A little flying story

‘A little flying story (end of March 1917) The name Siegfried position is probably known to every youngster in the German Empire. During the days in which we retreated against these positions, there was naturally also a lot of activity in the air. Although the enemy had already occupied our abandoned territory on the ground, we did not leave the air to the English so soon, thanks to Jagdstaffel Boelcke. The British were only very cautious in venturing out of their previous positional war in the air. This was the time when our dear Prince Friedrich Karl sacrificed his life for his fatherland. During a fighter flight of the Boelcke fighter squadron, Lieutenant Voss had defeated an Englishman in aerial combat. He was pushed to the ground by his conqueror and landed in what can probably be described as neutral territory. We had already left it, but the enemy had not yet occupied it. Only patrols, both English and German, were in this unoccupied zone. The English aeroplane was between the lines. The good Englishman had probably believed that this area was already occupied by his own, as he was entitled to do. But Voss was of a different opinion. Without further ado, he landed next to his victim. With great speed he removed the enemy machine guns and other useful parts from the machine and stowed them in his own, took a match, and in a few moments the machine was ablaze. A minute later, he waved friendly to the Englishmen streaming in from all sides from his victorious airborne steed.’