two-seater British FE-2 fighter was not the right vehicle for Hawker's marksmanship.
07:10In a new single-seat Bristol scout, he came into his own as a deadly genius in the air.
07:22The leader of all pilots in the skies above the Western Front was French,
07:27Adolp Pegu, the inventor of aerobatics.
07:31Pegu was shot down and killed in August 1915.
07:35His score was six enemy aircraft.
07:38He was given a hero's funeral.
07:41Even German pilots dropped wreaths from their planes onto his gravesite.
07:54In the summer of 1915, a new French fighter appeared.
07:58It was used by the French and the British against the menace of the Fokker Eindecker.
08:08The Newport 11 was known affectionately by French pilots as the baby.
08:14It was small, but very effective.
08:23It was originally designed as a racer for the annual Gordon Bennett Cup.
08:29But it met the growing needs of the air war perfectly.
08:40Although it was the French aircraft, the British government was the first to order it.
08:47In July 1915, it went into action with the Royal Naval Air Service in the Dardanelles campaign in Turkey.
09:01When it was introduced on the Western Front in the autumn, its speed and maneuverability gave the Allies some hope
09:08against the growing menace of the Fokkers.
09:19It had one major problem.
09:21The V-patterned wing struts allowed the wings to twist under load, sometimes with fatal results.
09:29Nevertheless, the Newport baby very quickly became popular among pilots.
09:33It had a fast rate of climb, but its main virtue was extreme agility.
09:44By 1915, the many different control systems of pioneer aircraft had become standardized.
09:51A central stick controlled banking, climbing and diving.
09:55Rudder pedals coordinated the turn.
10:05The first Newport 11s were powered by Gnome rotary engines of 80 horsepower.
10:20The Newport had one major disadvantage against the Fokker.
10:24French machine guns were not reliable enough in their firing rate for a safe synchronizing system.
10:31The Newport's gun could not fire through the propeller arc.
10:54The Newport 11s formed the backbone of the new French pursuit squadrons, or escadrilles.
11:01The first of these was N-65, located near Nancy, in the northeast of France.
11:13The job of this squadron was to escort French bombers into Germany, and defend the skies above Nancy.
11:21It was the first true French fighter unit of the war.
11:30Apart from the N-65 escadrilles, most Newport 11s were operated for the time being in the same way as
11:37the Germans used the Fokkers,
11:38a supplementary aircraft in two-seater squadrons.
11:47The Newport's Lewis machine gun was mounted in the center of the top wing, so that bullets cleared the propeller
11:55blades.
11:57The Newport lagged behind the Fokker in the sophistication of its gun placement, but it had one great advantage.
12:04Extreme maneuverability.
12:10The Fokker, for all the fear it generated, was an old-fashioned wing warper.
12:14The light biplane Newport, with its powerful control surfaces, could make moves the Fokker was unable to match.
12:27Agility like this could only be exploited by a skilled and naturally gifted pilot.
12:33As more sophisticated aircraft became available, a new question needed answering.
12:40What characteristics, shown by recruits on the ground, might indicate a talent for flying in combat?
12:51In Germany, France and Britain, there was a belief that ex-caverymen made the best pilots.
12:58A good horseman needed good hands.
13:01So did a pilot.
13:08Manfred von Richthofen was a cavalry officer, and so was his brother Lothar.
13:13They were both superb combat flyers.
13:17But many men who'd never ridden a horse achieved great success in the air.
13:25Whatever the elusive natural qualifications for good pilots,
13:28they needed development by specialized training.
13:33In France, one of the tools was a penguin.
13:40A penguin was a plane with shortened wings, capable of almost leaving the ground, but not quite.
13:47The theory was the pilot could get the feel of flying without the danger of taking off.
13:54But there was no avoiding the extreme risk of the first solo flight.
14:04For French student pilots early in the war, dual control instruction was rare.
14:09They progressed in stages, from taxiing, to short airborne runs,
14:14to flights reaching altitudes of about a hundred feet.
14:21Death in the flying schools was not uncommon.
14:24Fatal crashes were never forgotten by those who witnessed them.
14:33Rotary engines were a contributing factor.
14:36They spin.
14:38Gyroscopic forces could be fatal to a pilot turning at low altitude.
14:56This is a Caudron G3, used for reconnaissance early in the war, and later as a trainer.
15:16Victor Chapman was an American volunteer pilot in France in 1915.
15:21He wrote about a takeoff early in his training.
15:27The machine left the ground almost immediately.
15:30I had to hold it down to keep headway.
