However, he had made friends with well-known engineers, especially Major
Garnier of Puteaux and M. Bechereau of the Spad works. These two,
instead of dismissing him as a snappish airman continually at variance
with the builder, took his inventions seriously and strove to meet his
requirements. When M. Bechereau, after long delays, was at last
decorated for his eminent services, the Secretary of Aeronautics, M.
Daniel Vincent, came to the works and was going to place the medal and
red ribbon on the engineer's breast, when he saw Guynemer standing near.
He graciously handed the medal over to the airman, saying:
"Give M Bechereau his decoration; it is only fair you should."
In September, 1916, Guynemer had tried at the front one of the first two
Spads. On the 8th he wrote to M. Bechereau: "Well, the Spad has had her
_bapteme du feu_. The others were six: an Aviatik at 2800, an L.V.G. at
2900, and four Rumplers jostling one another with barely 25 meters in
between at 3000 meters. When the four saw me coming (at 1800 on the
speedometer) they no doubt took me for a meteorite and funked, and when
they got over it and back to their shooting (fine popping, though) it
was too late.
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