The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1915-01-26
CAPTURED AVIATOR
GREETED BY LUNCHEON
Landing Through Error Near Hostile
Camp, Pilot Burns His Naci.ine ana
Disc bles InSine.

-.
in the London Daily News
Though news filters through slowly
about the actual doings OF the Royai
EIying Corps on our side or the INES,
Ii takes still longer to get news ABOUT
any happenings 10 those very Re" OF
our pilots who have fallen lnto tue
hands of the Germans.
There is, however. one quite au-
thentic story concerning the capture
Of q British aviator which deserves 70
be placed on record SIS showing tiat
The better class Of German officer can
appreciate gallantry. The story ap-
parently came through German AVA
tors who had been made prisoners
and it was confirmed by the local in
habitants near the place where i oc-
Cured when that village was reoccu-
pied by the Allies shortly afterWard.
At any rate, it il regarded as being
quite correct by the officers Of the
Royal Flying Corps themselves.
The particular pilot in question was
out over the German lines when his
engine gave ont. 1t is not known for
from business out OF mate cussedness
or whether ii was struck by a bullet.
At any rate. he had to come down.
and. seeing aeroplaneS in q field be-
| low. he made Tor this field, apparently
| hoping that they might be our own
machines. When he was close TO the
| field and too near the ground to get
| anywhere else, he saw to his horror
that they were German machines, and
! that he had actually struck one of the
! German aviation camps.
Burns His Machine.
! He knew that he was bound 10 he
made prisoner anyhow, as he had not
! been shot in his descent, and instead
! OF doing the romantic business OF sell
ing his life as dearly as possible he
| apparently made up his mind that the
most important thing was to s. that
| the Germans did not get hOld of his
! machine, so landing as far away IS
possible from the German camp, he
| jumped out Of his areOplane, fired a
cODle of bullets from his revolver into
| his petrol tank, so as to let the petrol
out, and then fired his revolver into
the stream of petrol, and set the
whole thing alight. It is also said that
he emDtied the rest OF his revolver
into the engine, so as to damage it
enough to prevent it from working.
Then he turned round, prepared
either to be taken prisoner or shot,
as the Germans might feel disposed.
AS he did SO German officer tapped
him on the should and said when
you have quite finished, come and
have some lunch" which, Of course
was something of an ante-climax, but
was at any rate more satisfactory
than being shot.
; The difficulty OF recognizing ma
chimes at any distance was illustrated
: the other day by one OF our pilots
, who was out scouting and C:~me across
Zone Of the French biplanes flying or
a course cOnverging on his own.
AS he flew nearer the great size and
3 generally massive appearance Of the
1 machine convinced him that it was 8
e German, SO he and his passenger pro
t ceeded to clear for action
, The pilot got out his revolver ano
s his passenger unslung his rifle, an6
p as they approached they found the
+ machine gun of the other machine
S trained on them, and the two ma
8 chimes approached with the crews al
g ready to open fire as soon as either
g was convinced about the nationality
| of the other The difficulty of recOg
{ milton was increased by the fact tina
g both were at about the same height
SO that neither could see the natiOna
Q badge under the wings Of the othe
= and neither Of them carried the badg.
= on their rudders.
Just when they were nicely within
Z range gust OF wind blew the French
> machine slightly over to one side, ant
the British crew saw the triclOr dis
- underneath. WhereupOn, with AIT !
,. able presence OF mind, the British pi
= lot banked his machine over steeply
. so as to show the Frenchmen tn
, Union Jack under his wings. Tn
=; "entente cordiale" being thus estab
- lished, the two machines came clos
80 er together, the crews waved friendl
"a greetings to each other, and then tn
% pilots went off on their various ways
is Air Pilots in Race.
n Apparently there is quite a goo
,e deal Of sport TO be got out of flying Of
active service.
90 One pilot related how he overtool
1r monoplane and flew neck and nee
,e with it for miles. The passengers O
l. the two machines, having nothing t
,e occupy their attention in the way O
IT controlling, apparently devoted them
selves to uring the pilots to persra d
the engines to drive their machine
, another mile or two an hour faster
= The paSSenSer in the nnnOnIo ~