Ripley County democrat., 1918-03-01
Allied AWators Perform Sensa-
tlonal Speed and Dis
tance Feats.
GO FROM ENGLAND 70 ITALY
caderna's Call for Alrpianss and
: Pilots 10 Answered by Great
I Britain and Franee-Fsw 49,
cIdents Are Reported.

Paris.-So many speed and distance
records have been shattered and set
and then surpassed again BY allied
aviators that Il Is doubtful II the best
performances will ever be Strengthened
out and set down on the official books.
But aviators have been flying from
points In England and In France to
the Italian front every day, az the
British and French war Offices have
outdone themselves In their efforts to
re-enforce the French. aviation serv-
ice. Pilots just breveted--and there
were certain number Of Americans
among them-soared into the air, and
following the lead of an instructor
or some veteran aviator. set their
course for Italy.
Youths who had not sat In an air
plane two months before. duplicated
the feat Of Roland Garros which
startled the world few years ago:
the traversing of the italian Alps.
Flights Of 400, 500 and 600 miles with
out stop were common occurrences.
And In all cases the average speed
maintained was considerably more
than 100 miles an hour
Asks for Airplanes.
One Of General Cadorna's first re
quests to the French and British was
for re-cnforcemcnts In nirplanes and
pilots. The Germans had assembled
several score Of their best fighting and
bombardlng escadrIlles on the italian
front and hnd struck suddenly In q
rhody. In one day the German fornia2
tions had practically cleared the afr
of italian fighting aircraft, and they
followed up this advantage by 8 nd
ing over into the Italian lines squadron
after squadron Of bombing machines.
Incendiary bombs and aerinl torpe-
does were rained on the italian avla-
ti0n fields and the hangars and Italian
aircraft burned together.
Both the French and British general
staffs realized that without its "eyes'
the Italian army might wander into
trnps and pitfalls. And they gave the
order at once to reinforce the Italian
aviation service with their own es'
cadrilles. The order went out to all
the aviation camps and schools In
England and France. Within q few
hours the orders were being executed.
Pilots having passed their brevets
were mustered out on the fields. They
were told to wear two leather and rub
her union suits instead Of the single
garment they usually wear. The gaso-
lime tanks were filed and they were
instructed to follow the leader. Then
they scared OF IN long coveya an
headed toward the italian Alps.
Cover Vast Territory.
Some Of the British machines went
clear across England. traversed the
channel, then SCARED over France and
scaled the Alps and proceeded straight
on to the Tagliamento line without
ever descending. French machines
flew from remote corners Of the re-
public over the great mountain range
and across the plains Of Lombardy to
Udine. arriving there before tho rtal-
ians were forced to retreat from that
strategic railway center.
may not even vaguely Indicate the
number Of airplanes that were sent
from France and England. but ] can
state that the number Of accidents was
as low as the average total for a day
at my Of the big aviation schools.