Ross Smith was Australia's, and the allies, leading ace in the Palestinian Theatre. He had fought at Gallipoli before joining the Australian Flying Corps and being posted to No.1 Squadron. Before No.1 received the powerful Bristol Fighter, they flew obsolete BE2s against the German Rumpler aircraft. The squadron's fighter aircraft were BE12a's.
The German Rumpler CIs were faster and more powerful than the BE2 aircraft the Australian and British airmen were fighting in. The Rumpler had another advantage, it had a forward firing machine gun. The BE2 did not. As a result Germany maintained air superiority in the theatre with a small number of Rumplers until late 1917 when more powerful allied British and French aircraft started arriving in the theatre.
Rumpler CI aircraft of Flieger-Abteilung 300 [FA300]
Matters did not improve for the Australian squadron when Albatros Scouts started arriving in the Palestinian Theatre. Where the Rumpler had one forward firing machine gun, the Albatros had two. As a scout, the Albatros did not have the extra weight of an observer or their machine gun either. The Australian and British airman started seeing these new Albatros aircraft more and more as 1917 progressed.
Despite the old equipment that the Middle Eastern front was receiving in comparison to the Western Front, an Australian BE12 managed to record one victory against the Albatros aircraft of FA300. It was the first victory of Ross Smith. His combat report records on August 4th, 1917 a combat with an Albatros Scout at 4000ft;
Rumpler CI aircraft of Flieger-Abteilung 300 [FA300]
First H.A. was a 2 seater, of Albatros Type with 1 gun firing forward and 1 back. He was above me and I got in a short burst with top gun. We then turned, met nose to nose, and I got in about 30 rounds with Vickers gun. We came together again, nose on, and H.A. put his nose down and made a right hand turn enabling me to get in a good dive of about 40 rounds. He then made off with his nose well down, into his own archies at Sharia. Returning to the formation, second H.A. was encountered, a single seater with 1 or 2 guns firing forward. It had a yellow fuselage, and 1 dark green wing and 1 dark brown, on top sides. We met nose on and I got in about 20 rounds. H.A. made a right hand turn, under my wing, and went straight off towards Sharia. Both H.A. used very distinct tracers.Smith did not come out of this combat unscathed, a bullet went in one of his cheeks, knocked out some teeth, and then exited his other cheek. Smith's squadron mate Les Sutherland records in his book "Aces and Kings";
[Smith] made no mention of the parlous condition of his own machine, or of the two holes, one in each cheek, and the missing incisor -- "x" marking the route of one bullet, ex H.A. As a matter of fact, Ross Smith, lieutenant laughed heartily when he saw himself, complete with bandages in the mirror.Soon after the combat, a wireless message was intercepted that "Schmarje has crashed". This was Leutnant Schmarje of FA300. The most capable German pilot in Palestine was Gerhard Felmy, a particular courageous and capable pilot, originally the squadron thought that Smith had fought Felmy, but Felmy was out of the theatre at the time due to illness. This victory by Smith in an obsolescent BE12a was his first of eleven.
