The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1917-05-25
lv|ATORs s0MERsAu[T
N THE HEAVENS

1.-THE FIELD, May u ~ mai &.
| "A fool. that is what serious
lairmen called the chap who did
stunts with his machine before this
war began. The aerial acrobat
naradoxlcally was looked down up
Ion. Today the whole game has
Iehanged and the more circus stunts
4 pilot can do the safer he is In
the air. Unless a nan can loop
| the loop, fly upside down, bump
| the bumps and do general topsy-
furvs. wine jelly wobhie while new
CIR missing note with his ma
chine-gnu, his life is apt to be
short and slightly agitated one.
With the advent Of long. bright
summer days. battleplanes march
across the sky. patrol the clouds
and do possibility there in just the
same way as soldiers do on the
ground There are machines cor
responding to infantry. which go
i'll droyes and attack or repel at
tacks. Others are like cavalry and
DO scouting. Still more are COM
parable to the artillery. Some
are like tanks. some like arfnorea
motor ears aud some do sniping
among the creamy thRndarheada.
But the pilot of each machine
must know how 10 fly as human
beings never flew before otherwise
TIE craekerbox ON which he sits at
meaitlme is sure to play the role
OF a vacant chair at some not very
distant date.
From a gun-pit near Monchy-ie-
Brenn | have just witnessed some
OF the most terrific fighting Of the
war Aside from the savage at
taeks and counter attacks by sin-s
bpry throughout this region AMI
an artillery activity thus far I'm.
surpassed anywhere, tire battle vas
iust Is tough IN tie air as on In,
earth
4. tleat Of Is Wide-vinsea bomb
ers swept across the line high up,
accompanied by light fighters dart
ing about Ike hawks keeping hos
tile machines al distance. Pa
trolls guarded the British side OF
the lire, sailing up ard down, swery-
.ing AMI turning. ready for attacking
Ior defending. while air sentinels
kept watch about the observation
balloons lest out 81 the cloud-puffs
should dart q destroyer-type German
plane and put the sausage down.
Now aud then, as Prussian airmen
attempted to force their way over 10
the English side TO give their artil-
lery the range ON batteries or troops.
fierce fighting developed in which
machines We're brought down crash
ing.
Between Moachy and Gueinappe
the German infantry suddenly APP
peared IN the open, coming from be-
hind Vert Wood southeast of Monehy
end the enemy artillery increased
their she'll fire on this hilltop town
until it Was buried under white, yell
low and black smoke. shrapnel fill |
led the air with their twin puffs Of
Isnoke. one white puff and one black
land. lest the British should throw in
their reserves, a harrage of light and
heavy explosives reined down on the
slopes to the west
Here British battlepanes got in
some OF their stunts, stuats which
would have set grandstand wild
with mixed awe and delight. one
pilot s~ooped down almost perpen-
diculeriy as though about to crash
into The shattered roof-topa of smok-
ing. seething Monchy. but. just as
he seemed about 10 touch, he ca
feened on the tip oil one wing. turned
al slekeHtng speed to the right and
disappeared into the smoke of bat
dc, few yards az most over the
heads Of the madiy attacking Ger
mans. For a few seconds his sudden
/ appearance and the deadly work Of
bis machine gun must have caused
something akin to panic in the enemy
ranks, tacn he shot up and away
again at 100 miles an hour Round
and round DE turned, swooping on
the back stretch Of every round. un-
~ eofarletely loss TO view. He loon
/ Cd twisted, wobbled and Owed so
mat only cAanee shot might touch
him. it looked as If he had gone
MAD. yet oniy this seeming madness
nia4e his escape from death posi-.
ibie Put for his aerial aefoba,ice he
ana hfs machine would have been ril
80 '-.- ----s~.------