BY August 8th, , our whole Squadron was fitted out with the machines which we had so long coveted. The delight of the pilots can be imagined.
In the meantime we had lost a number of pilots on the flimsy Nieuports, not by reason of their breaking up in air but because the pilots who handled them feared to put them into essential maneuvers which they were unable to stand. Consequently our pilots on Nieuports could not always obtain a favorable position over an enemy nor safely escape from a dangerous situation. The Spads were staunch and strong and could easily outdive the Nieuports.
And our antagonists opposite the Chateau-Thierry sector were, as I have indicated, the very best of the German airmen. How greatly our new Spads increased our efficiency will be seen from the results which followed. By the eighth of August our victorious doughboys had pushed back the Hun from the deep Chateau Thierry salient of twenty miles square, and the lines now ran along the Vesle River, directly from Soissons to Rheims.
This long advance left our aerodrome at Touquin far in the rear. So far in fact, that it was necessary for our aeroplanes to come down near the lines and refill with gasoline before continuing our two hours' patrol over enemy territory. The old Richthofen aerodrome at Coincy was now in our hands. We established our filling station on this aerodrome. It lay then but eight miles south of the German front trenches. At three o'clock on the afternoon of the 8th, I received orders to take every available plane from our Squadron and hurry out to the front to protect two French machines which were detailed to take photographs of an important position across the lines.
Accordingly I collected all the pilots and we made an immediate departure from the field. Eleven machines were in the Flight. The others were not available, by reason of repairs then under way.
