Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-21
Flying With Shafer
HOT WORK IN THE CLOUDS


Surne! La Nacne! Ia cOcnOnS!
"allez allez!" and he gave the old
motor full gas and started after
the head performers. Not that we
hadn't been coming before! We had
but we were several miles away
when we saw the fight, and being
very high had quite a grandstand
seat. But the Boches saw us coming
and by the time we arrived at the
scene they were away back in their
lines. We are not free to do as we
please in these patrols. you know;
but must follow our leader "tou-
jours." And he decided they were
too far in their own lines to chase,
so we circled around Rheims look
ing for some unwary Boche to
pounce on; but there did not seem
to be any so we came home without
shooting the gun off.
The Escape
1 watched the attacked French
plane, however. after the Boches left
it and am glad to say he leveled out
and flew serenely away. Incidentally,
I'm willing to bet those Beaches
never shot at a more erratic taget.
I'll sure hand it to that French
man. He certainly was some pilot.
When l begin to add up events I
have to admit that it's been some
five days since l wrote last. Cheer
up though, because / will be loating
a day or so, and will have time to
write. You see this morning L was
in a fight and received six bullets in
my upper wing. They were in such
important places that a new wing
will be necessary. Meanwhile l must
wait. 1t happened this way:
Glasses Libre
There were no orders this morn
ling, so three of u,b asked for
"chasse libre" (pernlission to fly
and attack or not attack what you
please). In these kind of patrols,
although one has a leader, he is
somewhat of a free lance and is not
held to account so strictly as TO
what he does, how he does it, or
where he goes. The three of us had
no more than arrived at the lines
than the leaders motor went bad and
he turned around and went home.
We followed a little way, and then
pulled up and went back to the
lines, the Frenchman leading. Soon
we. were floating around over the
lines hunting the Hun again. We
saw some, too-four of them, and
they were not only high er than us
but in the sun as well, so we
promptly turned towards our lines
and began climbing in wide circle
first, to get out of danger, and sec
ond, to attack, for you understand
that a man who flies high and has
the sun at his back has every ad-
vantage in an air combat, because
one cannot look in the sun and see
him coming, and with his height
he can use gravity as well as his
motor to bring him down on his un-
suspecting quarry with terrlnc
speed.
Since these four planes (appar-
emily Boches) did not attack, L be-
gan to wonder if they were not
Spads. (French chasse plane) with
this idea 1 looked at them more
closely and felt sure of it. Five
minutes later they had swung over
on our side of the fence-and way
over at that-and Archie" was not
even barking at them. was sure
they were French then. Besides,
patrol of seven Spads were just pass
ing-they were close enough for me
to see the French insignia-and they
could surely take care of those TOUR
Huns, if such they were, had they
bothered us. / had more important
business on hand. For the last fve
minutes 1 had been watching big
Boche biplane flying back and forth
over Rheims. eve were north Oh
Epernay them.
Close Work
Three times / had seen this IN
ouisitive Hun come over Rheims INTO
our lines and three times go pack
in his own lines. No black Archies
(German shrapnel is all black)
hi,
was a Hun. For the fourth time l
saw him coming across, and getting
impatient because the Frenchman
did nothing l decided to take mat
ters into my own hands, pulled on
full motor, dove down beside him
and shook my wings; for 1t was
quite possible he had not seen the
biplane. as most of the time 1t was
merely a speck.
AS far as 1 could see he never
even answered the signal, but since
he has two Boches to his credit /
knew he would stick If it came to Q
fight. So l took the lead and started
after that Boche. He was coming TO-
wards us, so l swung around in q
wide circle to get behind MIN, ano
at the same time see whether II
really was Boche, for we had peen
told to look CLOSELY dI any hihSiAiai>
we attacked before shooting, as the
English insignia is very dark and
could easily be mistaken for the
Boche at a distance.
Just a little higher than the doubt
full plane, 1 flew closer and closer
looking at it steadily to distinguish
any markings. There did not seem
to be any except that the rudde1
seemed to be all white. Since ]
could see no black cross on this
white background / held my fire
and overhauled him some more, CIV
ing my attention entirely to the
wings this time. The truth broke on
me very suddenly. for was within
fifty meters when the small, black
cross painted on the dark wings
showed up. It's just another proof
of Hun efficiency that they copy the
lines of French planes and crown i
ali by painting the insignia so small
that one has to come very close to
be sure 1t is really a Boche.
Quick Going
But being within fifty meters of