quickly turned and followed close
behind the enemy. Then the other Caudron started to manoeuver the
same way, only more poorly than the Nieuport. I followed him, and was
just about to open fire when a Fokker came to my aid, and attacked the
Caudron. As we were well over the French positions, the latter glided,
with the Fokker close behind him. The Nieuport saw this, and came to
the aid of his hard-pressed companion; I in turn followed the
Nieuport. It was a peculiar position: below, the fleeing Caudron;
behind him, the Fokker; behind the Fokker, the Nieuport, and I, last
of all, behind the Nieuport. We exchanged shots merrily. Finally the
Fokker let the Caudron go, and the Nieuport stopped chasing the
Fokker. I fired my last shots at the Nieuport and went home. The whole
farce lasted over an hour. We had worked hard, but without visible
success. At least, the Fokker (who turned out to be Althaus) and I had
dominated the field.

On the 18th of May I got Number 16. Toward evening I went up and found
our biplanes everywhere around Verdun. I felt superfluous there, so
went off for a little trip. I wanted to have a look at the Champagne
district once more, and flew to A. and back. Everywhere there was
peace: on earth as well as in the air. I only saw one airplane, in the
distance at A. On my way back I had the good luck to see two bombs
bursting at M., and soon saw a Caudron near me. The Frenchman had not
seen me at all. He was on his way home, and suspected nothing. As he
made no move to attack or escape, I kept edging closer without firing.
When I was about fifty meters away from them, and could see both
passengers plainly, I started a well-aimed fire. He immediately tilted
and tried to escape below me, but I was so close to him it was too
late. I fired quite calmly. After about 150 shots I saw his left
engine smoke fiercely and then burst into flame. The machine turned
over, buckled, and burned up. It fell like a plummet into the French
second line trenches, and continued to burn there.

On May 20th I again went for a little hunting trip in the Champagne
district, and attacked a Farman north of V. I went for him behind his
own lines, and he immediately started to land. In spite of this, I
followed him, because his was the only enemy machine in sight. I stuck
to him and fired, but he would not fall. The pilot of a Farman machine
is well protected by the motor, which is behind him. Though you can
kill the observer, and ri