The Democratic banner. (Mt. Vernon, Ohio) 1898-192?, 1916-02-08
JOKE WITH FATE
HIGH IN THE SKY
War FIysrS Mix Tragedy and
COMEDY In a Days Work.
TALES OF TURKISH NERVE.


For the Sport of the Thing, While the
Germans Are More Cautious-How
Aviator Fooled British and Attacked
Vessel.
"Humors Of War In the Air. is the
subject of an interesting article In the
Daily Express by Mr.. C. NJ. Grey. edi.
tor Of the Aeloplane. in which he mar.
rates an aviator's version of the old
farce BOX and Cox and some Incl.
dents of Turkish "cheek."
"a story that appeared in Turkish
communique the other day relating
how a Turkish aviator dropped bombs
near one of the allies cruisers and
caused her to change her course. after
which he attacked destroyer with
his machine guii." he writes. sis prob
ably something of an exaggerailon. but
it would he quite a mistake to nut it
down us an absolute fabrication be-
cause people who have returned from
the Dardanelles have quite a high opin-
ion of the Turks as fighting men and
even respect their aviators The Turk
ish communique refers to the aviator
as Turk, but the pilots of the Turk
ish aeroplanes have been Germans
chiefly.
There is one incident, however, re-
returned from Gallipoli of which the
hero was more likely to have been a
Turk than German. for the German,
although he may On occasion fight
quite well, does not apparently believe
In taking chances purely as a sport.
The Diving Aeroplane.
Zone night when things were fairly
calm both in the air and on the ground
the sound of an aeroplane engine was
heard approaching the British lines. 1t
drew nearer and nearer, and it was
evident from the sound that the avia-
tor was flying very low. Suddenly he
appeared Owe, n certain part of the
British camp so low that he could have
been hit with revolver If anybody
had seen him in time. AS he went he
dropped several bombs, which did no
particular harm. Half dozen officers
rushed out of their tents and began
firing at him. The sound of his engine
stopped. and his machine was seen to
throw up its tail and dive down over
the cliff at the edge of tho plateau on
which the camp stood.
Everybody thought he had been hit
and had fallen into the sea or on the
sand just over the cliff edge. Much to
their surprise. few seconds after
ward his engine was heard running
again, and minute or so later there
was a burst of firing mile or two out
at sea.
"Next morning a destroyer came in
and said that. hearing the noise of
bombs in the camp, some o. the Off
GERS had come up on deck and were
looking up at the shore when suddenly
an aeroplane dived off the cliff. flew
straight at them almost level with the
water and as it passed them raked
them from end to end with a rlachine
gun.
1.-The seaplane pilots also have their
humorous incidents. Some little time
ago one of the smaller seaplanes was
getting off the water when a wave
struck 1t. and it turned over Gu one
side and dived head first.
A Grim Joke.
"As the machine struck the water
the passenger was thrown clear, but
the pilot, who stuck to his lever, went
under with the machine and was more
OF less trapped. The passenger nat
urally came up first and, not seeing
the pilot, took Il long breath and dived
under the wreck to his help. Mean
time the pilot, having freed himself
from the machine, came up to find him
self under one of the wings. He work
ed along this till he got TO the edge
and came to the surface apparently
just about a second after the passen-
ger had dived. Not seeing the paSsen-
ger he also took deep breath, and
dived to rescue the passenger
by this time the passenger had
reached the limit of his diving capacity
and came up again for breath after
the pilot had again disappeared. After
again taking in fresh air he dived for
the pilot just as the pilot came to the
surface for the second time only to
find that his passenger was still ap-
parently in the wreck. In this way
each Of them diVed four or five times
until finally one of them came to the
conclusion that the other must by this
time have been drowned, so he sat on
one of the floats to wait mOurnfully
till he was picked up by one of the
boats which was coming out from the
shore
"a second or two afterward up
came the other officer, also convinced
that his friend was dead. Each was
naturally surprised at the wonderful
capacity of the other for stopping un-
der water till explanations made clear
what had happened, after which they
both nearly fell into the sea again
laughing at one another"
: Bridge Twenty Miles Long.
Engineers have pronounced practical