Vilas County news. [volume] (Eagle River, Vilas County, Wis.) 1896-1927, 1916-05-03
An Easy TARGET.

,
satisfactorily. Mr. Jacques Montana,
who describes the incident, says the
first to withstand the shock was the
captain himself, who was attacked by
a large monopiane of the type of Lath-
ANS Antoinette. Two men were on
board and the machine was well known
by the pilots who operated on the Al
satan side. The French officer replied
with so much valor that the aggres-
sor judged it prudent not to insist
and abandoned him in order to attack
the machine of Corporal P.
The captain endeavored at once to
go to the aid of his subordinate, but
the adversary was much more rapid
and after short fight succeeded in
bringing down the unfortunate cor
poral. During this time the captain
was turning and swerving and did not
lose a single point of the painful
drama of which he was a powerful wit
ness. But he decided to avenge him.
self.
After the fall of P. he started Off
on the way to the powder factory with
the determined purpose of making the
Germans pay dearly for the loss of his
fellow aviator. He flew calmly, scorn-
ing the enemy who had gone above
him in the hope of cutting him off and
of attacking him, for the first success
had encouraged the occupants of the
big German machine.
Lieutenant D., who had continued
his way without stopping, now saw
himself surrounded by enemy ma
chimes. One Of them brought him
down, to the northeast of the town
near the factory.
This death was considered sad loss
to the French aviation service. D.
had distinguished himself several
times in bombarding expeditions, often
by night, and had been of a boldness
worthy of his chief.
The captain remained alone to ac-
compliSh his mission. Instead of turn
ing back, as prudence might have die
tated, for he still had a considerable
distance to go before reaching his OBJ
jective, he perSevered all alone against
cast his eight shells slowly and with
great care on the powder factory. All
of them struck true.
His Sad Return.
A thick black smoke at once arose
to the sky, the black smoke which this
same bold pilot saw for the third time
at the same place within a year. He
remained, according to his custom,
for ten minutes over the establish
ment, in order to make notes of the
result of his Smelling, and then he
started for home, along the same route
by which he had come, not bothering
to make a single detour to avoid enc
my machines.
The alarm, however, had been given,
and when he arrived over the Black
forest he perceived a veritable curtain
of aeroplanes waiting for him. They
all swooped toward him in the hope of
bringing him down
By clever maneuvering he avoided
half dozen of them, and then he was
obliged to engage in close combat
with two, the second of which awaited
him above L. The duel with the latter
was particularly bitter and the captain
ended it by forcing his adversary to
take to flight
Quietly he resumed his way toward
the French trenches, mourning the
death of his comrades. Near the lines
he perceived French chaser machines
which were awaiting the return of his
squadron
One of them approached and made
signs to- inquire if the other aero
planes were coming. The captain with
a gesture of desolation indicated that
there was no one to wait for, as he
was the sole survivor of the expedi-
ton. And a miraculous survivor he
was, for when his machine was ex-
amined it was found that the top and
nacelle were riddled With bullets;
some of them had even passed be-
tween the captains legs. The sup
ports were cut, the joints broken and
the wings torn by shell fragments.
When they spoke to the captain
about these numerous injuries he re-
piled simply:
"Of course it was to be expected
that they would wait for me on my re-
turn"
The following day the German Of
fetal communication made this an
nouncement:
Under officer B. on his first trip
succeeded in bringing down two enc
my aeroplanes which were on bonn
harding expedition. The third sue
ceeded in escaping"
The German under officer, it is in
teresting to note, soon became lieu
tenant and received three decorations,
one being the Iron Cross of the first
class, which was given to him for the
above exploit.
Recently this German Officer B. was
flying in upper Alsace when his motor
stopped. the machine fell and the pilot
was killed Captain x. CALAMITY re-
GREETED the nature of the accident to
the German aviator and regretted still
more that it had not been left to him
nerconallv to ayenge the death of jeu-