Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-04-08
GERMANS BECOME
DEADLY ACCURATE
Aim Has Been Improved Since
Inception of Warfare in
Clouds.
AVIATOR TELLS DETAILS
Their Guns No Longer Entitled
to Flippant Name OF
Archie"

LONDON, April "A British avia
tor. writing from the Somme front to
woman friend. throws the search
light on some interesting details of
warfare in the clouds
OF the antiaircraft guns he writes:
You remark. dear lady. on the
familiarity with which speak OF
Archie. and YOU ask for detailed in
formation about his character and
habits. Why should not treat him
with familiarity? If man calls on
you nearly every day you are entitled
to use his Christian name. And IL
the intimacy is such that at each visit
ne tries to punch your head he BE-
comes more brother than friend
How. you continue, did a creaturs
SO strenuous as the antiaircraft gun
get the tlippant name Of Archie? Well
once upon time the Boche "A. guns
were very young. and had all the i'm
petuous inaccuracy incident to youth.
Rritish airmen scarcely knew they
were fired at until they saw the pretty
white puffs in the distance.
one day n pilot noticed some far
way bursts. presumably meant for
him. He was old enough not to have
forgotten the good old days (you would
doubtless call them the bad old days)
when the music halls produced hearty,
It vulgar. humor. and he murmurcd
Archibald. certainly notn The name
chung. and as Archibald the "A. gun
VIII go down to posterity.
Archie has since grown up and be.
come sober. calculating. accurate. re:
lenucss, cunning and deadly mathee
matical. John or Ernest would now
tit him better. as being more serious.
or Wilhelm as being more friGhtful.
FEW GET HARDENED
TO NILLAINOCS NOISE
Few airmcn get hardened to the VIII
famous noise of loud wouff: wouft:
at 10000 feet. especially when Il Is near
enough to be followed by the Shrek Of
shell fragments. Nothing disconccrtsi a
man more as he tries TO spy out this
land. take photographs. direct artillery
fire or take aim through a bomb sight
than to hear this noise, and perhaps be
lifted hundred feet or so when a she'll
bursts close underneath. And one is
haunted by the knowledge that, unlike
the indirect fire of the more precise
guns. Archie keeps his own eyes on the
target and is prepared for all swcrvos
and dashcs for safety. rt%.f
ITO any one who has seen a ma.
chine broken up by a direct hit at some
height between 5000 and 10000 foot,
Archie becomes a prince among the
demons OF destruction. Direct hits are
fortunately few, but hits by stray fraE-
ments are unfortunately many The
damage on such occasions is rcgretta-
bic. but seldom overwhelming. Given
a skillful pilot and well-rigged bus,
miracles can happen, though machine
stands no technical chance Of stagger-
ing home. ~
Twice ar least. after a direct hit,.ta
wounded British pilot has brought his
craft to safety. with wings and fuselage
weirdly ventilated and hale the contro;
wires helpless. Archie wounded a pilot
from our aerodrome in the head and
leg. and an opening the size OF a ducks
egg was ripped into the petrol tank
facing him. Tho pressure went, and
SO did the engine power. The lines
were too distant to be reached in d
glide. so the machine plancd down to-
ward Hun territory. The pilot was
growing weak from loss Of blood, but
it occurred to him that II he stuck his
knee into the hole he might bo able
and the engine came back to life ffty
feet from the ground. At this height
he flew, In a semiconscious condition.
sixteen miles over enemy country and
crossed the lines with his bus scarcely
touched by the dozens of machine guns
trained on It,
ESCAPES FROM Personal
INJURY ARE STRANGE
Escapes from personal injuries have
been quite as strange \ piece OF high
explosive hit machine sideways,
passed right through the observers
cockpit. and Crazed two kneccaps be-
longing to q FREUD Of mine. He was left
with nothing worse than two cuts and
mild shell shock.
The Archibald family tree has sew
cral branches. Whenever the founder
of the family went on the burst h.
broke out in tho form of white puffs.
like those thrown from the funnel of Il
liner when il begins to slow down.
The white bursts are still frequent
but thr modern Bochc A gunner
spccializcs more in the black variety.
The white bursts contain Shrapnci,
which - cast outwardS and upwards;
the black ones contain high explosive,
which spreads all around.
Then there is the green branch OF
the family. This is something OF
problem One theory is that the green
bursts ar" for ranging purposes only,
another that they contain special
brand of H. T., and Il third declares
them TO be gas shells. ~
First cousin to Archie is the onion
otherwise tho flaming rocket. II lis
iir"d in long stream of what looks
like short rcctanEics of compressed
tlamc NJ machines that have been en-
ticcd down to ii height of 1000 to 5000
feet. There arc also colorless phos-
rhorus rockets that describe a w;ds
parabola in their !ltSht.''
Many Jews In Army.
REnIIN