Guynemer talked much concerning his “will.” It was his will to get into service in spite of his five rejections and being compelled to enter as a mechanic. He would scorn an observer’s work and become a hunter. He would make his score larger and larger. He would fly regardless of climatic conditions or his own health, going up even when convalescing from injuries. And it was this will which doubtless made him the terror of his enemies and the glory of France.
Among the first duties assumed by an airman when he is learning the mastery of his machine is that of reconnoitering. But Guynemer, fast becoming specialized in pursuit, soon stopped all reconnoitering and found himself assigned to a single-seated airplane. It was on February 3, 1916, that in the course of a single flight he succeeded in getting his first official “double.”
A PAGE FROM GUYNEMER’S NOTE BOOK OF FLIGHT
Showing record of his first victory, July 19, 1915
He was making his usual round in the Roy section just before noon, and was about to end his flight, when he saw an airplane in the distance. “The game was coming to me,” he said. All he had to do was not to let it escape. Guynemer gave chase and soon caught up with it. The enemy did not seem to wish to avoid the fight. Possibly he had not seen Guynemer at all. Being faster than he, Guynemer got behind him, opening fire at 100 meters,[A] and, as he fired at rapid intervals, his cartridges were soon exhausted. At that instant a cloud of smoke, which increased rapidly, made a sinister tail to the Boche, who dived, severely wounded. He fell, however, within his own lines, and Guynemer could not follow him to earth. It was certainly one enemy less, but Guynemer’s total record was not improved.
[A] A meter is a little more than a yard in length—exactly stated, 39.37 inches.
Fortune, however, favored him. “I was coming back,” he said, “thinking over the methods of fighting, considering how I had attacked, asking myself whether I would not have done better to approach from some other direction, when at almost 11.30 I found another hunting plane. Yes, I had made a mistake just now, when I opened fire from so far away—I should have waited. At 100 meters we cannot be sure of the aim. My method, which up to this time always consisted in attacking almost point-blank, seemed to me much better. It is more risky, but everything lies in maneuvering so as to remain in the dead angle of fire. Certainly it is rather difficult, but nevertheless it can be mastered with skill.
“While going over these things to myself I had come near enough to the Boche without running any great danger. At 20 meters I fired. Almost at once my adversary tumbled in a tail-spin. I dived after him, continuing to fire my weapon. I plainly saw him fall in his lines. That was all right, no doubt about him. I had my fifth! I was really in luck, for less than ten minutes later another plane, sharing the same lot, spun downward with the same grace, taking fire as it fell through the clouds.
“The second day afterwards, before Frise, in a new tête-à-tête with a hunting Boche, I leaped forward, caught up with him, got in back of him, a little below to avoid his fire, and at 15 meters fired 45 cartridges. He swayed sadly, in the shock of death, which I was beginning to be able to diagnose, then fell like a stone, taking fire on the way. He must have been burned up between Assevillers and Herbecourt. Although he was really my seventh Boche, he alone gained me the honor of a special mention.”