Air combat remains primitive, with few aircraft yet fitted with machine guns. Nevertheless, improvisation can pay off. Today, Captain R. M. Vaughan and 2nd Lieutenant J. F. Lascelles of 4 Squadron were carrying out reconnaissance near Bruges in their a BE2c when they met an enemy Aviatik.
Lascelles was carrying a rifle and took 24 shots at the plane at a range of about 80 yards. The pilot was hit in the head and killed. The plane crashed in the French lines near Boehsinghe but the observer, who was unwounded, was taken prisoner.
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