The Exploits of Chapman, Prince, Rockwell, Guynemer, Marchal, Immelman, Boelke, Richthofen and Others

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  group.  Apparently riddled by bullets, Baisley and Prince
capsized and fell headlong.  The French Captain, thinking
them finished, signaled to Rockwell for full-speed home.
Prince, however, managed to right his machine a scant 300
feet from the ground, just above the French trenches? Where
he succeeded in grounding safely by a swift volplane to the
field half a mile from the firing-line. Altho the machine had
holes in several places, the airman had nothing worse than
a bullet through his leather helmet.  Balsley was less for-
tunate, but had an equally miraculous escape from death.
Wounded in the hip by an explosive bullet, he fell upside
down, thought himself doomed, but, held in the straps, was
able to right his machine enough to land right side up,
altho the crash was so violent as to smash the plane and
momentarilly stun the pilot. The Texan's luck held further,
for he groun4ed behind the French communication trenches,
whence help was forthcoming.
	While the battle of Verdun was still raging on June 22
and with varying fortunes) the war in the air was going on
near that region of the front on a scale surpassing any pre-
vious operations by aviators in a single day.  Treves, in
Rhenish Prussia, 'more than 70 miles from the battlefront;
Carlsruhe, capital of the Grand Duchy of Baden, more than
85 miles behind the German lines, and Mulheim, across the
Rhine in Baden, were all visited in a single day by French
air-squadrons, and, in the case of Treves, with disastrous
results. Tn addition to these raids (all three cities had been
raided before, but no two at the same time), there was air-
fighting at many points along the battle-front in which
four German airplanes were shot down.  One French ma-
chine was lost in the operations. These raids were made in
retaliation for German raids on Bar-le-Due and Luneville.
Eighteen bombs were dropt on Treves, and the report said
"a great fire broke out."  Carlsruhe was attacked by nine
airplanes, which dropt forty shells. Ten more paid a call at
Mulheim, dropping fifty shells.  The last squadron en-
countered a squadron of Fokkers on its return, and in the
fight one of the Germans was shot down and one of the
French compelled by motor-trouble to land. The other Ger-
man planes reported shot down were: one at Lamorville by
Sub-Lient. Nungesser (his eighth), one south of Lihons by
Sergt. Chainat and Sub-Lieut. Guynemer attacking simul-
taneously.  Chainat had previously shot down four and
Guynemer nine Germans. The remaining German was shot
down by artillery fire north of Luneville. A fight was also
reported between a French air squadron and some Germans
who tried to raid villages in the Meuse Valley.  Two Ger-
man machines were brought down by one Frenchman.
French machines raided several German communication
points in Lorraine, north and east of Verdun.
	The first American airman to die for France was Sergeant
Victor E. Chapman, son of John Jay Chapman, a lawyer of
New York and a well-known writer. He was shot dead over
the German lines before Verdun in a fight with two Aviatiks.
Chapman was studying architecture at the Ecole des Beaux
Arts in Paris when the war began.  He had enlisted in the
Foreign Legion at the outbreak of hostilities, was transferred
to the aviation division in the summer of 1915, and had
joined the American escadrille near Verdun six weeks before
his death.  He had already had seven machines shot under
him and had sent down four Germans, all falling within
their lines, when late on June 23 he started on a trip over
the front, where he found Norman Prince engaged hotly
with five Aviatiks, and immediately flew to the rescue. Chap-
man was attacked by two aviators, one behind and one be-
fore, and was killed in mid-air.  He was dead before the
machine reached the ground.  The Germans continued to
riddle the falling machine, and had shot away its wings
before it landed.
	For months Chapman's name had appeared frequently in
dispatches as one of the most brilliant of the aviators com-
posing the Franco-American Flying Corps. When John Jay
Chapman, then at his country home in Barrytown, N. Y., was
told that his son had been killed, he said, "My son's life
was given in a good cause." Mr. Chapman had said before,
"If Victor is killed in battle, I am resigned.  I am proud
that he joined the French Army, and I think that every
American boy ought to do the same." Chapman was in his
twenty-seventh year. He had then served about five months
with a machine-gun detachment of the American Legion. He
was wounded after the first month's fighting, and on recov-
ery was assigned to the flying corps as a reward for bravery
in the field. He served first as a pupil, then as an observer,
and finally became pilot, being rated as one of the best in
the service.
