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Tuesday 8th February 1916: Lieutenant-Observer J E P Harvey, an
officer of the Bedfordshire Yeomanry, attached to the Royal Flying Corps who
was recently captured by the Germans, has sent the following description of a
battle in mid-air and how he was treated on capture.
“I had had a
fight with two German aeroplanes when a shell burst very close to us and I
heard a large piece whizz past my head. Then the aeroplane started to come down
head first, spinning all the time. We must have dropped about 5,000 feet in
about twenty seconds. I looked round at once saw poor -, with a terrible wound
in his head, dead. I then realised that the only chance of saving my life was
to step over into his seat and sit on his lap, where I could reach the controls(1).
I managed to get the machine out of the terrible death-plunge, switched off the
engine and made a good landing on terra firma”.
“I shall
never forget it as long as I live. The shock was so great that I could hardly
remember a single thing of my former life for two days. Now I am getting better
and my mind is practically normal again. We were 10,000 feet up when poor – was
killed and luckily it was this tremendous height that gave me time to think and
to act”.
“I met one of
the pilots of the German machines that had attacked us. He could speak English
well and we shook hands. I had brought down his machine with my with my machine
gun and he had had to land quite close to where I landed. He had a bullet
through his radiator and petrol tank but neither he nor his observer was
touched. I met two German officers who knew several people I knew and they were
most awfully kind to me. They gave me a very good dinner of champagne and
oysters etc. and I was treated like an honoured guest”.
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