Bridgeton pioneer., 1916-03-09
PENS COODBY AS
PLANE IS DOOMED
Zeppelin Commander Writes
Family as He Faces DEATH.
OTHER STORIES FROM AIR.

Italian. Attacked by Austrians, Saw
His Three Companions Killed, Was
Wounded Himself, but Safely Reach
ed Homs-Austrisns Give "Man KILL
or" to Italians to Duplicate.
A bottle has been picked up from the
sea containing last messages from tho
commander of Zeppelin Lie which
was wrecked in The North sea, ad-
dressed to the commanders parents.
wife and little son. The last of the
messages said that the airship had
dropped and the crew was drowning.
The yacht Stella picked up the bottle
containing the messages from Com
mander Uhle near Gothenburg. Four
letters We're found-two addressed to-
the parents of the Zeppelin commander
and one each to his wife and child
The third says that the airship was
then 100 meters above the water, that
the motors had failed to act and that
all were expecting at any moment to-
drop. The fourth letter asserts that
the airship had dropped and the crew
was drowning.
Three Of Four Air Men Killed.
Details are now published of a re-.
cent raid on an Italian air squadron
on Laibach. 1t is declared to have been
eminently successful. chiefly on ac-
count of the heroism of Captain Salo--
none, who piloted IA large machine car
rying four men. The task intrusted to
this machine was to engage enemy air
craft in order 70 allow the other Ital-
ian machines to lombard the town.
Captain SalomOne attacked several
Austrian aerOplanes, and in the battles
which ensued two Of his companions
were killed and be was wounded He
continued, however to handle his ma
chine so skillfully that his observer,
Colonel Barbieri. was able To keep up,
steady machine gunfire OH the Aus
trians.
Bullets rained on the Italian aero
plane from all sides. and Colonel Bar
bieri was killed. The pilot remained
alone, with the bodies of his compan-
ions hindering the manipulation of the
levers, that of Colonel Barbieri lying.
ing the blood from his eyes. for he
| was wounded in the forehead. Captain
| Salomone managed to move Colonel
| Barbieri's body and that of another
man so that he could steer more easily,
and, having sufficiently delayed the
| pursuerS to enable his fellow aviators
| to reach their goal. he finally landed
| at Palmanova and was taken from his
machine in fainting condition. King
| Victor Emmanuel has awarded the
medal for valor to him.
Laibach. city of 10000 population,
| lies about fOrty-fiye miles east Of Co
| rizia.
Shrewd Austrian Trick.
Reports have reached London Of q
| shrewd trick played by Austrian ayia-
| tors on the Italians.
Two Austrian seaplanes flew over
| Brindisi and dropped score Of bombs.
They We're pursued by Italian fiiers.
One machine escaped, but the second
landed on the water, and the aviators
surrendered
The plane, which appeared to be pat
termed after German albatross, was
flown to the Italian base.
Hardly type of air craft exists
which the Italian engineers have not
endeavored to copy. That happened
In this case.
In due time perfect duplicate of
the captured machine was built. With
In two weeks four men had gone to.
their deaths i'll the craft. 1t turned out
to be unstable to an almost uncanny
degree. Finally it was abandoned
The explanation accepted by the Ital-
ian aeronautical authorities is that the
Austrians discovered that the plane
was what is known as "man killer
and decided that the best use to be
made of it was to allow it to fall into