	All reports indicated that the struggle for mastery of the
air on the Western Front had reached a pitch of intensity
unprecedented during the war.  After the battle of the
Somme began the French and English employed swarms of
fighting-airplanes to break up the German aerial reconnais-
sance, which was greatly favored by the terrain, as French
troop movements and the drawing together of huge masses of
ammunition supplies were easily spotted by German fliers on
the rolling plain of Picardy with its little villages and lack 
of woods. Germans praised the daring of French ffiers, which
was proved by the extraordinary number of twenty-two that
were shot down behind the German front, but contended that
the Fokker fliers established new records of superiority over
French fighting airplanes in a ratio exceeding two to one.
	Battles were being fought with increasing frequency by
July 10, not only among men at the front, but far to the
rear, as a result of the French and English air-raids on
German lines of communication. Every night when weather
conditions permitted, French squadrons were all action, try-
ing to drop bombs on railways, bridges, and spots behind the
German front, short bright nights particularly favoring these
excursions. Early dawn became a favorite time in which to
drop bombs.  Eye-witnesses described squadrons as sailing
in close formation on the straightest possible course toward
their goal. Most of the airplanes were loaded with bombs
and convoyed by fighting airplanes to cheek the German
Fokker fighters. When under way, German fliers were divided
into small groups, and after finishing a job, returned home
singly.  German correspondents unanimously reported that
little serious damage was inflicted by these night raids.
	Lieutenant Marchal, of the French Corps, in June
left French soil and flew over Berlin, where he dropt procla-
mations, and then continued his flight, intending to land
within Russian lines; but was forced to descend in Joland,
where he was taken prisoner by Austrians. An official com-
munication given out in Paris on July 24 described his ex-
traordinary achievement:

	"On June 20 at 9.30 o'clock in the evening, Sub-Lieutenant 
Marchal ascended at Nancy on hoard a Nieuport monoplane of a special 
type, taking with him a supply of fuel sufficient to last fourteen 
hours. His mission was to cross Germany at a low altitude in order to
drop proclamations on the capital at Berlin and then to descend
in Russian.  This audacious flight was accomplished point by
point, and, after flying all night, Lieutenant Marchal was com-
pelled to descend at 8.30 in the morning of June 21, near Chelm,
Russian Poland, at least 100 kilometers (62 miles) from the 
Russian lines. He was made a prisoner. The proclamation which 
Lieutenant Marchal dropt on Berlin hegan with the words: "We could 
bombard the open town of Berlin and thus kill the women and innocent
children, but we are content to throw only the following procla-
mations."

	Marchal, in the course of his journv, covered in continu-
ous flight a distance of about 1,300 kilometers (807 miles),
most of which he traveled during the night  His proclama-
tion, besides the words above quoted, contained remarks on
the "causes of the war and the principal reasons why the
Allies are bound to win." Not so much the boldness of his
flight through hostile country, as the remarkable humanity
and good sense of his system of bombardment, invited many
to approve and admire him.

	Captain Boelke, of the German Flying Corps, on Septem-
ber 10 had reached a total of twenty-two Allied flyers brought
down.  His twentieth "bag" was Captain Wilson, of the
Royal Flying Corps, attached to a division stationed near
Pozieres.  Wilson was flying over the German lines when
Boelke rose to meet him. Boelke outguessed, out-maneuvered
and out-shot the Englishman, who dropt to the ground safely
after having a wing broken. Boelke landed near him, and
in surrendering Wilson asked for the name of his captor.
