The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1917-12-15
DARING ESCAPADES
BY AIR-FICHTERS
Hair Raising Incidents Of Fierce Conflicts
Above the Clouds Are Told By Re-
ports of the British Royal
Flying Corps.

Behind the British Lines in France
Dec. 10 Correspondence of the Associat.
ed Press Stories of daring escapades
of British aviators, exciting aerial com
bats from which the air fighters escaped
alive seemingly only by miracle and of
brilliantly executed raids upon German
aerodromes and troops behind the Ger
man lines are narrated in the reports of
the royal flying corps covering the activ-
titles of about one week. Hair raising in
cidents of fierce conflicts above the clouds
or low over the German communication
lines are described in these succinct re-
ports without bombast, as though these
narrow escapes from death were com
monplace and all in the days work of
the air fighter.
For example, there was the case of a
British aviation officer who, when nearly
mile above the earth, was attacked by
two enemy aircraft He shot down one
| of them out of control but was himself
wounded and tainted while still high in
the air. Recovering consciousness he
found his machine upside down at an elo-
walton of 1000 feet with one enemy air
craft still firing at him. The Britisher,
however, managed after struggle to
right his machine and land safely.
In somewhat similar instance a Ger
man scout attacked British airplane
carrying a pilot and observer. One of
the Germans bullets passed through the
gasoline tank of the British airplane and
seriously wounded the pilot. The British
observer, however, pumped full double
drum of bullets at the enemy scout at
very close quarters and the German went
to the ground with crash.
Meanwhile the British pilot had faint |
ed and fallen against the steering stick"
in such fashion as to throw the air
plane into spin. The British observer |
the plane to the pilots cockpit, lifted |
the pilot to his seat and, still standing |
on the wing of the plane released the |
steering gear, brought the machine out
of the spin and safely to the ground.
Two British officers were returning |
from an expedition over the enemy's
lines to locate hostile batteries when |
their machine was hit by anti-aircraft
fire and the engine damaged. Volplan-
ing. the machine landed 800 yards from
the British lines, the airplane turned
over and the aviators We're hurled out on
the German side of canal. Running
along the beach under heavy fire from
rifles and machine guns, the aviators
dived into the canal only TO find it full of
barbed wire but managed to reach the
British lines in safety.
MANY instances illustrating the reck
less daring OF the British aviators sent
over the German lines to obtain informa
ton. DESTROY aerodromes and harry the
German reserves are contained in the Of
fetal narratives. One pilot who crossed
the lines at Ypres, threw off two attack
ing machines, bombed the Heulc aero
lrome near Lille and was tired upon by
two machine guns. He dived at one of
hem. firing with both guns of the Brit
sh airplane. drove the Germans from
heir guns, fred upon the aerodrome
again. attacked and scattered column
If 200 German infantrymen on the road.
A German two-seater airplane was cir
ling 500 feet above him for an attack.
I zoomed up under its tail and fired into
I ;, writes the British aviator. at
rashed down onto the railway"
Another British pilot had fired a hun
lred rounds on German troops on the
march when he was interrupted by two
nemy airplanes. He attacked them and
Irove both down and then finished the
OBJ of driving the German infantry into
renches and shell holes
FLYING at the height of 200 feet a Brit
sh aviator engaged in revolver duel
With two German officers in a motor and
While doing so ran into some lines OF
elegraph wires but fortunately his ma
hine cut them. A few minutes later he
ttacked German infantry, which escaped
is gun only by diving into pond