Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1918-09-30
U. s. Av|AT0RS
GAIN MASTERY
Of FOE IN AIR
LoW-FIying Planes Lay Down
Barrage Covering Infantry
and Vanquish Enemy
Formations.
BY Associated Press.

With the American Army North
west of Verdun, Sept. 29.-American
aviators again demonstrated Satur-
day that they are the masters OF the
air on this sector. They engaged in
81 combats and brought down 80
enemy machines without the loss of
one American pilot. The German
airmen appear to have lost the dar-
ing which has characterized their
work of the previous day and did not
venture across the American line
with reconnaissance airplanes after
they had been attacked once by the
American machines. The German
balloons were hastily lowered in
the face of an American attack and
did not appear again during the day.
One of the American pursuit
groups engaged in q combats at low
attitudes and brought down three
enemy machines. Another pursuit
wing had II battles in two sorties
along the line. A third group
dropped bombs on Romagne and
Cunel and engaged in several battles
with German machines, bringing
down six of them.
Aerial patrols left their airdromes
Thursday before dawn and were
over the sector of attack by sunrise.
They began their operations by
launching a successful raid against
the German balloons. six of which
were brought down during the day.
Other aviators directed the continu-
Gus barrage throughout the day all
the way from Chatillon-Sous-Les-
Cotes to Lamarazee at an altitude
never exceeding 1000 yards. Flying
at this low height these patrols were
able to protect the observation air
planes who were doing work for the
infantry.
One Group in % Combats.
One pursuit group engaged in q
combats with enemy airmen. des-
troying two enemy machines and
bringing down out of control num-
Der of others. Other Americans
flew over the German lines to as
far as the Moselle, southwest of
Metz. They found few German ma
chimes but drove back all they
CHANGED to find. The work of the
observation airplanes was virtually
undisturbed by the enemy machines.
A series of deep raids into enemy
territory was made during the day.
The first of these resulted in IS COM
bats in which 10 German airplanes
were destroyed. The second was
made at low altitude for the pur-
pose of bombing concentrations of
enemy troops and conveys. Three
German planes were engaged and
one probably was destroyed.
A third raid was made in con-
junction with a bombing group
against the railroad junction at
Etain, east of Verdun and resulted
in the successful bombardment of
the objective. The Americans met
German f1iers during the bombing
operation and are believed to have
destroyed three of them. Long dis
lance accommodating flights were
carried out and valuable information
obtained concerning German troop
American observation aviators
carried OF IS missions during the
day, starting from their bases be-
fore daylight and working until
long after dark. They came in con-
tact with German infantry on IS oc-
casions.
The aviators were divided into
groups. The first section was as
signed to an infantry unit to re-
port its progress. The second did
observation work, watching the gen.
eral advance, the location of the
enemy troops and the movements of
his batteries. The third section was
attached to the corps for general
scouting and observation work.
The American machines not only
czrried out this work, but them
selves went over to the offensive re-
and spent much time in at
lacking enemy formations.
The aviators returned to their