Austrian pencil sketch on blank field postcard from Virgil of the 15th air company (Fliegerkomp. 15). On the reverse is a drawing of a fruit basket signed Mesavogl (?) 1917.
Fliegerkomp. 15Virgil
"March 2nd.—A lot of us watched a clever piece of work by a German flier two or three miles off. He came over at a great speed, made for one of our sausage balloons, manœuvred to keep it between him and our Archie-guns, and set it alight. The observers leapt out. One came down safely; but pieces of the burning balloon fell on the parachute of the other and burned it, so he dropped, and died of his injuries; this was his second leap from a burning balloon."
Extract from the entry for March 2, 1917 from the writings — diaries, letters, and memoirs — of Captain J.C. Dunn, Medical Officer of the Second Battalion His Majesty's Twenty-Third Foot, the Royal Welch Fusiliers, and fellow soldiers who served with him. Observation balloons were tethered to the ground, had no means of propulsion, carried one or more observers in a gondola, and were well protected by both anti-aircraft guns and fighter planes. Some pilots became specialists, in most cases briefly, at 'balloon busting.' Unlike pilots who did not wear parachutes, balloon observers did.
The War the Infantry Knew 1914-1919 by Captain J.C. Dunn, page 301, copyright © The Royal Welch Fusiliers 1987, publisher: Abacus (Little, Brown and Company, UK), publication date: 1994
1917-03-02, 1917, March, observation balloon, balloon, balloon buster, Fliegerkomp 15
