Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-01-28
.DAR|NG DEEDS DONE
BY ARMY AvIlAlT0Rs
Flying Men in Service Of Great Brit
ain All Are Very i
Youthful. -
SOME ARE BARELY EIGHTEEN
One Lieutenant. in Fast-Flying Scout
Machine, Encounters Squadron Of
Twelve German administration
Adopt RuSe of "Stalling."

WITH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN
FRANCE. January "7.-The announce
men, tina, improved weather condi-
tions permitted increased aerial activ-
lily along the entire front" is the. Ia :
comic and proSaic way in which the
official communion. disrnisses soma OF
the most spectacular episodes of the
war
To thoS. who have once witnessed
this Increased aerial activity such
an announcement centuries up at orce
picture OF countless acroplancs in
the air - scouting. fghting, diving.
spinning. lowering over enemy targets
and calmly sending wireless signals
through the fountains OF enemy tire.
photographinc the enemy lines. bomb
ing his ammunition dumps and sheds
and supply columns. and otherwise
carrying on" in the sky in "a manner
wholly hewilderine 20 the onlooker.
but typifyine in supreme degree the
indspen sable part aviation is playing
in this war.
With a Cauiur often uncommon in
times OF strife, the British communicate
may end from day to day with the
simple statement thai one or two or
three or four ''of our machines have
not returned" This means they either
have hecn hi, and forced to land I'm
the enemy lines or have been shot
down to a fate more certain. II is no
childs play to circle above a German
battery observing for half AN hour or
more. tortured by exploding shells and
black shrapnel puffhallS coming nearer
and nearer like the extending finger
tips of some hand Of death, Hut they
are little more than children-these
mere boys who are bringing the luster
of everlasting fame to the British
aviation service Some scarce
eighteen. II is rare TO find lying
man over Twenty-Five.
"wINGS" ACCOMPLISH
NALuAHLE WORK
In the aggregate, however. the losses
in the flying corps are as nothing.
compared with the useful and vital
work the wings" accomplish. With
out them. the big guns would nave no
farsceing eyes To correct their shells.
without them ana the hundreds of
photographs they daily take the map
makers could not trace each detail
of the trench positions. Without them
the general STAFF could not accurately
know just what is going on by day
and nigh, behind the enemy lines.
Without them. modern war would lose
its most fascinating phase,
The good dying OF II single day
on the British front alone may, rep
resent n day of n hundred fights.
day of fourscore acroDlancs in wing =
towing comhat--a day of a thousand
personal incidents and deeds OF dar-
ing in the once strange sinata OF
high. thin air.
1t might tell. for instance, Of how
Lieutenant ~. in fast-hying scout
machine. encountered 4 squadron of
u al 1.,,, dc H., ~ a.
were one-sidcd enough. but the young
Britisher decided to take a chance.
lie climbed swiftly and surely until
he got far above and 10 the rear OF
the hostile craft. Evidently the Ger
mans We're nten, upon some GRAND
which they proposed 10 carry out In
force. for they pami no heed To the kim
k'-clad airman until he deliberately
diNcd into th"m. firing as he came
, THIS threw the twelve Germans into
panic aud their formation was en-
t,rclN broken up Meantime Licuten-
ant y got beneath The nearest ma
chin" and fred an entire drum of cart
ridges INTO - n fifteen yards The
hostile machine collapsed and ..cras ;,
cd Tina, is suprem. word in Tie
icAic"" OF Inc dying corps. y ma
rhin" may IAN or dive but until 81
IS actually S"cm I" crash" IL IS not
""unj.o rs az enemy "casuaItv'' -
Ait"r seeing his particular enemy.
crash 1.t'ut"nau, y drew off 30 think
Things "v"r ~ wasi.somi"w aInaa-
"a Z" -" al .-lrrc hostil. machines
coming up in formation. su, he dash
cd ~ tn" leader Of the newcomers ana
sent him ~ spira nose dive TO a
crash" THIS led I" still more com
plcaticns and the intrepid li,tla pilot
soon found himself engaged with thre,
machines. Ills fight with these was
indeCisiNc
THREE U,ERsAHIES
SENT "CRASIIINt:"
For, says th" official record. "hav-
ing expended all his anlmunitiom. Lieu
tenant st of FOR home" y f.w
days later, II * stated. he took q run
ming div" int" = formation OF twenty
hositi" machines with al! the self
assnranc" "m eagle might have in the
midst OF a n"ck Of sparrows E"fore
he was through h" had sent three ad-
versaries crashing
This ,imc.' says The record "hr
returned 10 ono Of our aerodrnncs for
more ammunition and returned TO tn"
scene q BATH, wucr" lac engaged and
dispersed such enemy machines as re-
manned in .;he vicinity. one was Sc N