Journal Entry: February 18, 1916
St. Pol-sur-Mer

Blimey, Roderic is a dashing sort. This morning we were ordered to fly a line patrol up near Ypres, which we did and saw nothing. On our return flight home, I spotted four Aviatiks about 5,000 feet above us dropping their eggs on some poor defenseless supply dump. I signaled Roderic and pointed upward, he looked up, got this huge smile on his face and began to climb. I'm thinking they outnumber us 2 to 1, what could possibly go wrong, but I follow because he's my mate. Fortunately for us, the Aviatiks were still spread out from their bombing when we finally reached them so that I could separate one from the others. A couple of bursts and down he goes. I look over to see that Roderic is just finishing his up as well. He then slides over to the next one and begins to attack him. Against my better judgement, I follow suit and begin to attack the last one. This Hun is made of sterner stuff and he fills my engine with bullets before I can even attack. I immediately break off my attack and turn for home, which thankfully, is only about 4 miles away. Roderic broke off his attack when he saw me turn for home with a smoking engine. As we were walking to the R.O. office, he says, "Awful bad luck, we should have bagged all four of them." I just smile and shake my head, he will probably be the death of me.



Member and provider of banjo music for the Illustrious BOC