Post by WJB on Jan 30, 2012 17:28:50 GMT -6
"Sagittarius Rising" by Cecil Lewis.
For the history buff, aviation buff, poet or all three.
From his Obit:
"While flying with the RFC at 15,000 feet on a dawn patrol in an SE5 Lieutenant Cecil Lewis was attacked by a Pfalz, a German scout plane, writes Max Arthur. As he struggled with his Vickers gun he felt something akin to a red-hot iron crease his back and even more bullets penetrate his plane. He spun down 2,000 feet and having shaken off the enemy pulled out and landed. His shirt was full of blood. The camp doctor found a six- inch wound across his back. Had he been sitting upright and his gun not jammed he would have been killed.
On 17 May 1917 11 aircraft of 56 Squadron took off on a misty evening. Over Douai they were met by Albatros fighters of Jasla 11 and a furious fight ensued. Passing in and out of cloud cover, Lewis once more was fighting for his life. That night seven aircraft returned. One of those who did not was Captain Albert Ball, who was later awarded a posthumous VC. Both these incidents are recalled in Lewis's classic Sagittarius Rising."
www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-cecil-lewis-1285736.html
For the history buff, aviation buff, poet or all three.
From his Obit:
"While flying with the RFC at 15,000 feet on a dawn patrol in an SE5 Lieutenant Cecil Lewis was attacked by a Pfalz, a German scout plane, writes Max Arthur. As he struggled with his Vickers gun he felt something akin to a red-hot iron crease his back and even more bullets penetrate his plane. He spun down 2,000 feet and having shaken off the enemy pulled out and landed. His shirt was full of blood. The camp doctor found a six- inch wound across his back. Had he been sitting upright and his gun not jammed he would have been killed.
On 17 May 1917 11 aircraft of 56 Squadron took off on a misty evening. Over Douai they were met by Albatros fighters of Jasla 11 and a furious fight ensued. Passing in and out of cloud cover, Lewis once more was fighting for his life. That night seven aircraft returned. One of those who did not was Captain Albert Ball, who was later awarded a posthumous VC. Both these incidents are recalled in Lewis's classic Sagittarius Rising."
www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-cecil-lewis-1285736.html