Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1915-08-08
thnn one Archibald Is rring-before
your entrRnced eve

You arc staring like the crowd OF
country fair at n parachute act. For
the next pun may got him. Who
knows this better than the aviator?
lie is likely an old hand ut the game:
or. II he isn't. he has all the experience
OF other veterans 10 20 by His sense
is the same as that OF the escaped
prisoner who runs from the fire OF a
guard in ziCzaE course, and more
than that II a pun comes near 10 the
right he turns to the left: if one comes
near on the left he turns to the right:
if one comes under he rises. over. he
dips. This means that the next she'll
hrcd At the same point Will be wide
OF the target.
Looking through the sight it seems
difficulty. II takes two seconds, say.
for the shell TO travel TO the range
OF the plane. The gunner must wait
for its burst before he can spot his
shot Ninety miles an hour is Il mile
and half Il minute. Divide that by
forty and YOU have about 4 hundred
yards the plane has Travelled from the
time the shell left the gun muz2lc till
Il bursts. IT becomes matter OF dis
counting the aviator's speed and guess
Ing. from experience, which way he
Will turn next
That ought to have cot him-the
burst was right under him. No. He
rises. surely that ono got him. any
way. The puff is right in front OF the
Tanbe, partly hiding II from view. You
see the plane trembie as If struck
by violent gust OF wind.
Close" Within thirty or forty
yards the telescope says. But at that
range the naked eye is easily de-
Ccivcd about distance. Probably some
of tho bullets nave cut his plane. But
YOU must hit the man or machine III
vital spot in order to bring down
Ia ,.yl s..l,,.
dag had piece of shrapnel jacket
hit his coat. it's force spent. and rolled
into his lap. The explosion must be
Very close to count. II is amazing
how much shclltire an aeroplane can
stand. Aviators are accustomed to the
whizz Of shell fragments and bullets,
and 10 have their planes punctured and
ripped. Though their engines are put
out or commission, and frequently
though wounded. they are able to vol
plano back 10 tho cover of their own
lines.
10 have brought down this particular
bird. But il had the luck which most
planes British or German, have in
escaping antiaircraft Gun:ire. II had
begun cdging away after the first
shot, and soon was out OF range.
Archibald had served the purpose
Of his existence. He had sent the
pryinC aerial eye home.
y sight between planes in the air
very rarely happens except in the
Imagination. Planes do not go UP to
fight other planes. but for observa
ton. Their business is to sec and
learn and bring home their news.
The other day in the communicating
trench between tho frontal and
support trenches British shells were
screaming overhead into the British
trenches. 1t was a pretty lively half
IN hour Four or 1--WE thousand feet
M were two british planes with a
swarm Of puffs from German shells
around them. Two or three thousand
feet higher was Il German plane. They
maintained their relative altitude ana
kept on with their work, each spotting
the bursts OF the shells fired by its
sid" and correcting the gunner's aim
by wireless.