The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1917-01-27
Hundreds of Flights Daily on
Front of AnglO-French.
Sail Among Myriad of Bursting
ShrapneI Bombs.
ONE FIGHTS SCORE OF PLANES
Plucky Lieutenant Downs d
and Returns to Line.
Shamming and Sailing, spec
tacular Ruses of Flyers.

With the British Armies in raI,ee
Ian. 27-The announcement -
"Iuproved weather condltloh9 1one
nitted increased aerial actlNlIy $50
the entire front" is the la aaI ooy,o-
mosaic way in which the othcial on ON
Iounioue disnisses some OF the iho91
uDectacular episodes of the war.
To those who have once WllheT7S
This INCREASED aerial activity sucn
an announcement conjures up at oii. -
a picture of countless aeroplane9.
+be air-scouting, fighting, OWNS,
s-1i,,i,,o, bovering over enemy targets
and calmly sending wireless slSndIs
tby1, the fountains of enemy hre, pno-
tographing the enemy lines ooIlplllS
his ammunition dumps ana sheus CO.
supply columns and otherwise cal :
ring on" in the sky in a manner
,,.bnIiv bewiIdering to the onlooker,
but typifying in supreme degree ene
indisnensable part aviation is playing
in this war.
Some That Don't Return.
with a candor often uncommon in
ti,oes Of strife the British comnu-
nioue may end from day to day Win
the simple statement that one OF Two
or three or four of our nachIiie s
have not returned" This means they
have either been hit and torceo 10
land in the enemy lines, or have peen
shot down to a fate more certain II
is no child's play to circle above
German battery observing for hal1 an
bo,1r or more, tortured by exploring
shells and black shrapnel pun palIs
coming near and nearer IKE the eA
tending finger tips of some hand Oh
death But they are little more than
cbildren-these mere boys who are
bringing the lustre of everlasting Iaine
10 the British aviation service some
are scarce IS. 1t is rare to find fly
ing man over IS
In the aggregate, however the
losses in the flying corps are as hotl
ing compared with the useful and vital
work the wings accomplish WIN
out them the big guns would have no
far-seeing eyes to correct their shells:
without them and the hundreds Oh
photographs they daily take, the map.
makers could not trace each detall OIL
the trench positions. Without them
the general staff could not accurately
know lust what is going on by day
and night behind the enemy hnes.
Without them modern war would lose
its most fascinating phase.
Hundreds of Flights a Day.
The good flying of a single day on
the British front alone may represent
a day of a hundred flights, day OF
four score aeroplanes in winy-to-WlI.g
combat-a day of a thousand personal
incidents and deeds of daring in The
once strange strata of high thin air.
1t might tell. for instance, of how
Lieutenant A in a fast-fying scout
machine. encountered squadron OF
twelve German Rolands. The odds
were one-sided enough, but the young
I3ritisher decided to take a chance. He
climbed swiftly and surely until he
got far above and to the rear of the
hostile craft Evidently the Germans
were intent upon some errand which
for they paid no heed to the khaki
clad airnan until he deliberately Owed
into them, firing as he came. This
threw the twelve Germans into panic
and their formation was entirely brok-
en- up. Meantime Lieutenant A got
beneath the nearest machine and fired
an entire drum of cartridges into it
at fifteen yards. The hostile machine
collapsed and crashed" That is a
supreme word in the lexicon of the
flying corps. a machine may fall, or
dive, but until it is actually seen to
crash it is not counted as an enemy
Casualty"
Fights Three Machines.
After seeing his particular enemy
crash" Lieut.. A drew off to think
things over. He was somewhat amaz-
ed to see still more hostile machines
coming up in formation. But he
dashed at the leader of the new
corners and sent him in spiral nose
dive to a crash This led to still
more complications and the intrepid
little pilot soon found himself engage
ed with three machines. His fight
with these was indecisive
For" says the official record,
having expended all his ammunition,
Lieut. A set off for home"
few days later, it is related, he
took a running dive into a formation
of twenty hostile machines with all
the self-assurance an eagle might
have in the midst of a flock of spar
rows, Before he was thru he had
sent three adversaries Crashing"
This time says the record, ..he