"Boelke," replied the German.  The chagrin and humilia-
tion of defeat and capture were lost for a moment to the
Englishman, who put out his hand and, as Boelke shook it,
said: "If I had to be shot down I'm pleased that it should
have been by so good a man,"  Wilson was sent back to
Cambrai, and the next day Boelke invited him to lunch at
the officers' mess, where the captured flyer exprest his ap-
preciation of the exceptional treatment he had received, and
told of the high regard in which the English held the Ger-
man flyers.  That night he was sent to a German prison-
camp. Boelke was a good-looking young chap of twenty-five,
thin, wiry, of the quick, graceful type usually associated
with airmen.
	Kiffin Rockwell, the American aviator, brought down his
fourth German airplane in September, and so was only one
short of the number that would rank him among stars of the
air service like Guynemer and Nungesser, who were now
chronicled by name in French bulletins after each success.
Flying near Verdun at about 3,000 meters, Rockwell at-
tacked a double-seated German airplane just beneath him.
He killed the gunner with his first volley, and probably
wounded the pilot, for the machine immediately began to
descend in a circular spiral. Rockwell plunged in pursuit,
caught up with the German at 1,800 meters, and riddled him
with bullets. He saw him fall near the trench-lines. In the
act of descending to verify the result, the American was
attacked from above by two Fokkers.  A swift turn which
"banked" his Nieuport almost vertically saved his life.
He tried to maneuver to engage each foe separately, but,
after a brief fight, finding his ammunition exhausted, de-
cided to retreat, and succeeded in escaping unhurt.  On
September 23 Rockwell came to his death, mortally wounded
by a German airman, over the town of Thann.  His body
fell in reconquered territory near the spot where Rockwell,
who was from Atlanta, Georgia, had shot down his first
adversary five months before.
	Rockwell, at the time of his death, was serving as a
volunteer in the Franco-American Flying Corps on the Ver-
dun front. A few hours prior to his last engagement he had
been promoted to the rank of second lieutenant, but died 
without knowing of the new honor. He already had received
the  Military Medal for shootiug down a German two-seater
near Hartmansweiler-Kopf.  He had beaten down another
before Verdun and had participated in a thrilling combat
with a strong German force. Sergeant Rockwell was one of
the first American volunteers to join the Foreign Legion.
He was regarded in French aviation circles as an "ace," a
name given to the most skilful and daring pilots. Lieutenant
William Thaw, of Pittsburgh, before he was wounded, and
Rockwell, made a formidable fighting pair. They frequently
were in the air together and always chasing an adversary.
Rockwell had fought thirty-four air battles since recovering
from his last wound, or an average of more than one a day.
When he met his death he was returning from a bombing
expedition of which he was one of the fighting-machines that
furnished the escort.
	The one absorbing topic in Paris on September 25 was a
series of successful airplane raids in German territory. No
fewer than 56 combats were fought by French airmen in a
single day, during which four German machines were de-
stroyed and six others badly damaged.  Next day French
airmen fought 29 combats and brought down ten German
machines, while seven others were damaged.  Guynemer, in
one flight, brought down his seventeenth and eighteenth
machines.  Two French airmen performed the astounding
feat of flying to Essen, the seat of the Krupp works, where
they bombarded this main center of Germany's gun and
ammunition supply.  The airmen were Captain de Beau-
champ and Lieutenant Dancourt, who traveled over 500
miles of German territory in daylight, launched twelve
bombs, in spite of being fired on by anti-aircraft guns, and
returned safely to their own lines.  For the first time two
airplanes, with a full load of bombing material, had cov-
ered a distance of 250 miles. The Allies lost many machines,
however, in the course of September. Britain's list was 74
for the month.
	On September 29 more than two score German, French,
and British airplanes met, with disaster.  Paris reported
that French airmen, in battles in the air with Germans in
France, had accounted for twenty-six airplanes, while
Berlin recorded the bringing down of twenty-four Allied
machines, twenty of them on the Somme front.  Weather
conditions late in September were exceedingly advantageous
for aerial operations and air corps on both sides were busy.
