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The three musketeers were Elliott White Springs, Larry Callahan, and John MacGavock Grider. In the last two years (1917 and 1918) of the First World War American boys came to Europe to fight in the air. "WAR BIRDS, THE DIARY OF AN UNKNOWN AVIATOR" by Elliott White Springs is the diary of a Spring's buddy -- John MacGavock Grider -- who was Killed In Action in the closing months of the war. The diary tells of training in England and then of air combat in France. "WAR BIRDS" is a simple and straight foreward register that envokes vividly the atmosphere of those days and the spirit of the men who lived with the probable imminence of death. Grider was not an "Ace" although he flew with and against some of the masters of that last flowering of chivalry in war. Mac's story adds new luster to their names while it recalls the lives of some of his comrads -- their frustrations, failures and too often their deaths.  John MacGavock Grider's diary for June 22 & 23, 1918: (with permission) "June 22, 1918 I got up this morning feeling like a week-end in the city tho I had no reason to. I drank too much coffee before going up and I'm as nervous as a kitten now. Must be getting the Woofits. I had rather a surprise yesterday. I was some distance back of the patrol and saw a Hun two-seater about three miles across the lines so went for him. I expected about thirty seconds at close quarters under his tail and then to watch him go down in flames. It looked like cold meat. I started my final dive about one thousand feet above him and opened fire at one hundred yards. Then I got a surprise. I picked the wrong Hun. Just as I opened fire, he turned sharply to the left and I was doing about two hundred so couldn't turn but had to overshoot and half roll back. As I half rolled on top of him, he half rolled too and when I did an Immelmann, he turned to the right and forced me on the outside arc and gave his observer a good shot at me as I turned back the other way to cut him off from the other side. I fired a burst from my turn but my shots went wild so pulled up and half rolled on top of him again and opened fire from immediately above and behind. He stalled before I could get a burst in and side-slipped away from me but gave me a no deflection shot at him when he straightened out. I didn't have to make any allowance for his speed or direction and his observer was shooting at me. The observer dropped down in his cockpit so I suppose I killed him. But I couldn't get the pilot. He put the plane in a tight spiral and I couldn't seem to get in position properly. Cal and Tiny Dixon came in about that time and everybody was shooting at him from all angles. I know he didn't have any motor because he came down very slowly and didn't attempt to manoeuver. We were firing from every conceivable angle but we couldn't seem to hit the tank or the pilot and every now and then he'd take a crack at me with his front gun when I'd try him head on. He was a stout fellow, a good fighter and I hope he is still alive. If his observer had been any good I wouldn't be writing this now. He hit one of my front spars and that was all. I left him at one hundred feet as my engine was over-heating and was sputtering and I've had enough machine gun fire from the ground to last me for a while and I don't like field guns from directly in the rear. Accidents will happen. So I started back and joined the patrol. Archie simply went mad. The infantry reported the fight and said that the Hun was under control when he went down the other side of Kemmel Hill. Then we all came down low over the trenches later and had a sham battle among ourselves. Nigger and I dove furiously on each other just back of No Man's Land and Springs and Cal and Mac rolled and looped desperately trying to get on one another's tails. The boys in the trenches must have enjoyed it. None of the Huns fired at us at all and even Archie the Avenger left us alone tho we were within range. Then we spied some field sports four or five miles back of our lines and we started for them. They were very appreciative as they stopped the game to watch and wave at us. Must have been a Canadian Division for they had a baseball diamond. Mac ran his wheels on it. We've gotten quite good at stunting in close formation. We fly very close together and can loop and roll in formation. Nigger signals and loops straight over. Mac and Cal loop with right rudder on and Springs and I loop with left rudder. That spreads us out and then we come back in close as we come out of the dive. Nigger puts his motor at half throttle so we can pick up our places. When we roll, Nigger and Cal and Mac roll to the right and Springs and I roll to the left. A photographer with a movie camera came over last week and got some movies of us doing it. We fly up close enough to get our wings between the front man's wings and tail. June 23rd We were out on patrol this morning and just across the lines we saw a two-seater. Nigger was leading and signaled to us to follow and dove after him. It was a pretty silver L. V. G. and he turned and Nigger missed his first dive. The Hun circled and I overshot and half rolled to make sure of him. Springs missed too and Cal, who had turned higher up, came right down on his tail as Mac went under. Cal got him and the Hun turned over on his back and went down and crashed into the ruins of Sailly. Archie was right put out about it but was nowhere near us. The gunners are rotten down here. We climbed up high and about a half an hour later saw about thirty machines in the sky at different levels. Six machines of ours were in the middle layer and we saw them dive on the lower ones. Then I saw one of the Huns from above dive vertically for three thousand feet and flatten out and fire right on the tail of one of our machines. Most wonderful sight I ever saw. I wouldn't have believed it possible. That lad was good. But one of our machines jumped on his tail and while he was firing too long at the front machine, our plane got him and he went down in loose spin. About that time we reached the fight on a long dive and went in. There were plenty of Huns to go around and there were Huns diving and firing all about us. Worst dog fight I can imagine. Everybody was firing short bursts at everybody else We had the advantage coming in on top and were having a fine time. Suddenly everybody pulled out and Archie opened up. A new bunch of ten Huns came up and we went back in again but there was too much confusion. Nigger and Springs went down on a black Pfaltz and got him. He went into a spin and crashed into a wood. The other S. E.s were from 74 and they got two Huns and lost one man. The General came over and had tea with us and asked us who we wanted for C. O. He wanted to send us McCudden but we don't want him. He gets Huns himself but he doesn't give anybody else a chance at them. The rest of the squadron objected because he was once a Tommy and his father was a sergeant major in the old army. I couldn't see that that was anything against him but these English have great ideas of caste. We asked for Micky Mannock who is a flight commander in 74. He's got around sixty Huns and was at London Colney when we were in January. He wanted to take the three of us out with him in February but we weren't thru at Turnberry. They say that he's the best patrol leader at the front -- plans his squadron shows a day in advance and rehearses them on the ground. He plans every manoeuver like a chess player and has every man at a certain place at a certain time to do a certain thing, and raises merry hell if any one falls down on his job. 74 is a stout outfit. We knew them all at London Colney where they mobilized. The other day, Grid Caldwell, the C. O., and Capt. Cairns collided in a fight. Cairns got down under control but the whole squadron saw Grid go spinning down. That night they had a wake and all got drunk and turned it into a celebration. About midnight Grid walked in. They thought they were seeing a ghost as he was all bloody and his clothes were torn to pieces. He had set his tail stabilizer and gotten out of his seat and crawled out on the wing and gotten the plane out of the spin. His aileron control was jammed and part of his wing tip was gone but he balanced it down and landed it this side of the trenches by reaching in and pulling the stick back before he hit. The plane turned over and threw him into a clump of bushes. It had taken him ever since to get back as he crashed about thirty miles away. So he resumed command and took charge of the drinking and when the squadron went out for the dawn patrol, he led it. Then he went to the hospital. Mannock trained Taffy Jones who was a pupil with us at London Colney. Taffy has eight Huns now and Mick says he's the best shot in the squadron. Mick has marvelous eyesight tho he only has one eye. He's to get two weeks' leave and then come to us. In the meantime Baker is in command. "WAR BIRDS, THE DIARY OF AN UNKNOWN AVIATOR" by Elliott White Springs is available in many used book stores, most public libraries or available through your library's inter-library loan service. L'audace, 1917 |