TCD MS 10247/1/827 folio 2 recto
[13 March 1917] We had a wire last night “Baghdad occupied” – that should put it across the Turks a bit.
Here things are much as usual – a good bit of aeroplane work – its certainly not a nice thing to watch a ‘plane brought down – we have seen several. Two came down the other day – one in flames – the other I saw hit at a great height – I suppose the pilot was killed – anyway the machine suddenly wavered and then came down turning over & over like a stricken bird. I could watch it turning over & over til quite near the ground where it must have been smashed to pieces – whether in our line or the Hun I couldn’t say. Anyway its not all like that though. I think its certainly time we made a bit of an effort – for I’d like to get some of these Staff chaps and put them up over the [?] line in an old 4 years out of date machine and see whether