Pursuit by Andrew A. Caffrey
"Pursuit by Andrew A. Caffrey" is an aviation war short story written in the late 1920s. Set in World War I, it follows American airmen flying observation and two-seat “balloon strafer” missions, exploring the tension between strict discipline and audacious initiative in combat. The story centers on Jack Langdon, a hotshot pursuit pilot reassigned to lumbering DH two-seaters, who refuses to abandon fighter tactics. After a fatal low-level strafe with observer Akeley,
Langdon finds a kindred spirit in ace gunner Samter; together they tweak their DH for maneuverability and rack up daring balloon and aircraft kills. Their aggressive style puts them at odds with Lieutenant Charles Surry Mudd, a meticulous, cautious flight leader whose reports clash with Major Mack’s practical tolerance for results. During a Meuse River mission, Samter is wounded, Langdon’s gun jams, and he cripples an enemy by ramming a wing—only to lose lift himself. In a startling act of comradeship, Mudd slides his own wing under Langdon’s to help him limp home, then is killed by ground fire before reaching safety. The tale closes with grudging respect and a reframing of Mudd’s pride—he “fell flying valiantly”—underscoring courage, ingenuity, and the complicated loyalties of air war. (This is an automatically generated summary.)
Read or download for free
| How to read | Url | Size | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Read now! | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.html.images | 82 kB | |||
| EPUB3 (E-readers incl. Send-to-Kindle) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.epub3.images | 431 kB | |||
| EPUB (older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.epub.images | 431 kB | |||
| EPUB (no images, older E-readers) | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.epub.noimages | 145 kB | |||
| Kindle | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.kf8.images | 819 kB | |||
| older Kindles | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.kindle.images | 812 kB | |||
| Plain Text UTF-8 | https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/76083.txt.utf-8 | 75 kB | |||
| Download HTML (zip) | https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/76083/pg76083-h.zip | 562 kB | |||
| There may be more files related to this item. | |||||
About this eBook
| Author | Caffrey, Andrew A. (Andrew Augustine), 1891-1970 |
|---|---|
| Title | Pursuit |
| Original Publication | New York, NY: The Butterick Publishing Company, 1929. |
| Credits | Roger Frank and Sue Clark |
| Reading Level | Reading ease score: 83.6 (6th grade). Easy to read. |
| Language | English |
| LoC Class | PS: Language and Literatures: American and Canadian literature |
| Subject | Air pilots, Military -- Fiction |
| Subject | World War, 1914-1918 -- Aerial operations -- Fiction |
| Category | Text |
| EBook-No. | 76083 |
| Release Date | May 13, 2025 |
| Copyright Status | Public domain in the USA. |
| Downloads | 158 downloads in the last 30 days. |
| Project Gutenberg eBooks are always free! | |