The Fargo forum and daily republican. [volume] (Fargo, N.D.) 1894-1957, 1913-04-30

good fortune was the accident which
led to my seeing a small portion of
the great six days battle of Lule
BY Oct. % the Bulgarian
lett was in contact with the Turkish
rlgnt near Bunar Hissar, but of that
fact We of the air corps of Mustanha
were in complete ignorance. A good
deal has been said in praise Of the
secrecy maintained by the Bulgarian
general staff, n my own experience
amply confirms 1t. Commanders of
units were always acting under seal
ed orders" and none of them ever re-
celved directions for a movement tin
the last possible moment before if
was to commence.
PropeIlsrs Smashed 5000 Feet Up,
AS Tor US airmen our outlook over
the whole campaign was a rather
limited one; we were kept to o1r ioh
and specifically warned against n
undue curiosity. Our ignorance of the
general trend of events was especially
great just at this time. as we were on
purely formal terms with our super-
Tors. and had not yet made acauaint-
ance with younger officers of other
arms. Accordingly when Colonel
Vaslltetf, u chief, asked me on Oct.
~ to undertake a flight beyond
A~drianople in the direction of Baba
Eski, / had no idea that one of the
worlds great battles was in progress
When we (my observer Popkrfsstoff
was with me) left the aerodrome at II
o'clock in the morning the sky was
clear. There was little wind, and as I
climbed up and up till my altometer
pointed to 5000 feet, / could see
spread u on the earth below me the
dim marking of the cluster of forts
that on the south of Adrianople held
up the Bulgarian advance. Steadily
eastward / flew, when SUDDENLY
was about ten miles from the front at
Bahia Eski, l think, at the time a
ringing report, as if a revolver had
been discharged behind me. brought
my heart into my mouth. Sometime
most likely a tack. jerked out of one
of the planes, had flown backward
and struck my propeller, and both
blades Of it had shivered into frag-
ments.
A tack seems a small thing to pro-
duce such a result, but when a propel-
Ter is whirling at 1,400 revolutions a.
minute any ridiculous trifle-a mere
touch-Wtll work its destruction, 1
have known a common pin do II. even
the butt end of a cigarette. ANYHOW,
whatever had done the mischief at the
moment here was my ~"windstick"
shattered and my engine racing fIIr-
iously. 1t had to be, of course.
stopped at any cost. I switched off
and pushed forward my elevating
lever preparatory to a. descent. For
a fraction of a second / was in the
grip Of a sickening fear that some
fragment of the flying WOOD might
have severed one Or more of the fra
gile control wings-that would have
meant certain destruction. I'M
they were really fractions of a sec
ond-seemed to pass, and then she
answered he helm and turned her
nose down. v
Now | had time to look below ME.
and take stock of the country with a
view to securing as good a landing
place as possible. From our first a1ti-
tude of yer 5000 feet I could see very
little indeed, only that we were above
a tract of wide and rolling downIand,
but as we came down in a spiral VOL
plane | began to get a clearer idea,
At all events the country below MS
was free of wood. 1t was almost as
good to realize that. as IL had been
a minute or two before to be reassIIr-
ed that VIZ were to reach il under
our W control. and not at the inn :
mediate and unfettered dictates of
the law of graviation. Round and
round we swung in wide spiral curves
and eventually came to ground on q
slope of plowland. We climbed out
and congratulated each other on the
luck of the Bulgarian air corps, and
had time to look about us. on every
side rose low pillows of brown maise
not a road anywhere visible, and no
sign of life save an eagle or two soar
ing very high overhead. The only
sound that reached our ears was tht
distinct mutter of firing AROUND
Adrianople on the northwest of us
and away on the east the mutter oi
another cannonade, the nature q
which we did not then understand.