New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1915-01-05
DUELS IN MIDAIR
NOW FREQUENT
German Reviewers More
Effective than French
Field Guns.
BATTLE FOR AN HOUR
A MILE FROM EARTH
Kaiser's AviatOrS Give Enemy
Credit for Being Magnifi-
cent Sky Pilots.
rFrom Correspondent Of The Tribune.l

Iron a Correspondent Of The Tribune
Headquarters OF German Nth Army
somewhere in France, Dec. 6.-Sensa-
tional duels between hostile aeroplanes
are regular occurrences now, and not
infreauently aerial battles take place
between whole squadr0n5. / heard this
from the chief Of an aeroplane quad
ron, who was returning from a recon
NOTHING fight around Rheims. When
| met him he was travelling in his luxu-
rious private limousine which he had
brought with him into the field from
Berlin. Ny military motor car had exc
cuted a flank attack on the road en-
bankment with disastrous results, and
the aviator kindly gave me lift into
town and some interesting information.
1--WE are all eagerly awaiting orders
for a raid on England" the captain led
of. ayes, / have flown over PARIS.
Going TO Paris is mere chauffeur
work. The machines Of my squadron
have covered $1,000 miles since the war
began. The French machines are about
twenty miles an hour faster than ours;
but there is no advantage in going 50
fast, for you can't make good observa-
tions. At height Of 5000 feet you
are quite safe against fire from below.
We also find the safest thing to do IS
10 circle right over a battery. They
cant get at you then.
Fighting in the Air.
Flights in the air are regular occur
rences now. We attack every chance
we get in spite of the fact that we have
only our revolyers against the ma
chine guns which they have mounted on
their aeroplanes. We find the best de-
fence against their machine gun fire IS
TO get up close to the French aeroplane
and then dodge and twist in sharp dips
and curves, spelling the aim OF the
mounted machine gun and giving US an
advantage with our reyolvers.
zone of the most interesting engage
ments was between a squadron of four
of our aeroplanes armed with revolvers
against a big and a little Bauer
schreck' the German nickname for
the armored French aeroplanes armed
with machine guns. The fight lasted
for nearly an hour at an altitude rang
ing from 5000 TO 5000 feet, the big
'Bauerschreck' being finally forced TO
land, while the little one few oil. one
of our avators did fine piece of WORK
recently, landing behind the French
lines, destroying the railway az thaI
point and flying off again. The French
are magnificent flyers. and so are the
English, but we Germans have the
training. Especially in trained OBJ
servers we have big advantage"
| saw one of the German flyer
heroes in a base hospital. To the
nurses chart over his cot were pinned
the Iron Cross of the second and first
class and a bunch of flowers, and the
surgeon general coaXed him to give
the details of the winning Of his deco
rations.
Seventy Bullet Holes.
Sergeant Luchs and his observer
were returning from an aerial recon
noissance when they were overtaken
and attacked by a fast French aero
plane. The effectiveness Of the French
machine gun fire was later shown by
seventy holes in the wings OF the Ger
man aeroplane. For forty-five minutes
the battle in the air lested-6,OOO feet
up-revolver against machine gun, end
ing only when Luchs was shot. through
the lungs and liver. lie was able 20
guide his machine safely TO the ground
within the German lines before he lost
consciousness. But one Of his revolver
bullets had gone home, probably
puncturing the gasolene tank, for the
French aeroplane was also seen making
a forced landing.
General Won Heeringen. commander
in chief of the Nth Army. told me a
similar story about two officers who
fought with revolver against machine
gun until their motor and tank were
Shot to pieces, forcing them TO glide to