The sun., 1918-09-11
BRITISH AIR FEATS
CITNCHED VICTORY
Observers "COrk" Bullet Holes
in Gasoline Tanks With
Their Fingers.
ENEMY WINGS DEFECTIVE
Many Collapse, Showing How
Hard Germans Are Put
for Good Material.

wrTH THE BRITISH ARMIES IN FRANCE,
Sept. 1o,--Amazlng feats by British
airmcn during the recent fighting may
now, be mentioned. After driving down
in flames one of two enemy two ssaters
British scout had engine failure.
which compelled him to spin down.
As the machine touched the ground
German fired his pistol at the pilot
from fifteen yards, puncturing the gaso-
lene tank. At that moment the engine
picked up sufficiently to carry the pilot
to the rear Of the British lines. where
he was forced to come down again.
Being under a heavy fire he removed
the gunlocks and sights and all his
instruments before abandoning his ma
chine. which could not be saved.
A pilot and observer returning in
their machine from a bombing raid fell
behind their formation because OF en-
CINE trouble and were attacked by
Fokkers. The elevator controls were
Immediately shot away and the OBJ
server was badly wounded. He con-
tinued to fight and shot down one Fox
ker in flames and saw another crash
out Of control.
Observer Had Ten Wounds.
BY this time all the gasolene tanks
had been shot through and the engine
hit In several places. All the instruments
on the dashboard were smashed by en-
envy bullets, Both rear guns were
damned. and the observer was bleeding
badly. The pilot succeeded in getting
his machina into dive. and went
through cloud and reached the British
lines. The gallant observer was found
to have been wounded ten times during
the fight.
Attacked by a squadron of enemy air
planes. a lone British scout spun down.
| ward, but on the way saw that only one
of the enemy was following him, SO ne
came suddenly out Of the spin Just above
a grove OF trees and caught the enemy
machine crossing In front of him and
shot 1t to the earth, where II burst into
flames.
There are many stories, too, OF how
British airmen swooped back and forth
over the German batteries, playing their
guns on the enemy until these guns
were completely silenced. One report
winds up by saying that scout ma
chine crossed a battery position several
times later. but was not fired upon. all
the gunners apparently having been
killed.
Such tactics as these aided materially
possible. One British scout sailed over
an enemy sausage. made a dive and
finished of two German sentry planes
then fired on the sausage. which was
being hauled down, and finally wound
UP the performance by dropping two
bombs squarely on the winch used In
raising and lowering the balloon.
"COrkinR" Bullet Holes.
There were many instances where the
observer crawled out on the wings and
"corked" bullet holese in the gas tanks
with either his fingers, handkerchief
or glove. One machine had its star
board top and bottom planes broken by
anti-aircraft fire. The observer leaned
over the side of the fuselaEe. holding a
| machine gun In his hands, and thus
maintained the balance and enabled the
airplane to land safely, although all the
| controls except the elevator were useless
Another machine had its gas tank
punctured BY bullet and the pilot was
wounded in the leg. The fuselage burst
into flames, but the observer kept the
| fire under control from a great altitude
| with a small extinguisher until the ma
chine was brought TO earth, where il
blazed up. the observer rescuing tbs
] wounded pilot just in time to save his
life
| There Is an increasing number o.
| cases In which British pilots have at
| tackled enemy night bombers caught II
| searchlight beams. In every case re
ported the enemy has been shot down
During one fight we'll inside the Germa,
| lines the pilot was wounded badly. bu
! the observer from the rear seat leanet
over and with his right hand helped Il
bring the machine safely back. whil
with his left he fired occasional bursts
| from his machine gun at the pursuing
enemy planes.
| Many times the wings OF German
planes have broken off in the air during
a fight, indicating the faulty materia
|; which the Germans are now forced t.
use In the construction of their ma
chimes.