English and French aviation

English and French flying (February 1917) At the moment I am endeavouring to compete with the Boelcke fighter squadron. In the evenings we show each other the route. But they are devilish fellows over there. You can never beat them. At the very most, you can match the squadron. They're already a hundred ahead. I have to give them that lead. It depends a lot on which opponent you're facing, whether you're up against the lurid French or the dashing fellows, the English. I prefer the English. The French pinch, the English rarely do. You can often even speak of stupidity here; they probably call it bravado. The beauty of the fighter pilot is that he doesn't depend on any tricks, but only on personal courage. Someone can be a marvellous dive and loop pilot. That doesn't mean he has to shoot anyone down. In my opinion, it's all about going for it, and that's what we Germans are good at. That's why we will always reign supreme in the air. It suits the French to ambush and ambush another. [111]That is difficult to do in the air. Only a beginner can be taken by surprise. You can't ambush someone because you can't hide, and the invisible aeroplane hasn't been invented yet. Every now and then, the Gallic blood in him will flare up. Then he goes on the attack; but it's probably like a fizzy lemonade. For a moment, he has an awful lot of courage, which disappears just as quickly. He lacks the tenacity to hold out. The Englishman, on the other hand, still shows some of his Germanic blood from time to time. The sportsman is also very fond of flying, but they lose themselves too much in the sporting aspect. They have enough fun doing loops, dives, flying upside down and similar jokes for our people in the trenches. This probably makes an impression at the Johannisthal Sports Week, but the trench is not as grateful as this audience. It demands more. It should always rain English pilot blood.