rance: he knew very well that he would never receive from his father
any counsel against his honor, and without pity he compelled him to
facilitate his son's progress toward mortal danger. Certain former
classmates of M. Guynemer's at Saint-Cyr had, in fact, reached the rank
of general, and the influence of one of them hastened Guynemer's
promotion from student mechanician to student pilot (January 26, 1915).

On this same date, Guynemer, soldier of the 2d Class, began his first
journal of flights. The first page is as follows:

_Wednesday_, January 27: Doing camp chores.
_Thursday_, " 28: ib.
_Friday_, " 29: Lecture and camp chores.
_Saturday_, " 30: Lecture at the Bleriot
aerodrome.
_Sunday_, " 31: ib.
aerodrome.
_Monday_, February 1: Went out twenty minutes
on Bleriot "roller."

The Bleriot "roller," called the Penguin because of its abbreviated
wings, and which did not leave the ground, was followed on Wednesday,
February 17, by a three-cylinder 25 H.P. Bleriot, which rose only thirty
or forty meters. These were the first ascensions before launching into
space. Then came a six-cylinder Bleriot, and ascensions became more
numerous. Finally, on Wednesday, March 10, the journal records two
flights of twenty minutes each on a Bleriot six-cylinder 50 H.P., one at
a height of 600 meters, the other at 800, with tacking and volplaning
descents. This time the child sailed into the sky. Guynemer's first
flight, then, was on March 10, 1915.

This journal, with its fifty pages, ends on July 28, 1916, with the
following statement:

_Friday_, July 28.--Round at the front. Attacked a group of four
enemy airplanes and forced down one of them. Attacked a second
group of four airplanes, which immediately dispersed. Chased one of
the airplanes and fired about 250 cartridges: the Boche dived, and
seemed to be hit. When I shot the last cartridges from the Vickers,
one blade of the screw was perforated with bullet-holes, the
dislocated motor struck the machine violently and seriously injured
it. Volplaned down to the aerodrome of Chipilly without accident.

A marginal note states that the aeroplane which "seemed to be hit" was
brought down, and that the English staff confirmed its fall. This
victory of July 28, 1916,