15:33Then it began to buck, squirm, and wriggle.
15:36It slid off to the right, to the left, took a short plunge downward, and then attempted to rear.
15:46The earth and a scrawny tree are to look near and menacing.
15:58No country had a perfect training system.
16:02Many pilots were underprepared to join the aerial battle.
16:10The Caudron G3's successor, the G4, was an ungainly looking addition to the French bomber force.
16:18The importance of bombing was growing fast.
16:23In April 1915, a new terror was launched into battle.
16:32German poison gas caused havoc in the trenches near Ypres, on the Belgian border.
16:40Panic spread throughout the Allied forces.
17:07Panic spread throughout the Allied forces.
17:10The group was based near the city of Nancy, in northeastern France, only a few miles from the German border.
17:22Its leader was Commandant de Bois.
17:25His command was to be short-lived.
17:30The raid was planned for early May, but high winds prevented any action until late in the month.
17:40On May the 27th, the wind dropped.
17:43The bombs for the mission were loaded onto Voisin biplanes.
17:48They were modified artillery shells.
17:54Bomb sites at the time were crude and unreliable.
17:57Bombing techniques were in their infancy.
18:00Everybody had a great deal to learn.
18:14Prevailing winds were a problem.
18:16They blew from west to east.
18:18They helped on the way into Germany.
18:21But if they became too strong, they could prevent the slow Voisins from returning home.
18:35Seventeen Voisin bombers left Nancy at 3 a.m. on May the 26th,
18:40and flew virtually unchallenged into Germany.
18:46Eighty-seven bombs were dropped on the factory, causing substantial damage.
18:51Only Commandant de Bois failed to make it home.
18:58Flights over enemy lines increasingly ran the gauntlet of anti-aircraft fire.
19:04As experience with bombing raids grew, formations were favored over the earlier go-as-you-please method.
19:12Single aircraft were vulnerable to fire from the ground.
19:16A lone aircraft provided one target for many gunners.
19:20Large formations forced the gunners to aim at different targets, reducing the chance of each aircraft being hit.
19:31Both sides developed new anti-aircraft weapons.
19:34By the end of 1915, bombers could no longer go unmolested by ground fire.
19:45Winter came again.
19:46But there was no lull in hostilities.
19:50Germany launched a great offensive that would push the air war in a completely new direction.
20:07Germany planned to begin 1916 by making an all-out attack on the fortress city of Verdun.
20:16Twice in just over a century, Verdun had fallen to Germany.
20:21As 1916 began, the German trenches were only ten miles away.
20:34The Germans planned a war of attrition to bring the fortress to its knees.
20:38Germany believed that France would fight so hard to save Verdun, and pour so many men and so much equipment
20:45into its defense,
20:46that the effort would, as the Germans put it, bleed France white.
20:59Verdun was defended by two great forts.
21:02But at the beginning of 1916, they were under-equipped, both in personnel and armament.
21:15Germany assembled a force of one million men and a massive array of heavy artillery to make the attack.
21:23The opening move was to be an artillery bombardment, lasting nine hours.
21:34France struggled to prepare.
21:37When the attack came, the French were outnumbered by the Germans two to one.
21:49The artillery bombardment on February the 21st was the heaviest in the history of warfare.
21:55The French front-line trenches were destroyed.
22:05The way was prepared for the German infantry to strike.
22:15Germany had a terrible secret weapon, the flamethrower.
22:23One of the great forts fell.
22:26Panic mounted among the population of the city and the surrounding villages.
22:32Commander Verdun was given to General Henri Philippetain, who vowed,
22:37They shall not pass.
22:42Verdun's lifeline was a road, the sacred way.
22:45It ran 36 miles to Verdun from Bad Le Duc.
22:51Six thousand trucks a day kept the city and guns supplied.
22:56German aircraft made no attempt to bomb them.
23:03Bad Le Duc also benefited from Germany's defensive air tactics.
23:07It was not threatened as the sacred way's staging point.
23:17For five weeks, German soldiers were killed at the rate of one every 45 seconds.
23:29The death rate among the French was higher still.
23:39By the end of March, 90,000 French and 80,000 Germans were dead.
23:44The German Kaiser declared,
23:47Savoir will end at Verdun.
23:55The sacred way was not bombed, because German aerial tactics stressed reconnaissance and defense.
24:02This is a Rumpler two-seater of the period.
24:06At the beginning of the battle, 168 similar aircraft were assigned to artillery spotting over the city.
24:21Each side had more than 500 planes in the area.
24:26But Germany was still benefiting from the Fokker scourge.
