April 20th and 21st 1916

Harold "Buckeye" Willis
ESC. Lafayette
Luxeuil

We arrived at Luxeuil finally, in the middle of nowhere. So quiet here, you can't even hear the artillery guns firing in the frontline. Two weeks ago there wasn't even an aerodrome, Just this old house. French Army did a great job getting us out of the way.
Our CO, Capitaine Thenault, put up some flight training in our Niueport 10s which are really nimble, but also slow.

Yesterday we had our Maiden flight as a unit, which put us over the frontline on patrol covered by "A-flight".
It was a roundtrip of 88nm in wonderful weather, practicing formation flying. After 88 Minuten we were home again. We saw no action.

Today the same, same routine, same sector, same flights.Beautiful spring weather.
Flight A went ahead, we followed. But they were to fast this time, and far ahead, when the E3s attacked!
We wittnessed this furball from around 3 nm away, with no chance to help. By the time we arrived, we saw a single E3 buzzing east.

Captain Thenault signaled to stay in formation and dont cross the frontlines.

Flight A was gone. 3 men and aircrafts obliterated within 5 minutes.

We countinued our patrol in thight formation frequently checking the sky in the east. Nothing happened.

In the evening we had word from the hospital that our comrades were still alive but severely wounded.
With great relief we raised our glasses and praised their survival. Today showed us, we are not combat ready yet.

Last edited by LtCasey; 03/21/21 07:03 PM. Reason: Corrected sight distance courtesy of Albert Tross

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