Biplanes collide
First World War Audio Archive
Biplanes collide
Transcript
Hill 62 Memorial Belgium.
the observation planes, with a pilot and an observer in the back, two. And we were watching them, and they’re up about, oh, theyCourtrai Memorial Belgium.
were up about the level of the observation balloons and there wasLe Quesnel Memorial Belgium.
no balloons up, but that’s about the height that they were flying It must have been four thousand, five thousand feet, somethingGueudecourt Memorial France.
like that. It was a nice clear morning. The sun was, the sun,Dury Memorial France.
we just happened, the sun was rising, we happened, we heard the plane, we looked back to see and my God, look at that.Monchy Memorial France.
Them two buggers are going to collide, for sure, and they sure did. Tore off the two inside, the left and the right wing off the, the right wing off of the left wing of the one furtherPasschendaele Memorial Belgium.
over. Whoop together. They were those biplanes, two deckers as we called them. There were no parachutes in World War One,Masnières memorial France.
not as far as, far as the fliers. There were parachutes for thoseBourion Wood Memorial France.
fellows in the balloons, but I never saw anybody bail out of a plane. You had to go down with it. No, that’s true, that’s right,Courcelette Memorial France.
no parachutes. This one fella was coming out, you know, his hands were stretched out. He was spreadeagled himself,Beaumont-Hamel Memorial France.
you know, in the air and he started rolling over. We heardSt. Julien Memorial Belgium.
afterwards that they were all killed. We were in the battle of the Somme then. They were doing the observation work as to how far, I guess, the Germans had backed up or what, and theyCanadian National Vimy Memorial France.
were looking for... I don’t know how many, there must have been thousands of troops seen that.Description
Mr. MacLeod describes a mid-air collision between two Allied observation aircraft, and seeing one airman tumbling to earth without a parachute.
James Neil MacLeod
James Neil MacLeod was born on November 12, 1899. Left school to enlist in Sherbrooke, Quebec, on December 10, 1915. Mr. MacLeod was a member of the 117th Battalion in Canada and England, joining the 24th Battalion for his tour of duty in Europe. He participated in many major battles: Arras, Vimy, Amiens, Somme and Michael Offensive. He was wounded in the elbow August 27, 1918. After his discharge, Mr. MacLeod lived in Quebec, moved to New York state to work for the New York Central Railroad. Married Mae R. Mulvaney in 1927. Mr. MacLeod died June 8, 1981.
Meta Data
- Medium:
- Video
- Owner:
- Veterans Affairs Canada
- Duration:
- 1:44
- Person Interviewed:
- James Neil MacLeod
- War, Conflict or Mission:
- First World War
- Location/Theatre:
- Europe
- Branch:
- Army
- Units/Ship:
- 117th Battalion
- Rank:
- Private
- Occupation:
- Infantryman
Attestation
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