The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1917-06-14
Most Dramatic Feature OF New
Warfare Developed IN Eu-
ropean BattIefleIdS.
WRITER GIVES VIVID PICTURE
YOUNG Aviators Take Deadly RISKS
and DO Work OF Terror in Same
Spirit Knights of Old Went
Forth to Battle.

Misunderstanding that the great war
has developed is more dramatic and
thrilling than battle between ayia-
tors amid the clouds. 1t has come to
be q common occurrence for IA detach-
ment Of airmen TO ambuscade them
selves behind cloud bank, sweeping
down suddenly from cover upon their
opponents.
A correspondent with the British
armies east of Arras sends this de-
scription Of aerial warfare;
There have been hours when
have heard overhead "A continual tat
too OF Lewis guns and when a great
sweep of sky has been racked out with
white shrapnel clouds following our
flying squadrons engaged holly with
hostile machines. one cannot follow
the progress of these aerial battles
1t is only rarely that one can distin-
guish an enemy machine from ours,
except by cloudlets of our anti-air-
craft barrage But far and high one
sees the during specks chasing
through the blue, touched sometimes
by sunlight, so that for a moment they
are all golden or glistening or white
as snowfiakes. and down 10 one comes
the loud dr0ne Of engines and the lit
tie hammer-knocks of Lewis guns.
Look Like Butterflies.
Our soldiers on the march stare up
at the war above their heads, so aloof
from them, so dreamhke, and the men
on the supply columns get their
glasses out and laugh when one Of our
kite balloons is hauled down sudden
~ with great haste. "Old Rupert has
got the wind up" they say "a Boche
plane must be sneaking round II is
no Joke when a German airman de- |
sends out Of a cloud and huyers over |
a battery. signaling back 10 his guns. /
was In such a situation the other /
day and had TO crouch with the gun /
nerS below a bank while shrapnel bull
lets from our own Arches" whipped .
the ground about.
AAtA N lA~N NUft tUlAF AAAN klAF NhgF
for the new German fighting machines
have crimson planes, so that they look
Ike butterflies when the sun Is on
them. Enemy airmen have been try
Ing TO compete with our own by swoop
Ing low above marching troops and
gun teams and using their machine
guns 10 way which adds new
)erils 10 war. But though they fight
behind their own lines with great skin
and courage, they do not come over
Jur country In any such numbers as
our men invade theirs.
These boys--for they are absurdly
poung In the average age-take all
these deadly risks and do all this
work Of terror with the same spirit
as the young gentlemen of England
who rode out with Sir John ChandOs
and Sir Walter Nanny TO seek com
bat with French knights many hun
dred years ago along the roads where
our modern alarms go marching
today.
German Tires First.
During this recent fighting one of
them challenged a German Albatross,
which accepted fight, and for an hour
they did every trick known to flying
stalllng, banking side-slipping, loop.
ing-ln order 10 get In the first shot.
1t was the German who tired first,
though he showed himself master Of
his machine.
There are boys In our mir service
who have killed six or seven Germans
In single combat. A few have account
ed for many more, and 20 OF ngaln
for II mornings hunting Of men as
though on a good adventure. Yet they
know the risks and the fortune of war
They cannot have all the luck all the
time. When the turn comes It Is quick
to the end; or, If hit and left alive.
they do amazing things w there in the
high skies TO save the final crash.
A few evenings agO two Of our
young officers were attacked by five
hostile aircraft, and both were wound.
cd, one In seven places. but they de-
stroyed one Of the German airplnnes
and landed safely though their own
machines were pierced by many but
let's
On another evening Of the bnttle ~
Arras TWO hostile aircraft were en-.
gagged by one Of ours and forced 10 .
land, though one OF our officers had
his collarbone broken by u machine /
gun bullet.