Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-25

moment, dS we'll. else Whth lhC lSoN-
.er turns you may collide with one or
your comrades, or worse .yet lose the
patrol.
But Lieutenant NIadon, with years
of experience and some forty Boche
to his credit. was very easy to follow
and l and the lieutenants had little
trouble in staying in place.
We climbed up to 5000 meters and
for one hour we fioated around at
that height of rare and cold air. IL
was very clear. despite the fact that
many clouds were in the sky, ana
when we were over Soissons il was
quite easy to see Rheims. which II
YOU look on a map, will see that Is
some distance away. 1t was very cold
up there and what with the cold air
rushing past and the rarity OF the
air, / soon had fierce headache.
already had the stomachache anu
had it ever since leaving the ground
so / was hoping we would either go
home or get in "a fight. as could Tor.
get these ever present troubles. AS II
in answer to my wish the leader
suddenly began to dive, and promptly
following. imm ediately saw why, torI
far below and some distance away
was a big Boche plane coming To-
ward us.
4 Big Bird
had little trouble in seeing the black
cross in it's circle of white on his
large wings, as | watched my COM
mander in his blood red plane go
down to the attack. Diving steeply as
he was, with the Boche coming head
on. made shooting with any degree OF
accuracy out of the question Tor with
the two plants terrific speed an awlul
big correction had to be made. There
Ia 90 close and soon
pulled up to give the next in line
chance, 1t was one of the lieutenants,
and he lost no time getting after that
Hun, who seeing four Spads coming
down on him, started to turn ana
dive for home. 1t was then that the
second in line went scootinS unuer
me to the attack, but his gun stuck
and he also pulled up and turned
aside so as to give the next in line a
chance to do his bit. ! happened 10
be third, and seeing it was up to me
| forgot all about the head and stom-
ache aches in the excitement OF get
ting that Boche in line with my sights.
That requiEed but few seconds as
the Boche was diving for Berlin
with all the motor he had and was
not wasting any time doing FUNNY
little twists and turns. which made
aiming for me a simple matter.
Getting the Aim
All | had to do was get him in the
sight, pull on enough motor TO over
haul him and keep shooting. so with
on hand on the throttle, the other
hand gripping the Joy STICK ana
trigger lightly. an eye glued to the
sight, | swung into position behind
that fleeing Hun. AS the sight swung
on him in response to the controls,
let go with both guns. / could see
the tracer bullets as they went whist
line towards their mark, leaving
trail of smoke behind them. But they
were not going quite true. passing q
little bit to the left OF where the plIot
and observer should be, (as II was
biplane), so | gently pressed on the
right foot and was gratified to see
every smoking BALI go home-and
then suddenly that Boche disappear
ed as completely as the one l shot
at nea. Rheims in company with
Putnam.
| had been pretty close to him too
and was catching him all the time
but was also getting very low, near
5000 meters, considering l was some
ten miles in Germany, and suspectlng
some trick, pulled up and turned for
our lines. Looking around meanwhile
to see what had happened to that
Boche and whether any protecting
Boche planes were above it, for had
not forgotten the time l had attacked
another biplane and four Huns came
down on ME. They had merely USED
the big plane for bait and when bit,
,iown they came. You remember, ]
told YOU about it, that being the time
nv gun was shot out of commission,
my Becky nearly shot off and SIX
holes in my wings. Having had TINS
trick firmly impressed on me you can
we'll believe 1 had not forgotten IT. l
suspected the same trick here whlch
accounted for my careful inspection
of the sky as the Arches began
breaking around me as l went BACK
to the lines. And sure enough, there
were two, right overhead, but hap
pily il was my commander and one
of the lieutenants, so all was well
again
We soon picked up the other lieu
tenant and then climbed high again,
headed for scissors, where numer-
Gus white puffs denoted the presence
of a Boche. There were half dozen
there in bunch, although l saw
none, but they were too far in their
lines in the judgment of our leader
to attack, so he dove for the home
roost.
Just as we arrived over the "piste"
nv reservoir refused to work, so /
switched onto the other one, and
came down to land. Golly! what a
landing! hit the ground and
bounced twenty feet. Seeing that 1
could not make a good landing cut
Of such bad start, l pulled on the
motor again, made . circle of the
field and tried again. This time
landed without trying to break the
wheels first AS I rolled up to the
hangar the gunsmith came up and
asked the usual question, Did you
shoot" Yes. l had shot, but not
inuch and did not know whether tine
90 '"he fell or not. It's fact. / only
.';.t about fifty shots with each gun,
II i seemed to have done the trick,
r~r on asking my leader what hap
"ened to that Boche he counterqIes-
mod by asking whether l was the
th.rd one that attacked. Yes,
h"d." Congratulations" said he
with his grinning smile and a hearty
shake of. the hand, "he crashed"
And that was where the Boche had
gone when I lost him-straight down
10 the ground. No wonder I could
not find him.
Honored by Commander
So pleased was my commander at
my keeping in place in the patrol as
we'll as bringing down the Boche
that he invited me to dinner with
the officers. an honor, by the way,
that few sergeants have ever en-
joyed. Believe me, I sure was
swamped with attention and fear
some bushes even showed through
the Sunburn. for riding to the din
ing hall in the officers car, another