24:29Allied morale was low.
24:32Germany considered that the job of its fighters was to protect reconnaissance aircraft.
24:40This Rumpler had a film camera mounted between the outer struts.
24:49Film of the pilot and the observer in action were taken from that camera.
24:55It appears to be genuine operational footage.
24:59But the shots of ground activity are from other sources.
25:03Another function of German two-seaters at Verdun was to set up a Luftsparer.
25:09A barrage of aircraft theoretically impenetrable by the enemy.
25:13They cruised up and down the front inside the German lines.
25:21At first, German fighters were reserved to attack enemy planes that made it through the barrage.
25:27But as the need for reconnaissance and artillery observation over the battle zone increased,
25:32German tactics became more offensive.
25:36For a while, German air supremacy over Verdun grew.
25:43By 1916, aerial photography was a sophisticated science.
25:48Special cameras were developed by both sides.
25:51Whole trench systems were mapped from photographic evidence.
25:56Photographic reconnaissance and its companion, artillery observation,
26:00developed into the most important roles played by aircraft in the Great War.
26:12But information gathering behind enemy lines was a dangerous game.
26:22Observers had to be vigilant and know how to shoot.
26:31The two-seaters of both sides were slower and less maneuverable than the fighters.
26:37Many reconnaissance crews perished in the shell holes of no man's land,
26:41brought down by a faster and more nimble opponent.
26:51Communication between pilot and observer was by shouting.
26:55There were no intercoms and no mufflers on the engines.
27:01Hand-delivered bombs of this size did little damage on the ground.
27:10As the war progressed, bombing grew into a specialized discipline.
27:15Random drops from reconnaissance aircraft became less frequent.
27:25Any safe return from a reconnaissance mission was greeted with relief.
27:31The crew was not only back in safety for a while,
27:34but out of the biting cold of open cockpits.
27:38Temperatures at 15,000 feet are about 30 degrees colder than sea level.
27:43And there's the chill factor of the wind.
27:46Aircraft were still scarce and needed to be prepared quickly for the next mission.
27:51The ground crews checked engine and structural condition.
27:59Pilot and observer wanted to know the number and location of bullet holes in the fuselage.
28:04They were an indication of just how close death had come.
28:20Aircraft shared the job of artillery observation with balloons.
28:25There was strong rivalry between pilots and balloonists.
28:31In a French caco balloon, an observer could be lifted to more than 4,000 feet.
28:40Artillery gunners rarely saw their targets.
28:43Artillery observers were their eyes in the sky.
28:51In good conditions, they could see 15 miles into enemy territory
28:54and talk to the ground crew by telephone.
29:02Observers could assess the effect of attacks, give artillery directions,
29:06track infantry movements, and watch the enemy's reactions.
29:18From late 1915, observers had parachutes.
29:22But they were hard to use.
29:25About once in a hundred jumps, they'd fail to open.
29:40In aircraft, observers transmitted more signals to the ground by radio.
29:44But aircraft radios at the time could not receive.
29:49Visual codes were used for ground signals to aircraft.
29:57Germany had its own types of balloon, performing exactly the same function as those of the Allies.
30:03As the war went on, balloons on both sides became the targets of armed aircraft.
30:09French La Prier rockets, air-to-air missiles for balloon busting, were introduced in 1916.
30:16These are fitted to a French Farman two-seater.
30:20But some Newports also carried them.
30:28As the Battle of Verdun developed, the Allies reassessed the use of aircraft.
30:35The RFC's commanding officer, Hugh Trenchard, believed in all-out attack.
30:40He said, the sky is too large to defend.
30:47The French formed elite fighter squadrons called Les Sigournes, the Storks.
30:58Félix Brocaire was one of the Stork commanding officers.
31:02His talented pilots included René Dorme.
31:07Dorme, a native of Verdun, had three victories in the skies above his home city.
31:13De La Tour became one of the most famous members of the group.
31:20Albert d'Erlin had his first victory in March at Verdun.
31:28France recognized early in the war that elite pilots like these had a value beyond their kills in the sky.
31:37Their success could be used as tools to lift morale.
31:41Pilots with more than five confirmed kills were called aces.
31:48In 1916, France's aces were concentrated in the Sigournes Escadrille.
31:54A posting to the Storks was considered a great honor.
31:58Germany had a similar system in which aces were hailed as heroes.
32:03But the British did not approve.
32:07In March 1916, the Newport 17, an improved version of the baby, began to reach the front lines.
32:16It had a 110 horsepower Lerone rotary engine.
