Mannock's Mercy - Sources

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Happy Christmas everyone!
About Clark's book: this book was originally published in 1973; my edition is a reprint by Barnes & Noble, 1999. There are some useful appendices; a helpful index; excellent background summaries for whatever year of the airwar; MAGNIFICENT illustrations; and NOT ONE GODDAMN SOURCE OR BIBIOGRAPHY IN THE WHOLE FUGGIN' BOOK!
(The above used euphemism was coined by Norman Mailer in THE NAKED AND THE DEAD)
As good as this book is (where the illustrations are concerned), can it be considered a serious work? But I'm afraid it only gets better--
Because I found the section about this training flight; here goes (Clark's book ACES HIGH, page 106):
"Mannock: Hawker's very opposite; of humble birth, burning with social indignation, ruthless in battle, a man who had no time for the horseplay or posturings of the officers' mess; who refused to attend his enemies' funerals or drop wreaths or messages over enemy aerodromes; who jumped a German flying training school, killed the instructor and had no scruples about pursuing his five pupils in their unwieldy Aviatik trainers and setting light to them one by one. He was killed in 1918, with at least seventy-three victims ot his credit, and the lasting reputation as the war's greatest patrol leader and mentor of novices."
So, that makes six; six in one go; funny thing, but I've never heard that Mannock held the record for shooting down the most in one day (which I believe was six; Fonck supposedly did this on two occaisions; the problem being that Fonck's autobiography, according to one of our German forumites, invented-- and that is the word, invented-- some of its *combat accounts).
The point? Clark's book, while an enjoyable read, is ridiculous in more than one instance (I cite my previous post, where Clark's description of Barker's combat damage in that famous dogfight is at odds with the photos that Clark uses to illustrate this section of his book). But to return to the thread--
What of Mannock's advice to the novice, not to use incendiary ammunition? I don't know if that's chivalry, or even mercy, but it does strike me as somewhat humane, considering the circumstances...

[Billy_Bishop]

What of Mannock's advice to the novice, not to use incendiary ammunition? I don't know if that's chivalry, or even mercy, but it does strike me as somewhat humane, considering the circumstances...

It was probably more along the lines of mechanical type advice. Considering the reliability of WWI machine guns, and how often they could jam with regular ammo, just imagine how much more clogged up it could get with a hotter round going down the barrel!

Incendiary ammo did have a higher tendency to jam as opposed to standard ball ammo. I'd think Mannock's advice was more for the pilot's benefit than any feeling of mercy toward the enemy.

VBR,

Al Lowe