Eisenhauer went into his bunker to retrieve his Mauser C/96,
a precious prototype with advanced modifications. It was more of a pistol for keeping than fighting with, but
it would sure keep him alive if he came into a bad situation.
He and his flight team of four went into the hangars to make sure his
plane’s machine guns were working. Thankfully, they were, and they were almost
set to go.
The Fokker Dr.1 (the plane he flew) was an interesting one.
It was a triplane, a plane with 3 wings, hence “tri” meaning 3. Due to the fact
his plane had so many wings, and therefore a large surface area, he could
generate more lift and climb higher with less speed.
They started their engines, took off, and set off on their journey.
They flew for thirty minutes until they reached a reasonable altitude. Then they
started seeing airfields with Bleriots (French planes). A flight of
bombers invaded their field of view, they had to stop them…
They climbed even higher to get above the bombers so they had
the advantage, then they dived at 30 degrees at the bombers.
Eisenhauer had a bad history with bombers; he had a friend in
the German air force who was shot down by a bomber, and he’d never forget that.
He knew the most efficient way to take down a bomber, was to
take its wings off while being in the gunner’s dead zone.
As he dived, he lined up the reticule on the bomber's wings,
slightly ahead so that the trajectory lined up.
All of a sudden, his plane started spinning out of control,
and he noticed his top right wing had fallen off! He knew there was no way of pulling
the plane back together other than performing a soft landing, where he would
touch down on the floor without blowing up.
So he did that and succeeded, fortunately for him…
He got out of his plane and started pulling himself together
and headed for the trenches so he could find some cover before someone shot him.
Thankfully, when he crashed he retrieved his C/96 so he could
defend himself.
He checked left and right to make sure no one else joined him
in the trench. He peered over and spotted a British patrol on foot near to his
position.
He positioned his Mauser in their direction and picked them
off one at a time…
The patrol didn’t stand a chance as they did not know his
location. He then checked to see if anyone else was coming; the coast was clear.
He set off in the direction of Germany, hoping to find
somewhere to hold out. He heard a loud rumbling noise coming from the
forest behind him, then he spotted a Mk.IV British heavy
tank, with 237mm cannons! If he didn’t start running, he would be toast.
He ran like Usain Bolt in a 100m race and came to
another forest where the British wouldn’t find him. He climbed up a tree, and
waited there overnight.
Later that week, after stopping at a few houses, he came upon
a German Forward operating base and they took care of him from there.
He was lucky to survive this along with his Mauser, and that gun was passed down for generations. It finally came into the
possession of the Pitt Rivers Museum after just less than 100 years…
by Jack Bryon
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