[Sailor Steve]

December 26, 1916

Air War:
0945 French ace Georges Guynemer, flying a SPAD VII, shoots down a Halberstadt two-seater for victory number 24

0945 French ace Alfred Heurtaux, in a SPAD VII, shoots down an Aviatik two-seater for victory number 15.

0950 Canadian RFC observer James Robert Smith, riding as observer in FE.2b A5458 with pilot 2nd Lt W.F. MacDonald, shoots down an Albatros D.II for victory number 1.

0950 English RFC pilot Edmund Leonard Zink, flying an FE.2b with a Lt Mahew as observer, shoots down an Albatros D.II for victory number 1.

1000 English RNAS pilot Robert John Orton Compston, in Nieuport Scout 8750 (sources are unclear on the model), shoots down an Albatros two-seater for victory number 1.

1055 German ace Renatus Theiller, flying an Albatros D.II, downs an FE.2b for victory number 7.

1115 German pilot Erich König, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.2c for victory number 3.

1120 German pilot Dieter Collin, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.12 for victory number 2.

1210 German pilot Hans Bethge, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.2d for victory number 3.

1210 German pilot Paul Bona, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.12 for victory number 1.

1230 English pilot Selden Long, flying DH.2 A305, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 5. Aiding him is 2nd Lt F.B. Sedgewick.

1355 German ace Hans Karl Müller, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.2c for victory number 9. During this fight Müller recieves a severe stomach wound, ending his combat flying career. After the war he will immigrate to Mexico and run a flying school there until 1931. He will then move to San Antonio, Texas where he will die in 1977.

1515 German ace Erwin Böhme, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down a BE.2c for victory number 8. On a bombing mission with no observer, William Henry Hubbard manages to land on his own side of the lines.

German pilot Alfred Ulmer, in an Albatros D.II, shoots down Nieuport 12 A3924 for vicrtory number 3.



Bristol Channel:
Friedrich Moecke, commanding UC-46, scuttles Belgian naval trawler Neptune, 199 tons.
Brtitish schooner Agnes, 99 tons, carrying a load of oats from Waterford to Gloucester, hits a mine laid by Moecke off Ann's head.
French schooner Saint Louis, 184 tons, bound from Swansea for Bordeaux with a load of coal, hits a mine laid off Mumbles Head by Moecke.
His score is now 7 ships and 9,369 tons.



English Channel:
Heinrich Jeß, in U-79, scuttles Danish barque Johan, 828 tons, en route from Montego Bay, Jamaaica to Le Havre with a load of logwood, near the western end of the Channel. His score is now 2 ships and 5,786 tons.



Spain:
Otto Wünsche, in U-70, scuttles British schooner Spin-Away, 95 tons, travelling from Burgeo, Newfoundland to Figueira, Portugal with a load of codfish. His score is now 34 ships and 42,452 tons.