The Benson signal., 1916-11-11
AvIATORS FEAR
FLAMING ONIONS
British FlierS Describe PeriIS of
Exploding Shells From De-
tense Guns.
NOW HAVE the SUPREMACY
Germans Seldom or Never FLY Over
Allied Lines in France-Machine
Is Hit Eighty Times-Air
Gets in Way.

LondOn.-"It's all right SO long as
YOU can't see 'em or hear en-" said
Tommy" Brennan of the Royal Fly
ing corps, "but any man who tells you
he can fly over an Archie and get a
flaming onion right ahead of him
without ducking and wishing they
wouldn't come so close or make so
A.Cch noise has never been up in an
aeroplaEe. 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 if you couldn't see
and hear 'en. Generally speaking you
don't hear them unless one happens to
break within 30 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 you have got to have every
nerve in your body tuned to the
minute"
'I'h never forget the first time they
got close to me" declared Boy" Tylie.
my only. thought was that l would
never shoot pheasant again. l knew
hunter opens fire."
Machine Hit Eighty Times.
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, but
somehow or other came back to life.
When Brennan was hit" and finally
came down safely within his lines, it
was found there were no less than 80
perforations in the wings of his ma
chine
II was so interested in looking over
their trenches guess i got little too
low" he explained.
There is nothing more interesting in
all London than to sit through long
autumn evening talking to the young
sters of the wonderful aviation service
Great Britain has built up since the
war began.
We've got the German now where
they have to fire blindly or shoot by
the map," these intrepid men of the
air will tell you. ''Of what use are
their wonderful guns if they don't
know what they are shooting at?
They don't dare send a 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 it for home again as fast as they
can go. They can't take photograph
of our new positions. Their batteries
have been driven from the heights and
they can't observe. 1t is a big diff
ference 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.
The Air Gets in the Way.
"'Archie' barks at you," said Bren-
nan. "He goes 'woOf wOof!' 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 q machine gun you know that it
talks with putt, putt, putt The
ordinary hand rifle. which often takes
!; shot at you when you get roo close
10 the trenches, goes crack, crack.
crat.k.' just rs every one expects a
rif> 10 do.