Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky Spy — John Shaqi
Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky SpyHaslett, Elmer
History
Luck on the Wing: Thirteen Stories of a Sky Spy
Haslett, Elmer
World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations; World War, 1914-1918 -- Personal narratives, American
In a few moments one of the enlisted men came up to me and saluted me
smartly, and mumbled a lot of stuff about “voulez vous” something,
“voulez vous” being all I could understand, so I beckoned one of the
Lieutenants who spoke a little English and he asked me if I wanted a
“Raelt Saeul” or “ordinary open sight.” I had never had a course in
aerial gunnery and I did not know the difference; in fact, my experience
in machine guns consisted of two lectures by a guy who didn’t know much
about it, at Fort Sill, the dismantling of one gun and about an hour and
six minutes in an open firing butt at Amanty, France. I was afraid
“Raelt Saeul” would be something technical, in which case I would
certainly demonstrate my ignorance, and to my dazed mind “open sight”
certainly sounded frank and on-the-square, so, of course, I just
shrugged my shoulders and pointed as if I were perfectly familiar with
both but under the circumstances I would take the “open sight.” They
were both quite surprised and tried to open the discussion upon the
relative merits of each, but I passed this up and made it emphatic that
“open sight” it would be. I found afterwards that the “Raelt Saeul” was
a great deal more accurate. So, they put the machine guns on the plane
with “open sight.” I wanted in the worst way to get around and monkey
with those machine guns, but I knew if I did I would certainly shoot
some one up or kill myself, so I laid off. It was a terrible
predicament; I knew I had no business going up and my conscience began
to hurt me for the sake of the Frenchmen I was supposed to be
protecting. Incidentally I must admit, in capital letters, that I had my
own personal safety somewhat in mind. But it was too late—I had to go
through with it. It was the proposition now of luck, and lots of it. We
kept on with preparations; it was still foggy.
At nine o’clock we went in an automobile and got our breakfast, which
for the Frenchmen always consisted of hot chocolate and a piece of
bread, but for me it usually consisted of ham and eggs, and potatoes,
and jelly, and bread, and butter and coffee, and as it usually consisted
of that—as this was probably my last breakfast it certainly would not
consist of less this time. So, I hied me forth after having my
“chocolate” with the Frenchmen, and gave my landlady her usual two
francs, in return for which I had the repast above accurately described.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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