Albuquerque morning journal. [volume] (Albuquerque, N.M.) 1903-1926, 1917-08-03

after losing six machines.
The majority of these air battles
were at height of 200 feet or less,
and in at least one instance, two OPP
posing pilots battled to within fifty
feet of the groud, at WHICH height the
German side-slipped and crashed to
the earth.
The British planes were under con-
stant and heavy fire, particularly from
rifles and machine guns owing to the
low altitude at which they were fly
ing, but through all this hurricane Of
lead and steel, all but three came
safely. These are reported missing
and there is no indication of what
befell them
Spectacular Daring Shown.
! Wonderful heroism was displayed
by the British airmen who performed
remarkable deeds. One typictl in
stance will indicate the nature OF
important w9rk they carried out A
British aviator crossed the Ypres
salient just as the infantry attack
began at dawn. For a time he pa-
! trolled the roads and canals, now
/ ana then running the gauntlet of
enemy fire at a height of thirty feet
in order TO obtain information for
| the guidance of the infantry in their
advance. During this patrol work he
came to a German ajrdrome. Owing
to the early hour only one enemy was
stirring outside the shed and he paused
in his ablutions only long enough to
satisfy himself that the plane above
| him was one of his own.
Bombs German Sheds.
| The British airman cIrcled low and
dropped bomb squarely on one of
the sheds. This brought numbers of
| Germans tumblng in panic from
the building. He turned his machine
gun on them, and, circling about the
fleld, bombed two other sheds with
disastrous effect. All the time he kept
up steady stream of machine gun
IRE at the Germans, a number of
| whom were killed or wounded.
The Germans finally got a machine
gun into action against him, but he
lived and at twenty feet silenced IL
with his own gun. Having put thi,.
gun out Of action, he circled the field.
firing with his machine gun through
the doors of buildings at the huddled
| enemy within At one time h.
| machine actually touched the ground.
Puts TutOns to Flight,
Leaving the airdome the British
ariators attacked two German mount
ed officers and put them to flight. A
little later he encountered a column
or 200 troops and swept along tho
line with his gun working steadily.
The entire column was dispersed and
fled by devious ways to cover, leay-
ing numbers of their comrades living
in the road
Two German battleplanes appeared
on the scene and the Brton engaged
them both, sending one to earth and
putting the other to flight. He pur-
sued the fleeing plane, but it was soon
lost in the clouds.
In the meantime a large body of
German soldiers had gathered around
the machine which had been brought
down. The British flying man came
sweeping back from the mists in
which he had hidden, and accounted
for several of their number with his
machine gun.
Attacks Troop Train.
His next objective was a troop train.
He travelled along its entire length,
pumping bullets into the crowded cars.
This completes the story of one avi-
ator's fight for the day, but he later
cid valuable scouting work over the
enemy lines
Numerous instances are related OF
pilots charging the anti-aircraft gun
ners and machine gun operators at a
height of thirty or forty feet and ST.
lencing the guns.
Pistol duels between the British
aviators and the German infantry
were not uncommon. In one instance
young aviator, in burst of chivalry,
deliberately stopped his machine gun
when German officer drew his pis-
tol and began shooting at him, and
engaged the enemy with his pistol. ap-
parently feeling that he had no right
to take an unfair advantage Of his
opponent The aviator's pistol was
| II.