The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1916-10-23
VAR AVIATION
A Described by Engaged thrilling Adventurous

LONDON. Oct. 28.-"It's all right so
long as you can't see EN-. or hear
EN-, said Tommy" Brennan, OF the
royal filing corps. but any man who
tells you he can fly over an Archie
ana get a flaming onion right ahead
OF him without ducking and wishing
they wouldn't come so close or make
so much noise, has never been up in
al neTUrlane. Take it from me"
Yes. put in Gilray. "and every
/ time you duck your old winger ducks
with you. As Bren over there says,
It wouldn't be so bad II you couldn't
see and hear EN-. Generally sneak
ing. you don't hear them unless ono
happens TO break within thirty yards
or so of'you. It's when you get down
close to them and look right down at
them splitting fire at you. that's when
you have got TO have every nerve in
your body tuned to the minute
III never forget the first time
they got close to me" declared boy"
Tylie. My only thought was that |
would never shoot pheasant again. /
know exactly how bird must feel
when hunter opens fire"
Brennan wore upon his left sleeve
the gold stripe OF the wounded. "Gil"
had been on the official list Of The
Killed in action some weeks ago. bu
some how or other came back 10 life
| When Brennan was "hit" and finally
came down safely within his own lines
II was found there were no less than
eighty perforations in his wings.
Gets Too Low.
Il was so interested in looking over
their trenches that got a little too
low he explained.
There is nothing more interesting in
all London than to sit through a long
autumn evening talking to the young
sters OF the wonderful aviation serv-
ice Great Britain has almost miracu-
lously built up since the war began.
We've got the Germans now where
they have to fire blindly or shoot by
the map these intrepid men OF the
air will tell you "0f what use are
their wonderful guns il they don't
know what they are shooting at?
They don't dare send plane over our
lines. They don't even dare approach.
The minute they show themselves we
have an overwhelming number of ma
chimes to send after them and they
beat II for home again as fast as they
can go. They can't take a Photograph
OF our new positions. Their batteries
have been driven from the heights and
they can't observe. 1t is a big differ
ence from the first days OF the war"
Associating much with Britain's fly
ing men one will soon learn that an
Archibald" usually called Archie"
for short, is an anti-aircraft gun.
Archie banks at you" said Bren-
nan. He goes wool. wool, wool. He
isn't comfortable TO listen to, either,
but it's when you get down little
nearer to earth and the machine guns
get to working that you feel you have
got to do what you set out to do right
quickly and get started to some QUIET
er spot just as fast as the air will get
out OF your way and let you through.
You can't imagine how much that old
atmosphere gets in your way when you
are really in hurry"
When you get on speaking terms
with machine gun you know that 1t
talks with a putt. putt. putt" The
ordinary hand rifle, which often takes
shot at you when you get too close to
the trenches, goes crack, crack,
crack" just as everyone expects
rifle to go.
A Flaming Onion.
"A flaming onion? Well, that looks
for all the world like an eight candle
power electric light bulb coming at
you. Then all OF a sudden it breaks
into nice little ribbons OF fire that
dart and float through the air like SO
many blazing serpents. They are very
disagreeable, these onions. Their one
desire in life is to set you ablaze and
explode your petrol tank" One thing,
the American always has to remember
over here that gasoline, or Just plain
gas" as the motorists and flying men
call 1t at home, has no place in the
English lexicon. 1t is petrol" Just
as lieutenant. although spelled lieu
tenant, is pronounced "lettenant."
Several of the young wing" subal-
terms were waiting for the Hickey
boos" to come over the other night
when they fell into a heated discus
sion as to whether you would rather
have shell break right ahead OF you,
right beneath you, or right over you.
There were those who commended It
was better to have 1t break right in
'front.', Tor then the explosion would
spread the fragments and let you pass
safely through the spot where "the
blooming beast cracked"
The others commended that a she'll
breaking on the level with you indi-
Gated that Archie" had his fuses
timed bit too accurately for pleasure
flying and that 1t was safer to take
chances from the fragments coming
from beneath or above. This was one
discussion in which the innocent by
stander had no part. He learned,
however, that shrapnel from an
archie" jumps at you with bang"
that it looks like white putfball as
it breaks in daylight and like the
starry shower OF a rocket as It ex-
plodes by night.
When "shrap" explodes beneath
the tail Of your machine you feel as