Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1918-04-19
/, ] II /, 4
I 81 1880 . 10 6

| but it did not appeal to me, though they
live in them through many long hlshl
| and [ had only sought shelter there lot
| a few minutes.
After the Germans mad completely
demolished my machine and ceased 1T
ing / waited there for a short Time
fearing perhaps they might send over
a lucky shot, hoping to get me aIIer All
| But evidently they concluded enough
shells had been wasted on one man.
crawlcd out cautiously, shook the Huu
off, and / looked over in the direction
where my machine had once been Ihere
wasn't enough left for decent SouNe-
mir. but nevertheless / got few, 'sucn
as they were,' and readily observing
that nothing could be done with what
was left, | made my way back 10 m
fantry headquarters, where was aple
to telephone in a report.
A little later one of our automobiles
came out after me and took me back 10
our airdronc. Most Of my squadron
thought l was lost beyond doubt and
never expected to see me again; ont
nv friend, Paul Raney, had held out
) that / was AL right, and as ] was art
erward told, said: Don't send Tor an
/ other pilot; that Irishman will be oack'
: If he has to walk" And he knew that
} the only thing that kept me from walk
: ing was the fact that our own auto
mobile had been sent out to bring me
home.
l had lots to think about that day,
and / had learned many things; one
: was not to have too much confidence
in my own ability. One of the men IN
the squadron told me that l had better
not take those chances; that 1t was get
ting to be long war and | would nave
plenty of opportunities to be killed
without deliberately wishing them on
: myself Later ] was to learn the truth
of his statement
That night my "flight"-each squad
ron is divided into three flights, con-
; sisting of six men each-got ready TO
go out again. As l started TO put on
my tunic | noticed that / was not
marked up for duty as usual.
, asked the commanding officer, a
major, what the reason for that was,
and he replied that he thought had
done enough for one day. However,
knew that if / did not go, someone else
from another flight" would have to
J take my place, and l insisted upon go
ing up with my patrol as usual, and
the major reluctantly consented. Had he
known what was in store for me,
am sure he wouldn't have changed his
mind so readily
AS il was we had only five machines
for this patrol, anyway, because as W.
crossed the lines one of them had 10
Our patrol was up at I. m, and up TO
drop out on account of motor trouble.
within ten minutes Of that hour 1t had
been entirely unsYentfu
r At 1850 o. M, however, while we were
FLYING at a height Of 5000 feet, we
: observed three other English machines
which were about 5000 feet below us,
pick a fight with nine Hun machines.
I knew right then that we were in
for it. because 1 could see over toward
/ Of Hun
, chimes which evidently had escaped the
: attention of our scrappy countrymen
below US.
So we dove down on those nine Huns.
: At first the fight was fairly even.
There were eight of us to nine Of them.
But soon the other machines which |
had seen in the distance, and which
were flying even higher than we were,
arrived on the scene, and when they, in
turn, dove down on us, there were just
/ twenty of them to our eight,
Four of them singled me out. / was
diving, and they dove right down after
me. shooting as they came Their tracer
! bullets were coming closer to me every
. moment These tracer bullets are balls
! of fire which enable the shooter to fol-
low the course his bullets are taking
and to correct his aim accordingly. They
e do no more harm to pilot if he is hit
! IMAM al OIulildIy juliet bUI ~ my A''~
the petrol tank, good night! When a
machine catches fire in flight there is no
: ! WAY of putting it out. 1t takes less
, than a minute for the fabric to burn off
, the wings. and then the machine drops
like an arrow, leaving trail of smoke
! like a comet.
As their tracer bullets came closer
and closer to me ] realized that my
chances of escape were nil. Their very
next shot ! felt. must hit me.
Once, some days before. when l was
; tying over the line, / had watched a
: fight above me- A German machine was
set on fire, and dove down through our
formation in flames on it's way to the
, ground The Hun was diving at such a
! sharp angle that both his wings came
off. and as he passed within a few hun
| drod feet of me l saw the look of hor-
/ ror upon his face.
Now, when ] expected any moment to
, suffer a similar fate, I could not help
thinking of that poor Huns last look of
' agony.
: / realized that my only chance lay in
D making an zimmerman turn. This ma
o neuver was invented by a German-one
I | Of the greatest who ever few and who
, was killed in action some time ago
= This turn, which / made successfully
= brought one of their machines right in
4 front OF me. and as he sailed along bare
0 ly ten yards away, l had the drop" on
! him, and he knew IL.
His white face and startled eyes I can
e still see. He knew beyond question that
his last moment had come, because his
= position prevented his taking aim al
: me, while my gun pointed straight al
o him. Ny first tracer bullet passed with
I in a yard of his head, the second looked
! as If it hit his shoulder, the third struck
: him in the neck, and then I let him
t have the whole works, and he wen,
= down in a spinning nose dive.
( All this time the three other Hun
machines were shooting away at me.
v could hear the bullets striking my ma
: chine one after another. l hadn't the
e slightest idea that 1 could ever beat of
a those Huns. but there was nothing fol
l. | me to do but fight and my hands were
V full.
y In fighting. your machine is dropping
Q dropping all the time | glanced at my
7 | instruments, and my altitude was be-
= tween g. 600 and 5000 feet While was
Y stiu looking at the instruments, the
" whole blamed works disappeared. A
burst of bullets went into the instru-
Z ment board and blew il to smithereens
another bullet went through my upper
= lip came out of the roof of my mouth,
: and lodged in my throrat, and the next
Q thing / knew was when | came to in