[Sailor Steve]

May 7, 1918


Air War:

0805 American pilot Edward V. Rickenbacker, flying a Nieuport 28, shoots down a Pfalz D.III for victory number 2. Ltn Wilhelm Scheerer of Jasta 64 is wounded, and dies that night.

0805 German pilot Friedrich Hengst, with Jasta 64, shoots down Nieuport 28 6153 for victory number 2. American pilot James Hall (3 victories) is taken prisoner. Hengst actually damaged Hall's plane and forced it to a low altitude where it was further damaged by fire from M.FLAK 54. Hengst was given credit as Hall would not have been in that postiion had Hengst not forced him there in the first plance.
James Norman Hall was vacationing in England when the war began. He claimed to be Canadian and joined the British army, starting as an infantryman and eventually becoming a machine gunner. He was found out and sent home. He wrote a book about his adventures, Kitchener's Mob. He then was hired by Atlantic Monthly magazine, who sent him back to Europe as a war correspondent. Rather than writing stories about the Lafayette Escadrille he instead joined the group and became a pilot. When the United States entered the war Hall stayed with the Lafayette, now part of the U.S. Army Air Service. After he was repatriated he moved to Tahiti, where he began writing books with his wartime friend Charles Nordhoff. The most famous of these was the Bounty Trilogy, the first volume of which was made into a movie in 1935. Hall lived in Tahiti until his death in 1951, aged 64.

1055 English RAF pilot Solomon Clifford Joseph, in Sopwith Camel B6228, shoots down an Albatros D.V for victory number 1.

1515 Two Australian AFC Bristol F.2b aircrews share a victory over a Rumpler two-seater.
B1229: Ross Smith, victory number 2, and Ernest Andrew Mustard, victory number 1.
B1276: Albert Victor Tonkin, victory number 1, and Lt R.A. Camm, unknown.

1535 Albert Tonkin and R.A. Camm score two more victories, both of them Albatros D.Vs. Number 2 and 3 for Tonkin, unknown for Camm.
There is some confusion here. Listings for Tonkin show all three kills being shared, while listings for Smith and Mustard only show the Rumpler on this day.

1715 American pilot Edwin Parsons, flying a SPAD XIII with the French Air Service, shoots down a German two-seater for victory number 2.

1845 English RAF ace pilot Alfred Atkey and observer Charles Gass, in Bristol F.2b B1164, shoot down a German fighter. Victory number 10 for Atkey; number 1 for Gass.

1845 English RAF pilot John Gurdon and observer Anthony Thornton, in Bristol F.2b B1253, are credited with two German fighters. Victories number 3 and 4 for both.

1850 John Gurdon and Anthony Thornton score their third victory for the day, another fighter. Number 5 for both. This is Anthony Thornton's last aerial victory. He will survive the war and leave the RAF in February 1919. Further information unknown.

German pilot Theodor Cammann, with Jasta 74, shoots down a SPAD XI two-seater for victory number 4.

German pilot Ernst Meyer, flying with Jasta 25, shoots down a Nieuport for victory number 2.

English pilot Croye Rothes Pithey and observer Hervey Rhodes, in an RE.8, destroy a German observation balloon. Victory number 1 for both.