The sun., 1918-12-29
THRILLS IN AVIATION FELT BY NIGH FL
Seemingly Impossible Stunts Accomplished by Youthful
Airmen and Night Bombing Perfected to a Literally
High Art-Some Of the Experiences of Men
Who "Outstrafed' the Hun

same fate might overtake him. Bona.
times the parachute opened and fool,
the mar down. Sometimes It dldn,,
and bodies have been found yedeed
three feet in the ground by the fal'
At the same time don't forget that iu,,
as terrible deaths have been suffer,d
In train travel and motor car low
riding.
Homecoming Dihicult Work.
A homecoming from a bomb raid
through storm was ugly work, All
formation flying was broken up and
the airmen had to spread u to avoid
collision. Airmen describe their sen.
sations az like being at sea during "A
| gale in a cigar box for a float. Only
straps held the men in their seats.
Propeller blades and wings and in
struments alike disappeared in the
| dark. Only the men who knew The
| horizontal from the feel of the air"
could keep any kind Of reckoning.
The whole aim was to stay high I'D
above danger OF trees or steeples.
There Is only one case on record o.
an airplane being hit by lightning, hu.
with flashes and claps like heavy ar
! tillery multiplied to the nth degree
around a craft in mid sky about the
size relatively of a nudge in a churcl
dome storms did not add to the Joy
of night raiding. Goggles were blurred
by the rain, and If the pilot took them
off he was literally blinded ny tho
cold sting of whip lashos.
The only comfort was that the en-
envy were not looking up in a storm
and many a daredevil aviator on The
principle that If you AVE to die bette
die doing something has dived down
through such gales to bomb enemy
columns of cavalry or railroad bridge
or troop trains; and II the boy hit a
wire in his dive all the dispatches re
lated was zone of our planes did not
return"
Repelling Zepp raids was one Of The
night fier's duties. It was, in fac,
Zepp raiding that began night flying
in the war. Searchlights swung ahoy"
the attacked cities like great bluo
swords. The Zepp could not be heard
approaching and she could keep afoa'
in mid air in utter silence and ut'cr
darkness above her victims.
Fifty Planes Guarded Paris.
The nrefies high I'm mid heaven.
a1oat like moving stars, were the
night fiers searching the BIZ vulturss
in the dark. Fifty such planes KEEP
guard over Paris all through the war
and on the approach Of a Zeppelin TO-
more took the air. who 'old the Zepp
.l,a,,,.r1- - foot r-p ir
the vault of darkness, where to ain.
his bombs? Two thousand feet Or
more below the Zapp fioated its car
with its observers. but these observers
dared not come within -four thousand
feet of the city TO be attacked. WI"
signalled them where to wire UP &
the Zepps TO drop their dcstruction'
Some spy in the city with a code ~
colored lights-it might be an %cle'tri'
light with a color bulb run NJ by =
wire to the top OF a caimney.
All in all. It is a question X ~"
Zepps destroyed both in Paris and
London many more than a thousand
lives. though this is a mere guess tror'
scanty facts escaped through the cen
sor's hands; but the Xeip~ forced
night nylng as u part VI az "'''a.
and it is a dead certainty that nigh.
raids have accounted for many times
1000 casualties among to enemy.
They have, In fact compete. the
panic stampede Of residents from til
Rhine cities.
It is interesting to note Nh,le "
have not built heavy bomherS iup to
the time of writing) for ourselves IN
America we have built heavy o"m0erS
for the Allies. and it needs Only a mo
ment's thought TO know that after m
war some compromise etN"on .fa'F
, bomber and huge rying boats w..
the ultimate cargo CARRYING ,..ft O.
The skies.