Aberdeen herald. [volume] (Aberdeen, Chehalis County, W.T.) 1886-1917, 1915-09-16
AIR CRAFT CUNNING
SPORT OF The war
Soldier That Does the Work Is
Prince Of Artillery.
ARCHIBALD" IS A TERROR.

From Place 70 Place In Private
Car Aeropianss Can Withstand
Much Shell Fire.
A crack and a whish through the
air. No sound Is more familiar at the
front where the artillery h never
silent-the sound Of shell breaking
from a gun muzzle and its shrill flight
toward the German line to pay them
back for some shell they have sent,
writes a correspondent from the Brit
ish headquarters In France.
Only this which did not pass put
over the landscape in long parabola
on toward the German lines. 1t went
right up into the heavens at about the
angle Of skyrocket, for it was Archi-
bald who was on the job.
Six or seven thousand feet over the
British trenches there was something
as big as your hand against the light
blue Of the summer sky. This was the
target-a German aeroplane.
Wings Of Intelligence.
Other features Of life at the front
may grow commonplace, but never the
work Of the planes-these wings Of
the army's intelligence. II they might
tiy as low as they pleased they might
know all that was going on over the
lines. They must keep up so high that
through the aviator's glasses a man on
the road IL the size of pinhead.
Archibald. the anti-air craft gun, sets
the dead line. He watches over It ~ q
cat watches a mouse. The trick Of
sneaking up under the cover Of noon.
day cloud and all the other man bird
tricks he knows.
A couple of seconds after that crack
a tiny pun Of smoke breaks about a
hundred yards behind the taube. The
smoking brass shelf case is out OF
Archibald's steel throat and another
shell case with its charge slipped in
its place and started on its way be-
for the first pun breaks.
Archibald rushes the fighting. 1t IL
the business Of the taube to sidestep
The aviator cannot hit back except
through its allies, the German bat
teries, on the earth. But all that the
aviator can see is mottled landscape
From his side Archibald flies no goal
flags.
Archibald's propensities are entirely
peripatetic. He is the vagabond Of
the army lines. Locate him-and he
IL gone. He is the only gun which
keeps regular hours like a Christian
gentleman. All the others fire at any
hour night or day. Aeroplanes do not
go up at night. and when no aero
planes are up Archibald has no inter
est in the war.
Why he was named Archibald no
body knows. As his full name is
Archibald, the Archer, possibly 1t
comes from some association with the
idea Of archery.
Has His Private Car.
Archibald, who is quite the SWEETEST
thing in the army, has his own private
car built especially for him. While the
cavalry horses back Of the lines grow
sleek from inaction, the aeroplanes
have taken their places. All the ro-
mances and risk Of scouting are theirs
Such Of the cavalry's former part as
the planes do not play Archibald plays.
He keeps of the enemy's scouts. Do
you seek team work spirit of corps and
smartness In this theater of France
where all the old glamor Of war is
lacking? You will find 1t in the attend.
ants of Archibald.
The sport of war is not dead for
Archibald. Here you see your target.
which is so rare these days when Brit.
ish infantrymen have stormed and
taken trenches without ever seeing a
German. and the target is bird-a
man bird. Puffs Of smoke with burst
ing hearts of death are clustered around
the Taube. They hang where they
broke in the still air. One follows an
other in quick succession-for more
than one Archibald Is firing-beforc
your entranced eyes.
1t Is amazing how much shell flre an
aeroplane can stand. Aviators are &C.
customed to the whizz Of shell frag-
ments and bullets and to have their
planes punctured and ripped. Though
their engines are put out of commission
and frequently though wounded. they
are able to volplane back to the cover
~ thar ovu 1iuoa