Throughout the summer of 1915, the Germans pounded the British entrenched near Ypres with deadly accurate shellfire. To discover the well-hidden enemy batteries, the British Royal Flying Corps employed tiny single-seat Bristol Scouts, known as “Baby Biplanes.” At about 8 feet high and 21 feet long, the Baby was armed with a sightless rifle fixed to the right side of the fuselage. Its opponent, the German Albatros, had a full-swivel machine gun, manned by a dedicated gunner. In spite of these disparities, the lightweight Bristol Scout, powered by an 80-hp Clerget or Le Rhone engine, could outmaneuver anything the Germans then had.

Prior to that second summer of the war, aerial scouts passed one another with only an occasional pistol or rifle shot. It wasn’t until someone realized these onlookers posed a real threat that air-to-air combat began in earnest.

Captain Lance Hawker, recipient of Britain’s Distinguished Service Order for bravery in combat, was one of these someones. On July 25, 1915, after having injured one German two-seater and downed another, Hawker soared to 12,000 feet, positioning a third Albatros below him. His rifle shot hit home. As the Albatros fell from the sky, it flipped, dropping its gunner like a bomb. When British troops found the body, they also discovered a map that pinpointed the position of four German batteries.