Our first naval "ace," Lieutenant David S. Ingalls, was attached to this Northern Bombing Group, being first assigned to Royal Air Force Squadron No. 213. His spectacular performances began on August 11, 1918, when, in company with a British officer, he shot down a two-seater machine in a running flight over the German lines. The night of the 13th, flying over the German airdrome at Varsenaere, and dropping to a point where his plane nearly touched the ground, he sprayed 450 rounds from his machine-gun into the wondering Teutons, who were making desperate efforts to get him with their anti-aircraft guns. Swinging in a wide circle, he again swooped down on the hangars and let loose four bombs in the midst of the camp, putting out searchlights, scattering Germans and mussing up things generally. At the Uytkerke airdrome he repeated the stunt he worked at Varsenaere, firing 400 rounds into the German hangars, and dropping bombs upon the Fokkers grouped on the field below.
On this raid, which occurred September 15, Ingalls led a formation of five in a wing of twenty biplanes. Returning from Uytkerke, he sighted an enemy two-seater Rumpler going west from Ostend. With Lieutenant H. C. Smith, of the British Air Force, Ingalls turned out of formation, swung in over the shore, and attacked. The Rumpler turned and dived toward Ostend, the Camels following. Firing 400 rounds from ranges of fifty to 200 yards, they chased the enemy plane to the Ostend piers, when the Rumpler went down out of control, burst into flames and crashed just off the beach.
Three days later Ingalls made one of the most spectacular flights on record. In company with two English pilots, he sighted a kite balloon at 3,500 feet elevation near La Barriere. Crossing the coast line, they attacked. The German kite reeled under the rapid fire, and as it fell, its two observers opened up their white parachutes and jumped. Ingalls gave the balloon another spraying with bullets and it burst into flames. Falling, the blazing balloon landed on a hangar. There was an explosion, followed by a fire that destroyed the entire station. The flames were visible as far as Nieuport.
On September 22, in company with four other machines, Ingalls flew all over Flanders, committing depredations on German hangars, and ammunition trains. Four bombs were dropped on the ammunition dump at Handezeame, blowing up a string of wagons loaded with shells. Flying over Wercken, bombs were landed on a hut filled with explosives, setting it on fire. Swinging around over the railway station at Thourout, where the Germans had an enormous supply dump, two more hits were made. On the way back, his fourth trip for the day, he bombed a horse transport, and he and his companions by bombs and machine-gun fire killed or wounded some twenty-five Germans and thirty-five horses.
With three other machines, Ingalls was, on September 24, flying over the lines at 16,000 feet elevation, when twelve Fokkers were seen approaching. Though outnumbered, the speedy Allied planes quickly broke up the German formation. The famous British Captain Brown, of Squadron No. 213, swung into and gunned a Fokker after a thrilling high bank, and the German fell to earth three miles below. Another Fokker had got on the tail of one of the Allied machines and by a well-aimed shot punctured its gasoline tanks. Ingalls came to the rescue, fighting off the enemy and in a few minutes shooting him down. The fourth plane was hard at it, too, succeeding in shooting down another Fokker, after following it down to within a few feet of the ground. Thus three Fokkers were accounted for in a few minutes.
On another occasion, Ingalls, single handed, attacked six biplanes, driving down one of them and eluding the five pursuers. The first of October he engaged in three successive raids in one day. His second point of attack was a large farm building at Cortemarck, used as a shelter for troops. More than 200 Germans were gathered there. Crashing through the roof, a bomb dropped by Ingalls exploded in their midst, dealing death and destruction.
I wish it were possible to recount all the daring deeds performed by our Navy and Marine Corps aviators, who with the British and on their own engaged in constant attacks on the German bases in Belgium, but Ingalls' exploits are enough to give an idea of the work performed by this Northern Bombing Group. And all this was "land duty," a task seldom assigned to navies.
The Navy's "regular job," far the greater part of its work, was patrolling the long coast lines, watching for submarines, and furnishing aerial escort for the convoys of troop, supply and merchant ships that moved in a constant stream to and from European ports. Covering vast areas of water, they flew hundreds of thousands of miles, and they were always on the job.
Though the U-boats usually "ducked" when a seaplane or dirigible balloon was sighted, aircraft often managed to spot them, and took part in some exciting encounters. One remarkable engagement, a gunfire fight between seaplane and submarine, took place off Dunkirk on August 13, 1918.
Four seaplanes left their station for a routine flight in connection with the Dover Patrol. Eight miles off the coast, between Calais and Dunkirk, Ensign J. F. Carson, one of the pilots, sighted a large submarine, with no identification marks, speeding on the surface in the direction of Holland. Carson challenged it by firing a recognition signal. The U-boat opened fire on the seaplane with shrapnel from its forward gun, firing five shots.