My most successful day so far

‘My most successful day so far Wonderful weather. We are standing on the field. I have a visit from a gentleman who has never seen a dogfight or anything like it and has just assured me that he would be incredibly interested in seeing one. We get into our crates and have a good laugh at him, and Schäfer says: ‘We can give him the fun!’ We put him on a scissor scope and fly off. The day started well. We were barely two thousand metres up when the first Englishmen came towards us in a squadron of five. An attack that was comparable to a raid - and the enemy squadron lay destroyed on the ground. Not a single one of us was even wounded. The enemy had crashed on our side - two on fire and three like this. Our good friend down on the ground had been quite astonished. He had imagined things to be very different; much more dramatic. He thought it had looked so harmless until suddenly a few aeroplanes crashed and burned like a rocket. I gradually got used to the sight, but I have to say that it made a murderous impression on me too, and I dreamt for a long time about how I saw the first Englishman plummet into the depths. I think if it happened to me again, it wouldn't be as horrible as it was then. After such a good start to the day, we sat down to a proper breakfast as we were all ravenous. In the meantime, our machines were brought back into shape, new cartridges loaded and then we continued. In the evening we were able to make the proud announcement: Thirteen enemy aeroplanes destroyed by six German aircraft. Only once before had the Boelcke fighter squadron been able to make a similar report. We shot down eight aeroplanes back then, and today one even brought down four enemy aircraft. It was a Lieutenant Wolff, a delicate, slender little chap who would never be considered such a mass winner. My brother had two, Schäfer had two, Festner had two, I had three. In the evening we lay down in our flaps, colossally proud, but also quite tired. The next day we read about the previous day's exploits in the army report to great fanfare. Incidentally, we shot down eight the following day. * Leutnant Schaefer's emergency landing between the lines Leutnant Schaefer's emergency landing between the lines Christmas 1916 Christmas 1916 The ‘old man’ (X) with the Boelcke fighter squadron Another very cute story happened: one of our Englishmen who had been shot down was captured and got talking to us. Of course, he also enquired about the red machine. Even among the troops down in the trenches it is not unknown and goes by the name ‘le diable rouge’. Rumour had spread among his squadron that there was a girl in the red machine, something like Joan of Arc. He was very surprised when I assured him that the rumoured girl was currently standing in front of him. He wasn't joking, but was convinced that only a virgin could actually be sitting in the perversely painted box.’