Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1917-02-12
WHEN MAN MEETS
MAN AND DEATH
Many a Tragedy Turks Behind
Laconic Story of Clashes
in the Clouds.
MERE BOYS ARE BIRDMEN

WGhG bO1o AhG blhOmEN
Correspondence of The Associated Press.)
With the British Armies in France,
Jan. 8.-The announcement that I'm
proved weather conditions permitted
increased aerial activity along the
entire front" is the laconic and prosaic
way in which the official communique
dismisses some of the most spectacu-
lar episodes of the war
To those who have once witnessed
this increased aerial activity" such
an announcement conjures up at once
a picture of countless aeroplanes in
the air-scouting, fighting, diving,
spinning, lowering over enemy tar
gets and calmly sending wireless
signals through the fountains of en-
envy fire, photographing the enemy
lines, bombing his ammunition dumps
and sheds and supply columns, and
otherwise carrying on" in the sky in
a manner wholly bewildering to the
onlooker, but IMPLYING in supreme
degree the indispensable part aviation
is playing in this war.
With candor often uncommon in
times of strife, the British. communi-
que may end from day to day with
the simple statement that one or two
or three or four "of our machines
have not returned" This means they
have either been hit and forced to
land in the enemy lines, or have been
shot down to fate more certain. 1t
is no child's play to circle above a
German battery observing for half an
hour or more, tortured by exploding
shells and black shrapnel puffballs
coming nearer and nearer like the ex
tending finger tips of some hand of
death. But they are little more than
children-these mere boys who are
brins .lg the luster of everlasting fame
to the British aviation service. Some
are scarce eighteen. 1t is rare to find
flying man over twenty-five.
Important Work.
In the aggregate, however, the
losses in the flying corps are as moth
ing compared with the useful and vital
work the wings" accomplish. With
out them the big guns would have no
far-seeing eyes to correct their shells.
Without them and 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 night behind the enemy lines.
Without them modern war would lose
its most fascinating phase.
The good flying" of single day on
the British front alone may represent
day of a hundred fights, day of
four score aeroplanes in wing-towing
combat day of 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
Britisher 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
they proposed to carry out in force,
for they paid no heed to the khaki
cald airman until he deliberately Owed
into them, firing as he came. This
threw the twelve Germans into a
panic and their formation was entirely
broken up. Meantime Lieutenant A
got beneath the nearest machine and
fired an entire drum of cartridges into
it at fifteen yards. The hostile ma
chine collapsed and crashed" That
is 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"
A Hero's Work.
After seeing his particular enemy
CRASH" Lieutenant A. drew off to
think things over. He was somewhat
amazed to see still more hostile ma
chimes coming up in formation. But
he dashed at the leader of the new
Corners and sent him in spiral nose
dive to crash" This led to still
more complications and the intrepid
little pilot soon found himself en-
gagged with three machines. His fight
with these was indecisive.
For" says the official record, "hay-
ing expended all his ammunition,
Lieutenant A set off for home"
A few days later, it is related, he
took running dive into formation
of twenty hostile machines with all
the self-assurance an eagle might have
in the midst of flock Of sparrows.
Before he was through he had sent
three adversaries crashing"
This time" says the record, "he
returned to one of our aerodomes for
more ammunition and returned to the
scence of battle, where he engaged
and dispersed such enemy machines
as remained in the vicinity, One was
seen to crash upon housetop."
A Diving Duel.
This same little Lieutenant A seems
to persist in the records of the serv-
ice. One day he was crossing the en-
envy lines at 500 feet when he found
himself directly above German kite
balloon. sent up for artillery obser-