An archive of letters from WW1 American ace Lt. Edgar Taylor sharing his wartime experiences is set to hit the auction block.
Taylor was born to English parents in Rhode Island in 1897 and enlisted in the RFC in 1917, where he was assigned to 79 Squadron flying Sopwith Dolphin D3727. During the month of August 1918, he claimed four balloons and a Fokker D.VII before being killed in action on August 24.
The earliest letter in the collection is dated April 14, 1918, before he was transferred to France, while the second was written on May 23, detailing “a little adventure” which saw his guns jam while attacking an enemy aircraft, leaving Taylor “very much disappointed.” The collection records Taylor’s experiences and routines at the aerodrome, as well as harrowing details of his combat flights, one of which was revealed in a letter dated June 14, 1918:
I have had several narrow escapes recently the narrowest of all was over Hunland we were at 15,000ft and the Archies were shelling us. A fellow did a climbing turn and crashed into me from below I thought I’d been hit by an Archie at first but I soon saw the other plane. We separated and I started back to our lines gliding all the way. The Hun Archies saw I was crippled and tried to finish me off however they did not hit me. I landed near the line and was obliged to stay there until my mechanics came. It was an all nighter with the shelling and star shells. It was all rather interesting. The next machine I took up the engine failed me in a scrap. When I started for home a petrol pipe burst it was a wonder it didn’t catch fire. I was covered in petrol and I was unable to find a place to land I crashed into a hedge wrecking my machine completely. Beyond a few bruises I wasn’t hurt. It is a dead day today so I’m having a much-needed rest.
In his writings, Taylor notes the loss of a training colleague in a dogfight and his efforts to learn French, as well as another experience attacking a balloon days before his death:
I shot a Hun kite balloon down in flames sure enough when I got to their lines I saw a bunch of balloons up so I went straight after them. The Archies opened up on me at once. I saw I was observed and they guessed what I was after. I went as fast as my engine could carry me and immediately attacked the first balloon. The defending machine guns opened up on me something awful but I shook their accuracy by dropping a couple of bombs which I put aboard for that purpose. The bombs did the trick the Huns fired wildly in all directions I then returned and attacked the balloons. I could see it was getting loose all over from the riddling it was necessary but it didn t seem as I could get it on fire. At last I closed in and put a long burst of machine gun fire into it at close range. I commenced to smoke and burst into flames needless to say I was wild with delight.
The collection (Lot 139) is set to be auctioned on Saturday by Henry Aldridge & Son of Devizes, England and has a pre-sale estimate of £ 3000-5000.
(Henry Aldridge & Son via Fox News Additional Information via The Aerodrome Thanks, Pascal!)
