During a lull in the fighting Hammann swooped down on the surface alongside of Ludlow and his crippled plane. Austrian destroyers were on their way from the harbor to gather in both planes, and another squadron of Austrian aircraft was taking off for pursuit. Ludlow opened the photographic port of his machine, allowing the boat to flood, kicked holes in the wings to destroy buoyancy, and slipping overboard, swam to Hammann's waiting plane, and climbed up on the fuselage. The machine, a single seater, was so small that he had to sit under the motor, grasping the struts to keep himself from being swept off when it gathered speed. The extra load forced the hull into the choppy sea, where the bow, already damaged by gunfire, was broken in and one of the wing pontoons smashed.
The crippled and overloaded little plane at last managed to rise from the water. Hammann, by gunfire, sank the wreck of Ludlow's machine and, putting on all speed, made for Porto Corsini just in time to escape the leading Austrian destroyer and a squadron of seaplanes coming around the southern end of Brioni Island and making for him.
The plane made the sixty mile flight without mishap, but in landing the smashed-in bow took in enough water to nose the plane over, and, catching a wing tip in the heavy chop, the machine turned over on its back. The aviators extricated themselves from the wreckage, and were rescued by a motor boat from the station. Ludlow had a bad gash in his forehead, in addition to the scalp wounds received in the fight, and Hammann was badly bruised and strained. But both soon recovered and took part in numerous subsequent actions, including raids over the front during the drive just prior to the Austrian collapse.
Before hostilities ended, U. S. Naval Aviation had 18,736 officers and men in service in Europe. The long flights along the British, French and Italian coasts, the patrols far out to sea, the combats with enemy aircraft and submarines form one of the most brilliant chapters of the war.
On this side of the water 24 naval aviation units were in operation, patrolling the coast from Nova Scotia to the end of Florida, with stations on the Pacific and Gulf, and one unit stationed in Panama guarding the canal. The Azores, that half-way station between America and Europe, was guarded by a detachment of Marine Corps aviators. In America our fliers on patrol flew 2,455,920 nautical miles; and advanced training flights, many of which were in the nature of patrols, reached the grand total of 10,949,340 nautical miles. The total flying by our naval aviators in America, the Azores and Europe was more than 15,000,000 miles, for a nautical mile is longer than a mile as measured on land.
Naval Aviation grew, during the war, to a force of approximately 40,000, as follows:
Officers—Qualified aviators, 1,656; student aviators, 288; ground officers, 891; student officers under training for commission, 3,881.
Enlisted men—Aviation ratings, 21,951; general ratings assigned to aviation duty, 8,742.
Marine Corps—Aviation officers, 282; Enlisted men, 2,180.
This force was equipped with 1,170 flying boats, 695 seaplanes, 262 land planes, ten free balloons, 205 kite balloons, and 15 dirigibles. Of this equipment 570 aircraft had been sent abroad, before the armistice.