New-York tribune., 1917-12-16

gave him the hardest battle OF his ca
reer. Up and down, In loop after loop,
in spiral, dive and twist they few, slip
ping, turning and dodging, each look
ing for the fatal second when he could
press the trigger on which his finger
rested. Time and again there came
burst Of fire, but always IL was too
late. and the man at whom IL was di-
rected had just twisted out Of line.
Finally the Boche tried TO drop out Of
the contest by planning for his own
lines, but Navarro followed him, cut or
his retreat and forced him to land be-
hind our lines. Navarro landed beside
him out of respect for his adversary
and found his opponent was boy Of
seventeen. The German had quit the
duel only because his gssolene reser-
vor had been punctured and his am
munition was exhausted. The battle
was one of the longest on record, last
ing nesrly FIVE minutes.
1t Is on the chnsse escddrilles (hunt-
ing squadrons) that the supremacy Of
the air rests, and with IL the security
Of all that is going on, in and behind
the Allied lines. They arc the scouts
and fighters; their chief mission is
to keep enemy planes from invading
our territory, and this they do by un-
ceasing patrols of the lines, giving
battle to any Boehc who presumes TO
venture from his own domain. The
patrol Is no hit-and-miss operation;
it is as scientific, as steady and as
careful as the picket duty in the front
trenches, OF the British destroyer pro-
cession across the Channel. II is they
who have kept the Boche from repeat
ing his cowardly raids on Paris, wher'
he Rt one time set out to duplicate
he murders Of women and children in
Lendon.
They also protect the planes engaged
in regulating our artillery fire, and
they have other and interesting duties
which will discuss in another article
Their main activity Is to fght--they
are the duellsts of the air, and it is
this work that ! will describe now.
The details of training have already
been told, and will not repeat them.
IL is sufficient TO recall that for this
work only the very best pilots are as
signed, as the delicacy of the duties
call for many and rare qualifications.
The pilot must, Of course, be imbued
with the highest ideals of duty and
self-sacrifice. He must have undaunted
courage and perfect confidence; he
must be cool under any conditions that
may arise. To attack successfully he
must always do so with the conviction
that he will be the victor.
To help in recognizing enemy planes
each escadrille is supplied with sill
houette photographs of all known types
Of Boche fiers, in all possible posi-
tions. These. with study. the pilot
soon becomes able TO recognize at great
distances. He has to depend far more
on the types of machines than on the
markings which are supposed to show
the nationality OF the plane, as the
Boche are using great many machines
which are carrying the cocarde of the
Allies. Usually these have very
small black cross painted in the centre
of the cocarde, but this cannot be seen
until very close, though under powerful
telescopes it is plain enough to keep
the Boehe gupners from firing on their
own machines. A pilot who approaches
unwarily, in the belief that the ma
chine was one of friend, might pay
dearly for his fault.
Types of Planes
Are Bewildering
in the Flanders district the recog-
milton of planes is particularly diff
cult, because of the great number of
types in use there. Besides the usual
familiar types Of Boche machines, and
the French ones, there are planes of