raids
on Ludwigshafen and Karlsruhe, which aroused furious anger in Germany.

In the beginning the belligerent nations had collected the most
heterogeneous group of all the airplane models then available. But the
methodical Germans, without delay, supplied their constructors with
definite types of machines in order to make their escadrilles
harmonious. At that time they used monoplanes for reconnaissances,
without any special arrangement for carrying arms, and incapable of
carrying heavy weights; and biplanes for observation, unarmed, and
possessing only a makeshift contrivance for launching bombs. The
machines of both these series were two-seated, with the passenger in
front. These were Albatros, Aviatiks, Eulers, Rumplers, and Gothas.
Early in 1915 appeared the Fokkers, which were one-seated, and new
two-seated machines, Aviatiks or Albatros, which were more rapid, with
the passenger at the rear, and furnished with a revolving turret for the
machine-gun. The German troops engaged in aerostation, aviation,
automobile and railway service were grouped as communication troops
(_Verkehrstruppen_), under the direction of the General Inspection of
Military Communications. It was not until the autumn of 1916 that the
aerostation, aviation, and aerial defense troops were made independent
and, under the title of _Luftstreitkraefte_ (aerial combatant forces),
took their position in the order of battle between the pioneers and the
communication troops. But early in the summer of 1915 the progress
realized in aviation resulted in its forming a separate branch of the
army, with campaign and enemy-chasing escadrilles.

Guynemer was now on the straight road toward aerial combat. Most of our
pilots were still chasing enemy airplanes with one passenger armed with
a simple musketoon. More circumspect than the others, Guynemer had his
airplane armed with a machine-gun. Meanwhile the staff was preparing to
reorganize the army escadrilles. The bold Pegoud had several times
fought with too enterprising Fokkers or Aviatiks; Captain Brocard had
forced down one of them in flames over Soissons; and the latest recruit
of the escadrille, this youngster of a Guynemer, was burning to have his
own Boche.

The first entries in his notebook of flights for July, 1915, record
expeditions without result, in company with Adjutant Hatin, Lieutenant
de Ruppiere, in the region of Noyon, Roye, Ham, and Coucy-le-Chateau. On
the 10th, the _chasseurs_ put to