e killed, two wounded, while one
noncommissioned officer was killed and another wounded. During the
third week three flight lieutenants were killed, five wounded, and two
captured by the enemy, while eight noncommissioned officers were
wounded. In the last week of the month there were three officers
killed, five wounded, and six "missing," while three noncommissioned
men were listed as killed. The total losses for the month on the short
battle line held by the British forces were therefore: twenty-one
officers killed, thirteen wounded, and thirteen missing; fifteen
noncommissioned officers killed or wounded. The losses among German
aviators, taken from the regularly published casualty lists issued by
the German Government, were twenty-four killed, and eleven wounded,
during the month of January.

The casualty lists become a deep mystery when compared with the losses
of machines admitted by the respective war departments. During the
month of February, for instance, the British announced the loss of
_six_ aeroplanes--yet the casualty lists showed a loss of sixty-two
officers and men! During the same month the French lost six machines,
the Germans eight, the Russians three, Austria one, and Italy one.

Statistics for the four months from April to July, 1916, gathered from
the periodical press of Great Britain and Germany, and probably far
more accurate than the occasional "estimates" made by the war
departments themselves, show the following losses in officers killed
in aerial combats:

_April_--British 18, French 15, Russian 7, Italian 3; German 16,
Austrian 3, Turkish 1, Bulgarian 0.

_May_--British 16, French 11, Russian 5, Italian 4; German 10,
Austrian 5, Turkish 0, Bulgarian 0.

_June_--British 19, French 10, Russian 11, Italian 3; German 8,
Austrian 6, Turkish 1, Bulgarian 0.

_July_--British 15, French 15, Russian 13, Italian 5; German 16,
Austrian 8, Turkish 0, Bulgarian 1.

Total losses in aviation officers: Allies, 170; Central Powers, 75.

A cursory examination of the records of aerial combats on the western
battle front shows an average of eighteen combats daily; on some days
there were as many as forty distinct aerial battles, while on others,
in blinding snow and rainstorms no machines were aloft. In the
3,000-odd duels in the air, the Franco-American Flying Corps began to
take a prominent part early in the spring of 1916, shortly after the
various American volunteer aviators had been gathered into