Rogue River courier. (Grants Pass, Or.) 19??-1918, 1918-09-03

Aviation Than Any Man Of Allies.
Rens Fonck. the young nee Of aces
who recently won bis forty.nInth Off
ciaIly recorded victory. may best be de-
scrIbed NJ the man with perfect nerve.
hut no trace Of nerves. Those who
have hsd the opportunity to study him
closely believe this superb Ic!se is the
secret ~ his success.
To show how free be II from foIbles:
Most famous nvintors become at
inchcd 20 fayorite machine. When
they have won few victories In II
they regard II with affection. even
With superstition: II IL lucky.
by contrast. Fonck has habit OF
giving his machine 10 any youngster
who has just won bis pilots commits
sion and who has caught the great
nce's fnncy.
TRY this one. lad" he VIII say. ut
seems 10 be nil right 4" and thus passes
title TO q plane In which he has downed
Two or three Germans.
Then he takes the next machine sent
70 the camp from the factory
Built Like a Boxer.
l'onck Is OF medium height and
weight and has the walk and carrlage
y o skillfuI boxer. Men OF scientific
irrt Say his rencses are perfect
in.rtlihly swift and accurate. Besides
his he has extraordinary vision. II
aa. happened more than once when he
1ns led squadron that he has sig
iaed to the other pilots the approach
y German plane. It's exact locatlon.
aa angle from which II should be at
I'd and It's speed. all this before
ily " the others had seen 1t at all.
< need hardly be ndded that he Ia a
'stasrsably accurate shot. another
rlplof his superb vision and perfect
|eye control.
like all the great flIers. he Is fa-
anic on the subject. When he talks
| i q Of nothing hut motors. new mod
els OF planes, aerial tactics and ma
chlae guns. But riore often he sits
through dinner with hts friends with
out uttering syllable.
Speaking OF tucti>s, he has none, or
1t least no set method. He lmproyises
as he goes along. Like the other pu-
nils Of that great instructor Of fiIers,
conmnndant Broca-d. he Is full OF in
geDlous surprises. Incidentally. Bro
card believed In him from the first. A
year ago Georges Prade. journalist
II note, was talking to the master, ex-
pressing his fears for the future Of
tho combat sqnadrons with Dorme, Ma
Sayre, Rochefort. Lenoir gone. and
Guynemer and Nungesser fighting on
by sheer will power and determination
despite wounds which would havo
crippled the ordinary mar. Brocard
replied simply:
Had Card Up His Sleeve.
But we have Fonck. DO sou know
ronck? He is unique"
Fonck was all but unknown.
hut he could not remain long in Oh
scurity--not q young man who kept
putting down plane after plane this
score now is over sixty. eleven having
fallen out Of sight Of Official observera)
ans always without a scratch to him.
self or his machine. For Forek never
has been wounded. Many of his VIC
tories were won before the German
adversary had chance to fire a shot
Incidentally he Is said to know more
about German aviation than any other
man among the allies.
Brocard taught him to fly anything
and everything. including the first ar
tillers observation machine with two
motors. Fonck himself says he liked
every machine he ever tried except the
one he attempted to make out Of his
mothers buffet when he was ten years
old. He spoiled the buffet. he says,
and the results were painfully unsatis-
factory.
Finally, he is modest; he keeps say
Ing he Is lazy. and very likely he really
means 1t, because he keeps comparing
himself to Guynemer. Guynemer was
always In the air; he was untiring, at
work hour after hour Fonck by com.
parison flies seldom. He never goes up
unless he feels just like It. He cannot
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