Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1917-01-26
Americans Thrill Allies
With Daring Air Attack

Continued from PaEe One
foreign army and that the other is n brave
German. doing what he conceivos to be his
duty-one realizes that here are two COM
batants worth watching.
Very rarely do the Germans venture
over our lines and one has TO be very far
forward nowadays 60 get good view Of
n fight between the Allies and the enemy
in the air. have had good fortune several
times.
The air fighting Of 1914 bears as much
resemblance to the air lighting of 1917 as
an old steam automobile to the siN-cylnder
Of today There is perpetual match In
speeding up between the enemy and the
Allies Four or five miles an hour extra
pace means everything 1t Is not an in
crease OF engine power to over 200 horse
power that brought about the change so
much as the wonderful progress In the art
of flying itself, and It s just here that the
Anglo-Saxon and the Frenchman beat the
slower-minded German. 1t Is just this
reason why German soldiers letters are
now so full Of complaint about overcauttous
German ayiators
THE NOSE DIVE"
When Pogoud invented loopng-the-loop
the people asked why2 What's the Use
OF it2 Pegoud was a very considerable
inventor as well as a flyer ia the answer.
Looping -the-loop Is a useful maneuvcr, and
IL has been succeeded by that extraordinary
development, the nose dive" in which an
airman seems to fall like a stone for a
thousand feet till the spectators hair rises
from his head in horror: : then suddenly the
machine flattens out and scots away and
you find It only a trick after all.
I talked with one Of our wounded boys
he was just nineteen--who had fallen 5000
feet, owing to his rudder wire connection
being shot through. BY n miracle his ma
chine Strengthened itself out automatically
within 100 yards Of the ground, and the
hoy is alive and will fly again. ] asked him
HRS sensations, He Is probably the first
man in the world who has fallen 5000 feet
more than ten times the height of the
Woolworth Building.
He said that for n long tmc--it seemed
like hours--he knew he WIS falling at "A
tremendous speed, and then he lost con-
sciousness. As in n dream he found him
self being picked UP out of the wreck Of
his machine by people who thought he
was dead.
At the beginning of an air fight there is
maneuvering for positions and feinting, as
in boxing There are, as n rule, two men
in each machine--a pilot and an observer
except in the smaller types in which the
wings are clipped down to nothing to get
extra speed and climbing power. Know
ledge of the engine and plane power, quick
ness of decision and accuracy OF shooting
with the Lewis gun are essential to the
pilot. His observer is provided with some
form Of pistol and often with bombs
MANEUVER1NG FOR POSITION
Rival planes. like giant hawks hover
around or below each other till one, more
expert or more daring than the other, man
euvers his opponent into position from
which he has either got to fight flee.
The knockout blow is usually sudden de-
scent on the enemy, accompanied by ac-
curatc machine gun fire. Sometimes II be-
comes a duel with Browning pistols, in
which the men are so close that they can
see each others eyes
The thing is over before you realize IT,