Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial. (Wilmington, Del.) 1878-1928, 1918-06-29
LIEUT.. PR|CKETT
TELLS A THRILLER
ABOUT HIS WORK
How it Feels to Go Awaiting to
Observe and Direct
Artillery Fire.
ACTING AS ARMY'S EYES

Weakened by an attack of pneumonia
and still suffering from punCture of the
lungs, fracture of the ribs and the
breaking of a wrist, sustained when his
acTuplane was shot somewhere in the war
zone Second Lieutenant William Prickett,
son of Judge William : Prickett OF this
city, has gone To the mountains IN France
To recuperate
Lieutenant Prickett is an aeropiane OBJ
server, attached to a French squadron,
and sends an interesting description OF his
work.
In this war. as a rule. artillery fires ON
targets which cannot be seen from the
battery. so the fire has TO be observed and
directed bv some person who can see the
target, he saws This observer can he
eli her on the ground or IN the AIR. Ground
observation has the disadvantage that
many objects arc hidden behind hllls;
from an acroplane nothing Is hidden, but
there IS the disadvantage that planes can
work only III good weather, with good
visibility. and observations may be IN
tprrlIptcd bv fights with enemy planes,
clouds. etc When requested by battery
commander. the aviator goes up and
regulates BY corrections sent by wireless
the flTf OF g itdllttN VII q tsfi A''.
Lieutenant Prlckctt was sent by the
French captain Of a squadron 10 regulate
5 battery III l55 nm guns on some Ger
man harbcd wire 4 raid INTO tho enemy
-rencbes was planned and this battery
was to cut the wire before the trenches.
~ the infantry could pass He was Ia
correct the range OF the battery until Its
shots fell into the harbcd wire, then the
hnng would stop The day the RAID was
de,ided upon the battery would open M
with the same range and cut the wire.
-Four nlanes rose. three two-seatCrs for
protection. and Lieutenant PrICkett IN
thrre-seater. 10 make the adjustment lie
sat in the front or the plane with one
NADINE gun. q machine gunner with two
guns behind, and the pilot, corporal,
between them.
STARTING OFF
Alter the two motors had been tuned
IN We climbed in TAXED down the field,
turned started with q rIsh and were
off nc ground. the lieutenant Says
"Th,h we climbed in slow circles above
the fcld 70 a height OF about 300 meters,
the ,ther three planes appeared and start
ed climbing too, but at 900 meters one
OF them turned and went down because Of
mour trouble The three got 10 their
so meters and started for the lines. !
let ut my wireless apparatus and start
cd send the call OF my battery, we
Wer over its position. | saw white
papl appear on the edge Of a wood, 50
kn~ nv wireless was working and they
has heard me.
We went on toward the lines Below
uswere trenches In all directions. Be
yod No Mans Land trenches began
aaun. German ones this tame. My target
Us quite easy TO fInd-the point Of
shrp In the German wire where their
,rnches took turn To the north | made
crtain from the map that II was really my
pee, then went back u my battery.
her panel said they were ready To fire,
s We turned back To the target and when
Igot in position where could see it well
Isent down nv wireless call fire The
pnel changed to has fired In few sec
DDS our little puffs OF smoke appeared
ne after another on the earth beneath me,
little 10 the right and all short Of the
and OF barbed wire After each one APP
cared | hastily noted how far 1t was Of
he target After the last shot | gave a
ign 10 the pilot. and we went back toward
he battery On the way back | sent down
N wireless 10 the battery the amount OF
error for the shots | had seen. Then the
panel said that my message had been
understood and In few seconds more
battery ready.
his ESCORT FIGHTING.
when we turned out toward nv
target again, | saw little pufTs of black
smoke all about my protecting planes.
The Boche were evidently objecting to us
l!p there and turning their anti-aircraft
cerous. as they were bursting far below
] sent my battery fire and waited for nv
shots. Just as they were 10 fire-bangi
two black spots appeared immediately
ahead of US German high explosive
shells, and on our level right enough this
time The pilot swung the machine sharp
around. TO change the direction Of the
plane, a wing came between me and my
target, and when we got Strengthened out
the wind had blown away every sign OF
the smoke of my shots. so | had to send
down 10 my battery shots lost, that salvo
had been wasted.
In the meantime the German ginners
we're getting better. One OF the protecting
psnes suddenly keeled over. and We
thought she must have been hit, but 1t
Was only from the conclusion, and she
caught herself After that We STAYED
farther back IN our own lines, and the
Germans Gained down and stopped firing
MY battery was ready now, and
again sent fire This time nothing went
wrong. ! saw the shots drop beautifully.
one. two, three, four. but all too long
Nirelessed the corrections as fast as |
could. for clouds were coming, and was
afraid that in short time | could not SEE
nv target The battery was ready ] sent
down fire and was looking for my shots
when ] felt the pilot hit the back Of my
seat. looked around, and he pointed
ahead
GERMANS TURN Up.
ITO the left there were two planes
crossing us at right angles The sun
brought out their black crosses nicely.
They were German chase-planes out look
ing for just such prey as We grabbed my
machine gun, threw off the safety catch
and sent two bullets in their general
direction To see if it worked The Germans
were too far away to hit, but / hoped to
show them We were on our guard, Then
the pilot swung the plane around, So that
the gunner with his two machine guns
could have a 20 at them if they insisted
on it. The Germans took another turn,
swung around 10 the west and dis
n,,c4red | thought Drobably the array