ks. These two,
instead of dismissing him as a snappish airman continually at variance
with the builder, took his inventions seriously and strove to meet his
requirements. When M. Bechereau, after long delays, was at last
decorated for his eminent services, the Secretary of Aeronautics, M.
Daniel Vincent, came to the works and was going to place the medal and
red ribbon on the engineer's breast, when he saw Guynemer standing near.
He graciously handed the medal over to the airman, saying:

"Give M Bechereau his decoration; it is only fair you should."

In September, 1916, Guynemer had tried at the front one of the first two
Spads. On the 8th he wrote to M. Bechereau: "Well, the Spad has had her
_bapteme du feu_. The others were six: an Aviatik at 2800, an L.V.G. at
2900, and four Rumplers jostling one another with barely 25 meters in
between at 3000 meters. When the four saw me coming (at 1800 on the
speedometer) they no doubt took me for a meteorite and funked, and when
they got over it and back to their shooting (fine popping, though) it
was too late. My gun never jammed once." Here he went into
technicalities about his new machine-gun, but further on reverted to the
Spad: "She loops wonderfully. Her spin is a bit lazy and irregular, but
deliciously soft." The letter concludes with many suggestions for minor
improvements.

His correspondence with M. Bechereau was entirely devoted to a study of
airplanes: he never wandered from the subject. Thus he collaborated with
the engineer by constantly communicating to him the results of his
experience. His machine-gun was the great difficulty. "Yesterday," he
wrote on October 21, 1916, "five Boches, three of them above our lines,
came within ten meters of the muzzle of my gun, and impossible to shoot.
Four days ago I had to let two others get away. Sickening.... The
weather is wonderful. Perhaps the gun will work now." In fact, a few
days later he wrote exultingly, having discovered that the jamming was
due to cold and having found an ingenious remedy.

_November 4, 1916._ Day before yesterday I bagged a Fokker
one-seater biplane. It was two meters off, but as it tumbled into a
group of our Nieuports, the controlling board would not give the
victory to anybody. Yesterday got an Aviatik ten meters off;
passenger shot dead by the first bullet; the plane, all in rags,
went down in slow spirals and must have been knocked flat somewhere
near Ber