Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1915-08-04
7lf IIFRT ARCHIBALD Who KEEPS
''1p'Fe S Ar DAYLIGHT HOURS IN THE
"niIIFS' TRENCHES AND WARDS OFF
:: HANGER OF SP Y|NC AER0PLANES

Archibaldians are naturally bound 20
think rather 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-fnder or the telescope or the
score board or any of the other para
phernalia assisting the man who is look
ing through the sight in knowing where
to aim next as q screw answers softly
to his touch.
Is the sport Of war dead? Not for
Archibald. Here you see your target
which is so rare these days when British
infantrymen have stormed and taken
trenches without ever seeing German
and the target is a bird, a man-bird.
Puffs of smoke with bursting hearts Of
death are clustered around the Taube.
They hang where they broke in the
still air. One follows another in quick
succession-for more than one Archibald
is firing-before your entranced eye.
You are staring like the crowd of a
country fair at a 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 experience Of
other veterans to go by. His sense is
the same as that Of the escaped pris-
oner who runs from the fire of guard
in a zig-zag course and i:iore than that
If pun 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 shell fired at
the same point will be wide of the tar
get.
Looking through the sight it seems
easy to hit plane. But here's the diff
Guilty. 1t takes two seconds, say, for the
shell to travel to the range of the plane
The gunner must wait for its burst be-
fore he can spot his shot. Nienty miles
an hour is mile and a half a minute.
Divide that by 40 and you have about 100
yards the plane has travelled from the
time the shell left the gun muzzle till it
burst. 1t becomes a matter of discount
ing 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
hiding it from view. You see the plane
tremble as if struck by violent gust of
wind.
CLOSE" Within 80 or 20 yards the
telescope says. But at that range the
naked eye is easily deceived about dis
tances. Probably some of the bullets
have cut his plane. But you must hit
the man or machine in a vital spot in
order to bring down your bird A British
aviator the other day had piece of
shrapnel jacket hit his coat, its force
spent. and rolled into his zap. The ex-
plosions must be very close to count II
is amazing how much shell fire an aero
plane can stand. Aviators are accus-
toned to the whizz of shell fragments
and bullets and to have their planes
punctured 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 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
anti-aircraft guntire. 1t had begun
edgng away after the frs, shot and
soon was out Of range.
Archibald had served the purpose Of
his existence. He had sent the prying
aerial eye home.
fight between planes in the air. very
rarely happens except in the imagina.
ton. Planes do not go up to fight other
planes but for observation. Their bust
ness is to see and learn and bring home
their news.
The other day in the communicating
trench between the frontal and support
trenches British shells were screa ming
over head into the German trenches and
German shells were screaming over head
into the British trenches. 1t was a pref
ty lively half an hour. Four or five
thousand feet up were two British planes
with swan Of puffs from German
shells around them. Two or three thou
sand feet higher was German plane
They maintained their relative attitudes
ana kept on with their work, each spot
ting the bursts Of the shells fired by its
side and correcting the gunners aim by
wireless.