Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-04-09

1 shall not easily forget the 18th
of August. 1917. I killed two Huns
in the double-seated machine in the
morning, another in the evening, and
then / was captured myself. [ may
have spent more eventful days in
my life, but / can't recall any just
now.
That morning, in crossing the line
! on early morning patrol, l noticed
two German balloons. I decided that
as soon as my patrol was over
would go off on my own hook and see
what a German balloon looked like
at close quarters.
These observation balloons are
used by both sides in conjunction
with the artillery. A man sits up in
the balloon with a wireless appa-
ratus and directs the firing of the
guns. From his point of vantage he
can follow the work of his own ar
tillery with a remarkable degree of
accuracy and at the same time he
can observe the enemy's movements
and report them.
The Germans are very good at this
work and they use great number
OF these balloons. 1t was considered
a very important part of our work to
Keep them out of the sky.
There are two ways of going after
a balloon in machine. One of them
is to cross the lines at a low altitude.
| flying so near the ground that the
man with the anti-aircraft gun can't
bother you. You fly along until you
get to the level of the balloon and
II, In the meantime, they have not
drawn the balloon down, you open
! fire on it and the bullets you use will
set 1t on fire if they land.
The other way is to fly over where
you know the balloons to be, put
| your machine in a spin so that they
can't hit you, get above them, spin
over the balloon and then open fire.
In going back over the line you cross
at a few hundred feet.
This is one of the hardest Jobs in
the service. There is less danger in
attacking an enemy's aircraft.
Nevertheless, I had made up my
mind to either get those balloons or
make them descend, and I only
hoped that they would stay on the
job until 1 had a chance at them.
When our two hours duty was
up, therefore. / dropped out of the
formation as we crossed the lines and
turned back again.
I was at a height of $1,000 feet,
considerably higher than the bal
looms. Shutting my motor off,
dropped down through the clouds.
thinking to find the balloons at about
five or six miles behind the German
lines.
Just as 1 came out of the cloud
! banks. / saw below me, about a
| thousand feet, a two-seater hostile
machine doing artillery observation
and directing the German guns.
! This was at a point about four miles
behind the German lines.
Evidently the German artillery
saw me and put out ground signals
| to attract the Hun machines .atten-
! ton, for l saw the observer quit his
work and grab his gun, while their
pilot stuck the nose of his machine
straight down.
But they were too late to escape
me. I was diving toward them at a
speed of probably two hundred miles
an hour, shooting all the time as
fast as possible. Their only chance
lay in the possibility that the force
of my drive might break my wings,
L knew my danger in that direction,
! but as soon as / came out of my
dive the Huns would have their
chance to get me. and L knew 1 had
to get them first and take a chance
on my wings holding out.
Fortunately, some of my first bull
| let's found their mark and l was
able to come out of my dive al
about 1000 feet. They never came
out of theirs!
But right then came the hottest
situation in the air 1 had ever ex-
perienced up to that time. The
depth of my dive had brought me
within reach of the machine guns
from the ground and they also put a
"barrage" around me of shrapne
from anti-aircraft guns and 1 had
an opportunity to ride the bar.
rage" as they call it in the r. +. c.
To make the situation more inter.
esting, they began shooting flaming
onions" at ne. Flaming onions
are rockets shot from a rocket gun.
They are used to nit a machine wher
it is flying low and they are effective
up to about 5000 feet. Sometime.
they are shot up one after another
in strings of about eight, and they
are one of the hardest things to gC
through. If they hit the machine
it is bound to catch fire and then the
jig is up.