Semi-weekly herald., 1914-09-21
THRILLING EXPERIENCE
OF GERMAN AvIATORs
(By Karl H. Won Wiegand.l


"battlc in the air" Sergeant Werner
Of the German aviation corps, who
piioted Lieut.. Won Heidsen in the lat
tcr's passage over Paris, told me his
story. 1t is remarkable tale Of ad-
venture, eclipsing those of writer's OF
fiction. Attacked by powerful Brit
ish biplane and 80 mile an hour
Bleriot, Werner only escaped through
fortunate combination Of circum-
stances which led him to pilot his
machine inside Of the German lines.
"The men who hold reserved seats
in the theater Of war, who see the
battles as not even the generals can
see them, are the airmen," said Wer-
ner to me when saw him at Liege
just before I started for Berlin.
"That / am alive today is due to
providence, not to my own efforts.
II had received orders to locate the
English forces and to determine their
exact battle lines and those of the
French. Accompanied by Lieut.. Won
Heidsen, who was detailed as expert
observer, ! went up in my big mono
plane and headed directly south in
the general direction of Paris, al
though on this trip we did not go
across the city
eve flew directly south from Mons,
following broad and plainly mark
ed road. En- route we passed over
the edge of magnificent forest in
which more than 10000 inhabitants
of the surrounding country had TAX
en- refuge. We passed directly over
the English headquarters and was
able to locate the positions of the
commander-in-c chief and his staff. We
accurately mapped this position and
then swept across the French posi-
ton, paying especial attention to the
location of their artillery, much of
which was masked.
"Lieut. Won. Haidsen made rough
sketches of everything. l was intent
ly watching the country when the
lieutant pressed my arm. He pointed
At that time we were near
ly 5000 feet in the air. | laoked in
the direction in which he was point
ing and there fully 1000 feet higher
than we were and coming at full
speed directly towards us was big
Bristol biplane.
at was evident that he was far
speedier than we were. / tried to
climb upward, realizing that when he
got over me he might drop 4 bomb
and we would be blown to pieces. |
could not get on level with him.
Soon he was directly over our heads
and began coming down. Sweeping
lower and lower the biplane swooped.
| knew then how bird feels when
an eagle or hawk is swoop;ng down
upon it. was certain the British
were trying to get close so that their
bomb could not miss.
Suddenly | heard flash along
side of me. For moment thought
the expected bomb had struck. Then
/ realized the lieutenant was shooting
with his automatic pistol. The Eng
lishmen had their propeller in front
so they could not shoot from that
position. 1t was now certain they
carried no bombs, as they veered off
home 500 feet to the side, at the same
time keeping $50 feet above US.
cat this time we were heading
northward again towards the German
lines. The plunging of the aeroplanes
made accurate shooting difficult, al
though one shot struck my plane. 1t
was evident the Englishman was
shooting to disable our motor and
we were doing the same thing on our
part. The noise of the discharge of
the automatics was drowned in the
whir of our propeller.
"There was feeling of utter help
lessness so far as we were concerned
Our machine was far slower and
much more unwieldly than theirs.
kept figuring on when the next bull
let would strike. Just then the lieu
tenant again touched my arm and
pointed thousands of feet higher.
"There, coming at tremendous
speed. was a small Bleriot monoplane
at looked for all the world like ar
eagle coming to the Attack. l felt
certain now that the end was in sight
as all of the French aviators we have
captured up to the present have car
ried bombs and the speed of the new
comer-it was far greater than the
Bristol-gave him still more Of an
advantage.
''But the Bleriot also failed TO have
bombs and was forced to depend on
pistols. Swooping up and down, en-
circling us and all that time firing al
US, the Bleriot kept on. 1t was GER
tain there could be only one end to
this unequal fight, although the lieu
tenant kept firing in return as calm
ly as at the rifle range.
Suddenly, however, German troops
appeared below us. They began fir