The machine guns were spitting away at him

TCD MS 10247/1/827 folio 3 recto

TCD MS 10247/1/827 folio 3 recto

[13 March 1917] it amused them. Still our flying men – that is the chaps themselves are marvels -the other evening – just as it was getting dusk Rowsell and myself were watching one. It was just the time the machines were going home, and this <one> turned to empty parting [?] at the trenches – we heard a machine gun replying from below. But still he turned again & again to let fly another at them – all the time the machine guns from the trench were spitting away at him & suddenly we saw him twist and swoop straight nose first to the ground – down he came at a terrific rate and then started turning over & over & over. It wasn’t pleasant to watch and we stood watching him more or less fascinated – he had got very near the ground, still falling at a tremendous speed when suddenly he straightened out & flew off home & gay as