The Mena weekly star., 1917-07-26
DARING DEEDS OF {. BRITISH BIRDNEN
They Get Over Enemy Aerodromes and Shoot Any Machine That Leaves-Instinct of
 Good Pilots.

London, July 22.-lll recent Brit ish attacks on the west front, writes a British airman, one of the duties of the English aviators was to "sit over the tops" of enemy aerodromes at about a height of 2,000 feet and shoot down any ma chine that tries to rise while every kind of German gun available in the vicinity blazed away at them. He continued:
 Now 2,000 feet is an uncomfort- able distance at which to fly: it is much too low Almost all classes of war aeroplanes spend their time from 5000 feet to 10000 feet up, and at 2.000 feet a pilot feels as if he were going to knock the trees out of the ground-not enough el- bow room.
 It was useful work, however, for it blinded the Hun commanders; in- deed at times not a Hun machine was to be seen in the air But it was expensive work. too-we lost a lot of good pilots. One scheme the Huns evolved was to get up bit earlier and get out of sight, and then dive on our machines as they circled above their aerodromes.
 This meant stir and sharp fight | ing Modern machines travel any thing from one to two miles min ute level, and much faster when driving They are practically in visible at about two miles distance. Consequently there is little time to act once an assailant is upon you
 Fights Three Aeroplanes.
 In one such offensive action a pi- lot found himself attacked by three at once. One was diving on him in front, Go the left; one was diving on his tail; and one was coming up | from the aorodrome below. They were all firing at him. He was fly 1 ing fast but clumsy machine. He dived straight at the machine below him and fired into the pilots back. Then he pulled the machine up and
 zoommed" straight up at the one on his front and blazed at that. Sweeping straight on up and over in sideways loop, he brought a side gun to bear on the one behind, and again fired into the pilots back. Another form of offensive most vigorously carried on was contin- ual bomb raids 100 miles and more over the lines. That is where good pilOting comes in. It is not an easy thing to lead a squadron over unknown ground, greatly altered by the developments ot war, for two hours or more, and get them to a lprearranged spot-say an ammuni- ten dump (which. of course, will be carefully concealed and then bring them back again without los ing the way.
 Some pilots have almost an in stinct for this sort of thing. One man led his squadron for two hours over clouds which plotted out all landmarks There were the usual troubles with side winds, which vary in strength and direction at different heights. None the less, when they saw him descend thru the clouds they knew their object i've was at hand and there it was, about five miles away, three min utes' flight Pilots follow such men anywhere.
 To make more sure of getting di- rect hits it was common practice with some squadrons to descend to 300 feet over the place to be bombed If a bomb hits a dump from that height the machine that threw it gets tossed about like a feather in a cyclone. One pilot just missed a shed that it was not really in the orders to bomb. News came to hand afterward that it had been packed fuii of high explosives
 T am sorry I missed it, he said. 'it would have been one of the big gest things ofthe war-but I expect I should have witnessed it from heavenr
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