New-York tribune., 1918-07-10
New Sausage Balloon War
Adds to Perils and Thrills
I"''cS or Conflict Now C>h>cded bv Germans Who Are
Ordered to Shoot Observcs as They Plunge
to Earth in Parachutes

| sNd niany o.her things, not to mert'on
the fact hat your tugging. swaying
%asbag's only Correction 18th the earth
is going to Ne scant uuarter''Ach
steel cable
"Rea6y II" shouted he lieutenant
Fs "ty poilus hold Z the balloon to
eArt.. With ropes looser. 1 thei zip
and p slid sk~~tard snere AZ no
sensaton. Notn.ng OF Ire expe 40 DC
Cured. II was q noiseless, pleasant
climb. Anotnei sausage half q milS
tenant explained it was standing tesh-
cred, while we we etill going up.
Eventually we climbed to level
above the othe GaAss ye, and it ",oy ped
descending becausA we we're now at the
end of our cable and swinging gently
with the wind.
Pretty Picture Below
On the ground below were small
French fields, untcrn by war, looking
like an exquisite turkish carpet. The
tiny, fenccless squtres, triangles, rec
tangles and other angles. angles with
sharp outlines, variously colored--
yellow wheat, red and pink poppies.
white oats, brown, wavy grass, more
crops in half dozen shades of green
with thin. snow-white chalk roads lead
ing to the centrepiece, red-roofed
VILLAGE directly below-was a spectacle
that would bear reproduction by
famous artists if il we're possible to
paint from a sausage balloon.
Ten miles in front Of US was the
wooded valley of a famous river, in
deep green, and at an equal distance
behind it was noticeable that the hills
and valleys previously seen from the
ground had hattened and inflated re-
spectively, SO the Turkish carpet, un-
wrinkled, Tapped to the horizon.
1t would require more graphic type
writer than mine to describe ade
quately this scene, but it was easy for
! me to visualize the wondrous view
changed to snaI5 lines of trenches
ugly shell holes and wasted, dull-col-
ored ground. Perhaps it will be before
the war is finished.
A drumming sound suddenly seemed
to smite the ears out Of the calm. IT
was an airplane half a mile away send
ing accentuated sound waves along our
air strata There was thrill in the
little basket till our binoculars made
out the red, white and blue on the
wings. The incident suddenly jerked
my mind back from the pretty scenery
to the subject of parachutes.
"What do you do if you have to
| jump" l asked the lieutenant.
Crawl out of the basket, hang over
the side to see If you are all clear and
then let loose" he answered.
The Element of Doubt
1t was exactly what we probably
would have been doing at that moment
if that airplane had borne a black
Maltese cross. The lieutenant, who
had jumped several times before, said
it wasn't necessarily horrible sensa-
ton, but the element of doubt during
the sixty-yard drop before the para
chute opened, in reality three seconds
seeming like an eternity, was not ex-
actly nice.
Until the recent sausage war began
the casualties among the observers
we're, thanks to the parachutes, light
| Freaks seldom happen, though recently
when a German airplane set a sausage
atirc the observer jumped safely, and
the plane, following him down, was hit
squarcly by French antiaircraft
she'll. A portion of the debris struck
the cable holding the observer to the
parachute, cut it clear and the OBJ
server was killed.
The lieutenant telephoned below tina:
We were ready to descend, a large com
bination of automobile and windlass
bringing us down in the briefest time
Though the instruction centre visit
ed to-day is entirely French, it is the
counterpart of many American centres
in France where Americans are re-
cruited from army units, regardless of
their rank, but in accordance with ac
ceptability, for this highly technical,
perilous work. The principal require
ments are keenness and GOODNESS. Less
than SO per cent in the Allied armies
entering training so far have been able
to qualify.