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Fighting the Flying Circusby Eddie RickenbackerGerman squadron commanded by the famous Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen.upon landchapter 18 of fighting the flying circus this librivox recording is in the public domain recording by brett downey fighting the flying circus by captain eddie rickenbacker chapter 18 strafing the draken observation balloons or draken as the bosch call them constitute a most valuable method of espionage upon the movements of an enemy and at the same time are a most tempting bait to pilots of the opposing fighting squadrons they are huge in size forming an elongated sausage some 200 feet in length and perhaps 50 feet in diameter they hang swinging in the sky at a low elevation some 2000 feet or under and are prevented from making any rapid movements of escape from airplane attack by reason of the long cable which attaches them to their mother truck on the highway below these trucks which attend the balloons are of the ordinary size a three-ton motor truck which steers and travels quite like any big lorry one meets on the streets on the truck bed is fastened a winch which lets out the cable to any desired length in case of an attack by shell fire the truck simply runs up the road a short distance without drawing down the balloon when it is observed that the enemy gunners have again calculated its range another move is made perhaps back to a point near its former position large as is its bulk and as favorable and steady a target as it must present to the enemy gunners three miles away it is seldom indeed that a hit from bursting shrapnel is recorded these balloons are placed along the lines some two miles back of the front line trenches from his elevated perch 2000 feet above ground the observer can study the ground and pick up every detail over a radius of 10 miles on every side clamped over his ears are telephone receivers with his telescope to his eye he observes and talks to the officers on the truck below him they in turn inform him of any special object about which information is desired if our battery is firing upon a certain enemy position the observer watches for the dropping of the shells and corrects the faults in aim if a certain roadway is being dug up by our artillery the observer notifies the battery when sufficient damage has been done to render that road impassable observation balloons are thus a constant menace to contemplated movements of forces and considered as a factor of warfare they are of immense importance every 15 or 20 miles along the front both sides station their balloons and when one chances to be shot down by an enemy airplane another immediately runs up to take its place shelling by artillery fire being so ineffective it naturally occurs to every airplane pilot that such a huge and unwieldy target must be easy to destroy from the air their cost is many times greater than the value of an airplane they cannot fight back with any hope of success all that seems to be required is a sudden dash by a swift fighting airplane a few shots with flaming bullets and the big gas bag burst into flames what could be more simple i had been victorious over five or six enemy airplanes at this time and had never received a wound in return this balloon business puzzled me and i was determined to solve the mystery attending their continued service in the face of so many hostile airplanes flying constantly in their vicinity accordingly i lay awake many nights pondering the stories i had heard about attacking these drakken planning just how i should dive in and let them have a quick burst shear off and climb away from their machine gun fire hang about for another dive and continue these tactics until a sure hit could be obtained i would talk this plan over with several of my pilots and after working out all the details we would try it on perhaps we could make 94 squadron famous for its destruction of enemy balloons there must be some way to do it provided...

Fighting the Flying Circusby Eddie Rickenbackerchapter 1 of fighting the flying circus The transcript is over on the bog for easy translation on text to speach.www.tale-teller.club/blogYou can also sign up to our listening app on Wix Spaces which is perfect for on the go.#freeaudiobooks #nostalgic #historicbooks #taletellerclub #sarnia #archives #oldendays #storiesforelders #taletellerclub #war #ww1 #memories