Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1917-05-31
Toll Of German Planes
Taken in May viii
Mount Far Into
Hundreds.
cFrom STAFF Correspondent of the

'rioih otdI correspondent OF the
Associated Prcss.)
BRITISH FRONT IN FRANCE. May
80 tvia London).--Thc recent lull in
the fighting has had no effect what
ever upon the British aerial offensive
which continues day and night with
unrclenting intensity. In tho last few
days there have been witnessed some
of the most desperate air battles of
the entire war. One or two of these
have been fought at the unprecedc nj cd
height Of $4,000 feet, or more than
three and one-half miles from the
earth.
Recently there was duel. in which
a British pilot. having run out Of
ammunition for his machine gun, got
close enough to his antas sonist to shoot
him down with his revolver This in
cident served to recall the fact that
when the war began the only weapons
which aerial pilots had were pistols
and carbincs.
Commenting to-day on the dazzling
attitudes (which many ,ombats occur
nowadays. a pilot said that when he
first went to war in ls14 he few a
machine which took an hour and a
quarter to reach 5000 feet.
That's nothing" said one OF his
days couldn't reach 5000 feet at ali"
The airplane which could not nego-
tiate 10000 feet we'll under ten
minutes would be trapped quickly
now.
TENDENCY OF GERMAN
MACHINES TO BREAK
notable feature OF the air fighting
in the last ten days has been the ten.
dency of the German machines to
break in pieces soon after being shot
out OF control.
The toll of German planes destroyed
in May will mount fae into the .,un-
dreds. In last Sundays fighting alone
thirty were accounted for. Fifteen
were seen to crash to the ground,
fourteen We're driven down completely
out of control, and one was shot down
by artillery.
One OF the melees on Sunday, be-
tween six British, and eight German
machines |; was ;asSff2t thrillip as any
/ aerial battle ever fought, 1t was at
close rsTthfou shout: so close. in
fact. that wings scraped against wings
and lighting pilots could look each
other squareiy in the eye. No sooner
would a British pilot swoop UP to the
tail OF one of the German machines
than another German was upon his
tail. This German in turn, would al
most imm ediately have another British
pilot pouring bursts OF machine gun
bullets at him. Al one time seven
machines were following each other in
headlons fashion toward the Garth
II was nearly o'clock in the even
ING when the British offensive patrol
sighted the eight Germans. we'll over
their own lines The enemy machines
fled, but were eventually overhauled
and brought to combat. The COM
mander of the British forma ton dived
at the nearest German. but the latter
turned sharply beneath him. and
escaped the first burst OF fire. The
commander then attacked another ma
chine Just in front OF him, pouring
i'm many rounds at ranges shortening
from fifty TO twenty yards The Ger
man went down 1000 yards in a spin.
then turned over and continued to fall.
completely out Of control
SWAPS BACK AND FORTH
LIKE PIECE OF PAPER
BY this time another hostile aircraft
was on the commanders tail He tried
to shake off the German. but could not
do so. and deliberately went down in
spin Whom he flattened out he
found the German still with him, and
so he again went down in a spin. The
German was then attacked by Brit
ish pilot. who had followed him down.
and sat on his tail. fiooding his ma
chine with bullets until he went tum-
bling to earth, swayinG back and forth
like n piece OF paper in a gale.
Spinning and diving. this remark
able battle kept up until three Ger
mans had been shot down. The others
having fed, the British patrol reformed
without single casualty. The pilot
who brought down a machine with
seven shots from his automatic pistol
already had accounted for two other
Germans. making record of three
for the day.
One of the most remarkable escapcs
from death which a pilot ever had
occurred to-day. While over the Ger
man lines his machine was hit by n
she'll, which tore Il hole through it
and exploded on the engine. wrecktnE
it. The pilots leg was fractured in
two places. but he brought his ma
chine back over the lines to within
ivc feet OF tho ground, where he lost
consciousness and crashed to the
earth. The machine was no shot about
that the men who eXtricated the young
flyer had TO pull him through the hole
which the shell had made
Nightly British flyers drop tons of
bombs on military establishments back
of the German lines