The Birmingham age-herald., 1915-07-04

HAVE had the good luck to be credited with bringing | down the first Zeppelin destroyed by monoplane in this war.
 It was really quite an easy thing to do and would have been done just easily and effectively by any other service if he had had the opportunity
 the night of June 7S three of us Lieutenant J. P. Wilson Lieutenant J. Mills and myself sent out in an air reconnaissance the German lines in Bel gum We started out in the dark calculating that we should have daylight by the time were in position to do any damage gain any information of import We guided by our compasses, which we could by our electric lamps All Of us were using small, swift Morane monoplanes.
 At about 8 30 in the morning, when cold gray dawn north of the city Brussels Descending little toward the earth able to distinguish the big Zeppelin hangar built by the Germans at Evere in Belgium.
 Nv companions then rose a little higher until they exactly the hangar One after another they
 sheet of flame, seeming colossal as cosmic catas trophe shoot out from the hangar believe 1t reached height of almost five hundred feet. It was the ex plodng gas.
 For the moment there for me in this work My comrades, having done all the damage poss be to the hangar and used all their ammunition turned and went home to their camp.
 flew look for some other opportunity of using my ammunition. just five o'clock in the morning when I perceived the horizon, about midway be- tween Ghent and Brussels, Zeppelin moving rapidly with the wind at height of about 1000 feet.
 immediately flew toward the monster, and in spite of it's speed easily overlook it with my swift mono plane.
 The Zeppelin at opened fire on me with it's rapid fire guns, to which powerless to reply. At the time it rose in the air. taking advantage of its superior ability to rise quickly.
 The Zeppelin can rise immediately by throwing out ballast attain the object by merely point ing the wind and using it's elevatng planes to raise the forward end
 As quickly could shifted my elevating planes, for the bullets flying round me and my life de- pended climbing higher than the enemy.
 fed more fuel to my motors and began to fly round in spirals fast I could. That my only rising.
 The Zeppelin shot up at first like arrow and quickly went above But she reached the limit of her ascending capacity.
 kept climbing madly upward through the air At the end of twenty minutes of fierce struggle had beaten the monster All the time could hear the drum ming of the bullets round I could also catch glmpses of the big busily manipulating their air ship and trying to destroy
 At last reached point far above them, where felt that was reasonably safe and had the mastery them. My instruments showed me that was 5000 feet up in the air.
 knew that if could blow large enough holes in the top Of the Zeppelin could sink her. because that would let her gas out Shots and missiles striking from below have little effect the vast bulk of those airships They are built up of nine more small balloons, 'ballonets. placed within the large one Several of these be destroyed before the Zeppelin falls When the envelope is penetrated the under side the gas hardly escapes at all.
 reached point several hundred feet above the Zeppelin and looking down that had fair chance of dropping bomb her. touched the trigger and down went thirty pounds of high explosive and som- bustible