Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-24
Escadrille Spad 3S.
Secteur Postal 240,
C C %
u. Z. z z,
Aug. 5, 1918

ocCleuT TOSlal Z4Us
G. C. 90,
Aug. 5. 1918.
Dear Mother:
I've been at it again! And like
most fools who rush in where angels
fear to tread-got away with 1t. Also,
once again l have been led to one
side by my commanding officer and
brought to task for the folly of
my ways-that of placing myself in
needless danger. So the captain of
this division of eScadrilles seems to
think anyway. OF course, L was fully
aware of the danger l was running
one is liable to be with archie"
talking loud and frequent-but l did
not think it needless.
Attacks Sausage Balloon
You see, / had attacked two bal
| looms without burning them, and
when l came to the bureau to make
my report, L wanted to know why,
and then it was that l learned a lot
of things about a sausage" l never
knew before, how to attack. the
principle on which the flowing bull
lets : carried worked, and many
other things useful to a balloon
hunter. Indeed, if there was no re-
suit from the attack, it taught me
lot of things very necessary to
know. 1t seems l had been going
about it the wrong way, having been
told by several officers to always at
tack u balloon with the wind at my
back, the principal being that if one
got real close and it blew up, the
flames would not engulf one. 1t
sounded quite feasible-if the bal
loon burned, but since 1 tried three
times without setting anything af1re,
1 never proved the theory. The cap
tain then drew a diagram and eX-
planned why that way was wrong.
The correct way was exactly the
pposite-attack with the wind in
ones face.
With the aid of the diagram the
"gentil' captain then explained the
reason why. His first thought SEEM
ed to be for my safety and he
wanted to know whether l knew
that the observer in the basket was
armed with two machine guns. Sure
L knew that. but considered 1t a
necessary evil in attacking said
sausage" and let it go at that. A
sausage" always heads into the
wind, you know, thus attacking with
the wind at ones back, there is not
such a large area for a target, be-
sides one is in range of the OBJ
servers machine guns.
The latter didn't seem to me to
be a great danger. for it would be
one mighty nervy observer who
would coolly shoot at an airplane
shooting flaming bullets into his gas
bag. He would certainly jump "toute
de suite" but the captain considered
it a danger to guard against and
used it as a point in urging the
necessary Of attacking into the wind,
thus coming down on the back OF
the balloon and since a balloon
hangs not horizontal, but on an
angle, the attacking pilot is hidden
from the observer and is thus out
of range.
The principle point he made,
though, was the principal on which
the incendiary bullets worked. Since
on the leward side of the balloon the
air was more tranquil this would
allow the flaming bullets a better
chance to burn the balloon. BY at
tacking in front the strong Wind
would blow out the fire. Am l tlring
YOU with all these details? They
are so important to me though. and
besides it will give you better idea
of my future work, as I intend to
specialize on balloons.
Tries Third Time
1t was yesterday that l made my
second and third try at a balloon.
The sky was filled with clouds at a
height of 1900 meters, which made
balloon hunting very good--if there
were any up. Besides the bad
weather would keep the Hun planes
out of the air, and Heaven knows l
had enough to dodge. what with
shrapnel, the onion gun, skyrockets
and machine guns, without having
half a dozen Huns jump me after
had shot all my bullets at bal
LOOM.
Frenchman Goes Along
A Frenchman wanted to go along.
so we were soon among the clouds
humping it for the lines. Reaching
them, we flew along the lines to the
Argonne forest, looking for the fat
bulk of "a Boche Balloon in the air.
But none did we see, so when we
came to the forest L hoped into a
big cloud and headed for tn" Berlin
side of the fence. My idea was to
come out on top of the cloud, and
being about seven miles in Germany
then. turn and fly towards Rheims
parallel to the lines and see If
could see a balloon on the way. The
idea was good, but the clouu was
one of those weepy kind and didn't
seem to have any top. Not liking
the driving rain. and there seeming
to be no top to this particular cloud.
L dove out of 1t, coming out in Ger
many naturally, where Archie"
opened up right away. Being in a
hole of open sky, ringed in by walls
of white clouds on all sides. and
"a rchie'' barking quite frequent, /
promptly dove into the chiffon wall
on the other side. l had lost the
Frenchman, of course. when 1 dove
in the first cloud. and since 1t would
have been waste of time to hunt
him in all that floating cotton"
(the French name for clouds) l
continued on my original plan of
naralleling the lines to Rheims.
Still Looks For Balloons
There seemed to be no balloons
afioat though, but 1 kept on looking
and finally saw one lust ahead. IL
was not even up in the air. but lay