The French War Office recorded the destruction of twenty-
three German airplanes.  On the Somme front alone, there
were twenty-nine combats. The British report said that five
German airplanes had been destroyed, making a total of
twenty-eight. Berlin reported the destruction of twenty-four
Allied airplanes.  On September 27, Sub-leutenant Nun-
gesser, whose exploits had made him the best known of the
French aerial fighters and the rival of the German, Boelke,
outdid his previous achievements by bringing down two
German machines and a captive balloon. This brought up to
seventeen the number of aircraft destroyed by this aviator.
	Norman Prince, who originally was from Beverly Farms,
Mass., died on October 14 in a French field-hospital of in-
juries received in a fall with his airplane, when both his legs
were broken. He was a nephew of Dr. Morton Prince, of Bos-
ton, who at the time of Norman's death was in Paris. Frederick
H. Prince, father of the aviator, lay at the same time danger-
ously ill at his home in Massachusetts, stricken with typhoid
fever.  News of his son's death was withheld from him
through fear that the announcement might have serious con-
sequences. Frederick Prince, Jr., elder brother of the aviator
and himself a member of the American corps, was at his
brother's bedside when the end came. Prince was the third
of the Franco-American Flying Corps. to meet death within
a few months, Chapman, on June 23, Rockwell, on Septem-
ber 23. Prince was a graduate of Harvard University, prac-
tising law in Chicago when the war started, but he gave up
his practise and went to France, where he was soon attached
to the French aviation service. He had been decorated for
gallant and distinguished service and mentioned a number
of times in dispatches for activity in air-fighting.  He was
considered a brilliant and courageous' pilot.
	A largely attended memorial service for Prince was held in
the American Episcopal Church in Paris where -the French
Government was represented by Colonel Valhere and several
of the Sergeant's comrades in the flying corps who had left
the firing-line and attended the service, as did several
French aviators. The death of Prince was a fresh reminder
of the extent to which America was already represented in
the world-struggle. Within a few weeks. three young men,
Chapman, Rockwell, and Prince, had lost their lives.  These
young Americans had gone to the front in the spirit and
temper of Crusaders, having had an eager and compelling
desire to serve the cause of Democracy as menaced by Prussian
militarism.
	Captain Boelke, the famous German aviator, in the course
of an air-flight on October 28, came into collision with an
enemy airplane and was killed, and his machine was landed
within the German lines. The day before he had shot down
his fortieth adversary. Boelke had been the most spectacular
figure among thousands of aviators flying at the front. He
had seemed to bear a charmed life.  As late as September
it had been reported that he had escaped almost certain
death on five different occasions when his airplanes were
almost shot from under him. Boelke started in the Imperial
Flying Corps as an observer, later becoming a pilot.  His
steady eye, sure nerves, and courage soon sent him to the
fighting detachment of the seryice, where his duties were
to meet and fight off French and English battle-planes and
reconnaissance-machines.  In this he was more successful
than any other aviator. He always flew alone, managing his
machine and its gun by himself.  Boelke was a native of
Dessan, and had taken up aviation in peace times as a sport.
	Official figures for 1916, announced in Berlin, claimed that
German aviators had been victors in a majority of the aerial
battles on all fr6nts, and that Germany had lost fewer battle-
planes than her antagonists.  The total losses of airplanes'
on both sides during 1916 were said to have been 1,005. Of
these the Entente forces lost 784, the Germans 221.  On the
West Front alone both sides lost 920, and of these 180
were German war-planes.  Guynemer had brought down his
twenty-sixth German airplane, which fell in flames in the
vicinity of Maurepass in the Verdun region.
	Germany produced one superman of the air in Lieutenant
Baron Von Richthofen, who came into prominence early in
1917 when he had brought down his fifty-second airplane,
the greatest number at that time brought down by any avia-
tor of any army.  The nearest rival so far as known was
Guynemer, who was believed to have shot down forty Ger-
man machines.  Richthofen, until 1917, had been compara-
tively unknown.  His rise began soon after the death of

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A British Airman's fight with Germans
Eight German machines in all were encountered in this battle, which was fought on the Western Front at the height of 500 feet. The Englishman was A.W. Hammond. He shot three of the Germans down out of control, and after being wounded and having his machine take fire, effected a safe landing.