New-York tribune., 1918-12-25


and the daring exploits of Nev
York and Connecticut nirn,cp.
By Wilbur Forrest
WITH AMERICAN ARMIES IN
FRANCE, Nov. 1O.--You can find Amer
lean aviators on the front to-day who
swear by the Liberty airplane and
others who swear at it. but taking
things by and large the "Liberty Bus"
is making good.
have just dropped in on a new
flock of Liberties, with American pilots
and observers, who got their training
with the British over near the Chan
mel. They have been "chauffing' these
all-American planes two weeks, and
their fortnight of experience is full of
thrills and interest. They sum up the
big two-man Liberty in their own Ian
guage as follows:
"It's a good bus, darned we'll and
strongly built. with a world of power
and speed for it's bulk. The mo,or is
fine and technically O. K, and there are
only small defects yet to be rcmcdIed.
The plane itself is a trife large for
all kinds of work. and therefore bit
unwieldy in low attitudes, but you can
feel the power of that pig motor when
you arc up, and that's something"
SO it boils down to this:
Small Defects Develop
The Liberty plane is giving pretty
good satisfaction, and every day under
actual war flying the "small defects"
present themselves and are being rene
died. No aeroplane in history OF war
aviation mas stood the test Of perfec-
tion in actual war flying. Even the best
planes and motors used by the French
or British have developed their "small
defects" sometimes after many weeks
Of use. During the process of climi-
mating defects many pilots have sworn
at the planes which to-day they swear
by. The Liberty has passed the stage
of being entirely sworn ct, and you
will find many on the front to-day who
swear by it.
Technical defects of the Liberty can
not be freely discussed at this stage of
the war, but there is one firm in Amer
lea which has something to do with
L, berty motors that has been literally
sworn at for some time over here by
Liberty pilots This firm used Ger
tan brand of spark plug which does
not stand vibration and jarring Of war
flying But to make the plug indis-
pensable the firm concocted a little
connecting apparatus that would fit no
other spark plug. When a pilot went
missing" motor and eight or ten
O. ri Of bo boI
no other alternative than to put in
eight or ten of the same brand of plugs
and try it again. But now there are
many American pilots with spark plug
experience, who have scrapped the
patent plug connections and are using
ether plugs and other connections even
if they have to buy new plugs and less
patented connections themselves They
dc not mind the firm over home who
contrivcd these "use me or nothing
rlugs and connections making money
out of the war, but they do not want
to risk their lives and liberty to help
the game along. This is one illustra-
ton of small defects" which must be
and are being remedied.
Among varied duties of this all
American Liberty group is to fly low
over our first lines, dropping packages
CT chocolate, cigarettes and newspapers
to the troops. The effect on the troops
is marvellous. An observer, just re-
turned from one of these missions to-
day, said:
Doughboys Scramble for Supplies
eve located the lnc at an altitude
Of perhaps 1000 feet ana the pilot
shut off the motor and volplancd down
without sound. The dough boys saw
LIS, however, in good time and knew
what was up. Regardless of Boche
machine gun fire or any other kind of
fire, they jumped out of their 'fos
air, checred and waved US down. We
hinged by, only hundred yards up
and | shovelled out the stuff. 1t was
like kids scramblng for pennies, the
way those doughboys scrambled for
the packages. The newspapers are
wrapped around the chocolates and
cigarettes and each package weighs
about six ounces. Some of the dough
boys catch them before they hit the
ground.
Zone of our first jobs when we ar
rived ut the aerodrome with the new
Liberties was to attempt to get sup
plies to the beleagured New York bat
talon, cut off by the Bochc in the Ar
gonnc Forest. The weather was ter
rife The clouds were low and it rainct
most of the day. Our squadron made
seventeen trips My cockpit on two
trips was filled to the brim with food
emergency alcohol stoves, medical sup
plies and ammunition, and on one trT
| had q half dozen carrier pigeons. We
tied the legs of the birds and dropped
them with small silk parachutes.
Germans Get Packages
ave had to fly just over the tree tops
to drop the stuff where we had beer
told the battalion was. Our men were
supposed to be in the valley, with tbs
Germans on the hills all around them
The underbrush was thick and we saw
no troops, either American or German
but nothing lacked to tell us that the
Germans were there. We were so close
to their machine guns while skimmins
over the trees on the hills that We
could see the fire as it came from the
mouths of the weapons. Practically
every machine was badly holed, but re
manned in the ring. In best cleal
weather it is impossible to see troop
who have the protection of trees ant
brush over them, so we did not find ou
until two days later that none of oul
suppli.s reached the lost battalion
The Germans got the packages of food
and luxuries we dropped for our boys
In heat Of battle, lines fuctuat'
and shift and it is of the utmos
Importance that division commander
Lpov, whom othor lines Of cou