The citizen. (Honesdale, Pa.) 1908-1914, 1912-12-18
AERIAL SCOUTS IN
BULLET HAIL AND
Daring Work of Bulgar Avia-
tors a Lesson to Worlds
Armies.

T< HE use of aeropanes by the Bal
kan allies furnishes a fascinat-
III ing chapter in the war against
Turkey alike from the merely
pectacuar and adventurous point Of
Jew and the efficacy of the service
proved under the most perilous condi-
ions. First the Bulgarian aerial scouts
famlliarlzed themselves with the bat
cry positions and trenches at Adriano-
Bile. then when the siege bore sorely
lpon the beleaguered city dropped pam
phlets printed in Turkish from the
clouds proclaiming the futilty OF fur
ther resistance and showing the wis
lom OF surrender.
But the Turks grimly held to the de
Tense. Then the Tiers became winged
carriers of destruction and death. Out
pf the black void Of night they dropped
pyroxylin bombs. and these added to
he conflagration caused by steady, ac-
turate shell fire. The Bulgars had
thirty aeropunes in the Martha valley.
and the flights were made by profes-
sional air men who carried military OBJ
servers.
Up to the present writing two of the
sky men have been killed. one fatality
has been the death Of the man who
made a bad landing. and the other is
that of Or. Jules Constantin. Bul-
Ugarian aviator, who with his machine
was riddled with Turkish bullets
Constantin was formerly assistant to
the famous Paris surgeon, DR.. DOyen,
and earned from the Bulgarian army
the title of dare devil of the air"
King Ferdinand personally decorated
him with a medal for astounding bra
very. He was most successful in drop
ping bombs on the Turkish army.
His last fight was from Surma. near
the Tchatalja lines. His biplane was
riddled with bullets. and he was
struck. it is judged, while sailing 1000
feet above a Turkish fort after he had
photographed the landscape. When
the machine landed in the Bulgarian
camp his hand still grasped the steer
ing wheel. but he was stone dead.
RVlatorS Shelled Dy lurKS.
When the story Of these army avi-
ators is written fully it will embody
thrills which will shame the most lurid
meodrama. The ever constant peril.
the terrific nerve tension during which
both the operator and the observer
must be cool as ice, is shown by Ben
nett Burleigh, who related in the Lon
1 don Telegraph some of the exploits of
/ the aerial craft over Adrianople.
"a couple of Bulgarian aviators had
a thrilling experience in a biplane over
Adrianople," he wrote. They told me
they flew purposely at an elevation of
only about LOO yards. They could
see the city and the movements of the
! Turks in the streets and forts quite
/ clearly. The Bulgarian batteries We're
heavily shelling the enemy.
"The Turks proceeded to fire upon
the aviators, but all the shells burst
at least $50 to 45o yards below the
machine For half an hour the avia-
tors few about, taking note of every
thing.
"They saw that the Selim mosque
was intact and that most or the OtheT
important buildings were unchanged
"a startling surprise, however, was
In store for them. The Turks had sunk
a gun in a pit and fired as they pass
ed overhead-a bow drawn at a ven
ture, so to speak.
Missile Burst Above Them.
THE aviators heard the loud hur
Ting roar of a shell ascending direct
ly toward them, and their ears were
filed with its screech, which drowned
the noise Of the engine and the hum
ming wires. AS the missile passeC
upward it burst but they had by thai
time gone a long distance forward, ant
none of the fragments came neal
them. Then they returned. landing
safely at Mustafa Pasha.
s'I Witnessed this incidpDt lipn