Casco Bay breeze. [volume] (South Harpswell, Me.) 1901-1917, 1915-09-02

the attendants of Archibald. They
have pride, alertness, pepper and all
the other appetizers and condiments.
They are as neat as private yachts
crew and as lively as an infield of a
major league team. The Archibald.
ians are naturally bound to think well
of themselves.
Watch them there. every man
knowing his part, as they send their
shells after the Taube! There isn't
enough waste motion among the lot
to tip over the range-finder or the telo-
scopes or the score board or any of
the other paraphernalia assisting the
man who is looking through the sight
In knowing where to aim next as
screw answers softly to his touch.
Is the sport of war dead? Not for
Archibald. Here you see your tar
get, which is so rare these days when
British infantrymen have stormed
and taken trenches without ever see-
ing a German-and the target is a
bird. bird-man. Puffs of smoke with
bursting hearts Of death are clustered
around the Taube. They hang where
they broke in the still air. One fol-
lows another in quick succession, for
more than one Archibald is firing, be-
fore your entranced eyes.
An Artful Dodger.
You are staring like the crowd at a
country fair at parachute act For
the next puff may get him. Who
knows this better than the aviator
He is likely an old hand at the game;
or, If he isn't, he has all the expert
ence Of other veterans to go by. His
sense is the same as that Of the es.
capped prisoner who runs from the fire
Of guard in a zigZag course, and
more than that. If a puff comes near
on 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 fired at the same point
will be wide Of the target.
Looking through the sight, 1t seems
easy to hit a plane. But here's the
difficulty: It takes two seconds, say,
for the shell to travel to the range
of the plane. The gunner must wait
for it's burst before he can spot his
shot. Ninety miles an hour is a mile
and half a minute. Divide that by
thirty, and you have about a hundred
yards the plane has travelled from
the time the shell left the gun muz-
zle till it burst. 1t becomes a matter
OF discounting the aviator's speed and
guessing from experience which way
he will turn next. That ought to have
got him, the burst was right under
him! No! He rises. Surely that
one got him, anyway. The puff is
right in front of the Taube, partly hid.
ing it from view. You see the plane
tremble, as if struck by violent gust
Of wind.
Must Hit Vital Spot.
"Close!" Within thirty or forty
yards, the telescope says. But at that
range the naked eye is easily deceived
about distances. Probably some of
the bullets have cut his plane. But
you must hit the man or the machine
in a vital spot in order to bring down
your bird. A British aviator the 9TH
er day had piece Of shrapnel jacket
hit his coat, its force spent, and rolled
into his lap. The explosions must be
very close to count. 1t is amazing
how much shell fire an aeroplane can
stand. Aviators are accustomed to
the whiz of shell fragments and bull
lets and to have their planes pune
tured and ripped. Though their en-
gines are put out Of commission, and
frequently though wounded, they are
able to volplane back to the cover Of
their own lines.
To make a proper story we ought
to have brought down this particular
bird. But it had the luck which most
planes, British or German, have in
escaping antiaircraft gunfire. 1t had
begun edging away after the first shot,
and soon was out of range.
Archibald had served the purpose
Of his existence. He had sent the pry-
ing aerial eye home.
Fights In the Air Rare.
A fight between planes in the air
very rarely happens, except in the i'm.
agination. Planes do not go up to
fight other planes, but for observation.
Their business is to see and learn,
and bring home their news.
The other day, in the communicate
ing trench between the frontal and
support trenches, British shells were
screaming overhead into the German
trenches. Four or five thousand feet
up were two British planes, with a
swarm Of puffs from German shells
around them. Two or three thousand
feet higher was German plane. They
maintained their relative attitudes and
kent on with their work eoc, onot
ting the bursts Of the shells fred by
Its side and correcting the gunners'
aim by wireless. The British aviators
always fly lower than the German;
they are much oftener in the range of
antiaircraft gunfire.