32:21It was so agile and could climb so much faster than the Fokkers, that Germany ordered it to be copied.
32:34Germany reacted to the growing number and quality of French aircraft around Verdun by moving some of its airfields closer
32:41to the front.
32:47French pilots began to encounter German specialized all fighter groups, equipped with nine Fokkers each.
32:58French pilots also noticed a growing performance edge in their own aircraft over the Fokkers.
33:13The Newport 17 could climb to 10,000 feet in 10 minutes, leaving the Fokker far behind.
33:23This is the French ace, Albert Derlin, testing the synchronized Vickers machine gun that made the Newports better still.
33:34In April 1916, a German pilot mistakenly landed a new Fokker E3 at an Allied airfield.
33:42It was tested against a French fighter.
33:44It was inferior.
33:46The Fokker scourge had already faded.
33:50But this was proof that it was over.
33:56New French aces appeared.
33:58Charles Nungesser ignored injuries, including a twice broken jaw and a dislocated knee,
34:04to reach ten victories in the Battle of Verdun.
34:09Georges Guinemer, aristocratic and delicate,
34:12began a career over Verdun that would make him the most beloved French ace of the war.
34:20In June, Max Immelmann, the great German pilot and tactician, was killed.
34:27Germany went into mourning.
34:30Oswald Bulker was now the top-scoring ace of both sides, with 18 victories.
34:45Oswald Bulker was now the top-scoring ace of both sides, with 18 victories.
34:51During the Great War, Luxeuil was the home of one of the earliest and most influential French bomber groups.
34:58Many lessons about bomber tactics were learned there early in 1915.
35:03Group bomber flights and the use of V formations were pioneered in its Maurice Farman aircraft.
35:16Luxeuil-Lebin is an old spa town with natural hot springs.
35:21It became very fashionable in the time of Louis XV.
35:30By 1916, Luxeuil, like all bomber bases across the front, was changing.
35:37Better fighters and better anti-aircraft fire were forcing the abandonment of daylight raids deep into enemy territory.
35:44They were replaced by night raids against closer military targets.
35:49These aircraft are Farman F-40s, introduced in 1916.
35:55Crews disliked them because they had no defense against attacks from the rear.
36:00In spite of French government requests for more modern aircraft,
36:04the Farman company kept producing old-fashioned pusher designs.
36:15For bomber crews, night raids meant less chance of interception by enemy fighter aircraft or ground fire.
36:25But the night raids also meant greater navigation problems and less precision and intensity of attack.
36:38Supply of new aircraft continued to be slow.
36:41It would be some time before the unsafe and outdated Farman's could be replaced.
36:53In the spring of 1916, a group of newcomers arrived at Luxeuil.
36:57A fighter squadron of American volunteers, Elliot Cowden, Bert Thor, and Norman Prince, pressured for the establishment of the unit.
37:06A Frenchman, Captain Georges Tenot, was appointed commanding officer.
37:14Second in command, Lieutenant Delarge de Mier, was also French.
37:19The other founding members were Americans, from a variety of backgrounds.
37:25James McConnell originally went to France to serve as a volunteer ambulance driver.
37:30At the time, the only way for Americans to fight for France and retain U.S. citizenship was to join
37:36the French Foreign Legion.
37:42Kiffin Rockwell, from North Carolina, did just that.
37:45He was wounded in May 1915, fighting as a Foreign Legion foot soldier.
37:50After he recovered, he transferred to pilot training.
37:56Victor Chapman moved from the infantry, hoping for time above the trenches.
38:01These young men became the core of the squadron, known as the Escadrille Americaine.
38:10They were sent to remote Luxeuil, and housed in a comfortable villa.
38:20They were supposed to learn to handle their Newport fighters, and escort the Luxeuil bomber group.
38:25But at first, there was little action.
38:33Tenot took them on drives through the Vosges mountains, to break the monotony.
38:39Kiffin Rockwell had the group's first victory in May 1916.
38:44Then they were moved to Verdun, in the heart of the real war.
38:50The squadron had two famous lion cub mascots, whiskey and soda.
38:59Its members also had a reputation for living and playing hard.
39:03But they fought as fiercely as anyone else in the war, and became an important symbol of potential American involvement.
39:10A group of idealistic young volunteers giving their lives to a cause they believed in.
39:19German diplomatic pressures in America forced a name change.
39:24The Escadrille Americaine became the Escadrille Lafayette.
39:30Victor Chapman was the first to die.
39:33Patrolling above Verdun, he proved to be too brave for his own good.
39:37He was hit in the head, and his Newport was badly damaged.
