Georges Guynemer: Knight of the AirBordeaux, Henry
History
Georges Guynemer: Knight of the Air
Bordeaux, Henry
Air pilots -- France -- Biography; Guynemer, Georges, 1894-1917; World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations
On Tuesday, September 11, the weather was once more uncertain. But
morning fogs by the seaside do not last, and the sun soon began to
shine. Guynemer had had a restless night after his failures, and had
brooded, as irritable people do, over the very things that made him
fretful. Chasing without his new airplane--the enchanting machine which
he had borne in his mind so many months, as a women bears her child, and
which at last he had felt soaring under him--was no pleasure. He missed
it so much that the feeling became an obsession, until he made up his
mind to leave for Buc before the day was over. Indeed, he would have
done so sooner had he not been haunted by the idea that he must first
bring down his Boche. But since the Boche did not seem to be willing....
Now he is resolved, and more calm; he will go to Paris this very
evening. He has only to while away the time till the train is due. The
prospect in itself is quieting, and besides Major du Peuty, one of the
chiefs of Aviation at Headquarters, and Major Brocard, recently
appointed attache to the Minister of Aeronautics, were coming down by
the early train. They were sure to arrive at the camp between nine and
ten, and a conversation with them could not but be instructive and
illuminating; so, better wait for them.
But, in spite of these tranquillizing thoughts, Guynemer was restless,
and his face showed the sallow color which always foreboded his physical
relapses. His mind was not really made up, and he would come and go,
strolling from his tent to the sheds and from the sheds to his tent. He
was not cross, only nervous. Suddenly he went back to the shed and
examined his _Vieux-Charles_. Why, the machine was not so bad after all;
the motor and guns had been repaired, and yesterday's accident was not
likely to happen again. If so, why not fly? In the absence of Heurtaux,
Guynemer was in command, and once more the necessity of setting a good
example forced itself upon him. Several flyers had started on scouting
work already; the fog was quickly lifting, the day would soon be
resplendent, and the notion of duty too quickly dazzled him, like the
sun. For duty had always been his motive power; he had always
anticipated it, from the day when he was fighting to enlist at Biarritz
to this 11th of September, 1917. It was neither the passion for glory
nor the craze to be an aviator which had caused him to join, but his
longing to be of use; and in the same way his last flights were made in
obedience to his will to serve.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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