The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1918-07-15
ENEMY PLIER'S IDEA
GIVES HIM WOE ONLY
Fritz Steals British Plane and
U. s. Uniform and Then
Takes Air.

Fritz, the German aviator. had an
idea. or at least q part Of an idea, and
how It led him to make a daring attempt
to deceive tho Allies and how It ended
with his capture forms the most Inter
esting part of q letter received yester-
day from Violet McAllister. q Saliva
ton Army worker at the front.
1t happened that the German got pos
session of . British airplane. He pro-
ceeded to camouflage 1t to resemble q
French machine. donned the uniform OF
an American soldier and then blithely
flew over the lines to have friendly
chat with the aces Of the Allies. There
was one thing he overlooked. Now that
nobody in the International family Ia
on speaking terms with the Germans.
Fritz forgot that a large and friendly
family Of Allies might take the precau-
ton to Identify an operator against
Deutschland.
But here Is the story as the young
woman tells 1t. and It's q lot better than
q second hand telling
Wanted to Interview AirmeH.
ut seems that a German got posses
sion Of a British airpIane which was
landed behind his lines In a night and
he painted It to look like a French ma
chine. Then he got into tho uniform Of
. United States soldier and boldly sailed
over into our lines. His idea OF course
was to stick around among our airmen
for q few hours and get an Idea OF their
future plans.
Then no could dash back to the Ger
mans with tho Information and qualify
for a couple of tons of iron crosses But
he overlooked one little item. This en-
terprising Boche did not know that q
countersign Is required in the air when
an aviator passes. Just as 1t Is on the
ground. The supposedly French ma
chine was seen coming and signal was
set The Boche. Of course. did not even
notice 1t. Again and again he was sig
nailed to give the countersign, but he
simply sailed ahead.
Then the squadron stationed there
took the air in a hurry and we all rushed
| out because the thing took place Just
above our hut. The Boche was hang
| ing pretty low at that The Allies boxed
| him in and flew along giving him one
| more chance TO give the countersign
| 1t was all Greek to the Boche, SO they
| tumbled him down to earth. French
| emblem, American uniform and all. He
| was not killed. but he was very sore
| and disappointed youth when they herd.
eQ MIN III WIN INC plicoHeiS ahu pu'
his machine into actual French service
| against the Germans"
Americana Wonder Work.
| Miss McAllister told OF riding a mule
train and walking to get to the front
| and Of wearing q gas mask which ar
| American General had given her after
It had been captured from the Germans
| THE victories recently won by oul
boys are holding she said. and yo,
can be glad to know that the American.
are doing some Of the most wonderful
work OF the war. After taking their OBJ
jectives they have held fast. In fact
they have averaged two kilometer'
| u,24 miles) beyond their detectives
| Ten German tanks attacked at one poin
and were driven off. The optimism o
the boys is perfectly great"
Violet McAllister and her sister Alic'
are both In service. Their home 10 II
Portland, Me, and they have inquired
actively in recent reports from tn
front.