39:41He landed, demanded a fresh aircraft, and took off again.
39:44He charged five Fokkers behind German lines, and was shot down.
39:50His was the first combat death in the war from a recognized American unit.
39:58The Escadrille lost Kiffin Rockwell, who'd had their first victory.
40:03He'd also lost Norman Prince, the major founder of the group.
40:06But not from enemy bullets.
40:08His Newport hit a power line as he was landing.
40:12James McConnell, the volunteer ambulance driver, also became a victim of battle.
40:22Thirty-eight American pilots would fly with the Escadrille before the United States entered the war in April 1917.
40:30Seven of them would die in action.
40:33Their numbers were small, but their influence on America's entry into the war was great.
40:52In June 1916, the British and French planned to launch a massive attack to divert German attention away from Verdun.
41:00The location of this offensive was the river Somme, towards the west end of the front line.
41:06British aircraft had been fighting above this valley for almost two years.
41:16Infantry and artillery were massed on a grand scale.
41:20The idea was that a mighty infantry assault would break the German line.
41:24Cavalry would then sweep through and ride to victory.
41:29Hundreds of thousands of men were involved.
41:32At a precise moment, they were to break out of their trenches and rush for the German line.
41:37A great artillery barrage was to prepare the way.
41:44The order was given at 7.30 on the morning of July the 1st, 1916.
41:51British troops, each man carrying 66 pounds of equipment, ran into no man's land.
42:03This is the little aerodrome at Saint-Omer, a few miles inland from the English Channel.
42:09Away from the thick of the fighting, Saint-Omer was the first destination for new aircraft flying from England.
42:15They would fly on from here to join their allocated squadrons and the war.
42:25Among the aircraft arriving at the time of the Somme battle were FE-2Ds.
42:36They were the latest version of a design that had been in service for much of the war.
42:42So far, Britain had built no equivalent of the French Newport.
42:46FE-2s and DH-2s, with their old-fashioned pusher layouts, were the best British fighters of the time.
42:54The observer sat in front.
42:56He had two Lewis guns, one firing forward and one back over the top wing.
43:01To use the rear gun, he had to stand up.
43:10FE-2Bs and Ds, in spite of their old-fashioned looks, could compete with and beat German Fokkers and Halberstads.
43:19They were a major factor in building Allied air superiority before the Somme battle.
43:26But the Royal Flying Corps also depended heavily on French aircraft.
43:32The great British pilot Albert Ball established his reputation over the Somme.
43:37In three months, he had an amazing streak of 30 victories in a Newport 17.
43:46Throughout the summer, Allied planes dropped more than 17,000 bombs.
43:51They located German guns.
43:54They strafed German troops in the trenches.
43:57They were able to reinforce air superiority over the Somme.
44:04On the ground, the battle gained little for the Allies.
44:08Casualties on both sides were immense.
44:20In September, a new French fighter was ready to enter the war.
44:24It was a product of SPAD, a company owned by aviation pioneer Louis Blériot.
44:33Its designer was Louis Becherot, and it was called the SPAD 7.
44:38It had an inline Hispano-Suiza engine, which handled quite differently from a rotary.
44:45The French ace, Georges Guinemer, was one of the first pilots to exploit the SPAD's potential.
44:53Guinemer arrived at the Somme in September, with the Stork Escalerie No. 3, under Captain Broca.
45:00His victories during that period brought him many decorations, including the Légende d'Honneur.
45:07By the end of 1916, he had brought down 25 enemy aircraft.
45:14Guinemer called his SPAD, Vieux Charles, Old Charles.
45:19On one day, September the 23rd, 1916, he shot down three enemy aircraft.
45:25And then, while flying at 10,000 feet, he was himself shot down, but he was not injured.
45:30He made it back to the ground safely.
45:36German superiority in the air had disappeared.
45:40The months of the Fokker scourge were just a memory.
45:43The SPAD 7 reinforced Allied fighter superiority.
45:48Pilots like Guinemer and Ball dominated the Western Front.
45:54But the pendulum was about to swing again.
45:57A new German fighter, the Albatross, was entering the war.
46:02For the Allied Air Services, 1917 would be a nightmare.
46:11A young aviator lay dying
46:15At the start of a bright summer's day
46:19To the mechanics assembled around him
46:23These few parting words he did say
46:27Take a cylinder out of my kidneys
46:32The connecting rod out of my brain
46:36From the small of my back
46:38Take the crankshaft
46:40And assemble the engine again
46:42Sinsets were up and down
46:43Weg天
46:43And assemble the crabs
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