Condon globe. (Condon, Gilliam Co., Or.) 189?-1919, 1918-07-12
CHAPTER M.
Captured by the Huns.

i
shall not easily forget the 18th Of
August 1917. killed two Huns In
the double-seated machine In the
morning. another In the evening. aud
then was captured myself. l may
have spent more eventful days In my
life. but l can't recall any just now.
That morning, In crossing the line
on early morning patrol. noticed
two German balloons. decided. that
as soon as my patrol was over
would go or on my own hook and see
what a German balloon looked like
at close quarters.
These observation balloons are used
by both sides in conjunction with the
artillery. A man sits up In the bal
loon with wireless apparatus and dl.
rects the firing of the guns. From his
point of vantage he can follow the
work Of his own artillery with n re-
markable degree OF accuracy and at
the same time he can observe the enc
my's movements and report them.
The Germans are very good at this
work, and they use a great number Of
these balloons. II was considered a
very important part Of our work to
keep them out of the sky.
There are two ways of going after
balloon In a machine. One of them Is
10 cross the lines ut low altitude, fiy.
Ing SO near the ground that the mar
with the antlaircraft gun can't bother
you. You fly along until you get to the
level Of the balloon aud II, in the
meantime. they have not drawn the
balloon down. you open fire on II and
the bullets you use win set It on fire
If they land.
The other way ls to fly over where
you know the balloons to be, put your
machine In spin so that they can't
hit you, get above them, spin over the
balloon and then open fire. In going
back over the line you cross at a few
hundred feet.
This is one Of the hardest Jobs In
the service. There is less danger In
attacking an enemy's aircraft,
Nevertheless, I had made up my
mind to either get those balloons or
make them descend, and only hoped
that they would stay on the Job until
! had a chance at them.
When our two hours duty was ND.
therefore, / dropped out of the forma.
tion as we crossed the lines and turned
back again.
! was at height Of 5000 feet, con- |
siderably higher than the balloons.
my motor off. dropped down |
through the clouds, thinking to find
the balloons at about five or six miles
behind the German lines.
Just as l came out of the cloud
banks I saw below me, about thou.
sand feet, two-seater hostile ma.
chine doing artillery observation and
directing the German guns. This was
1T a point about four miles behind the
German lines. ........
Evidently the German artillery saw
ne and put out ground signals to at
.ract the Hun machines attention, for
saw the observer quit his work and
grab his gun, while their pilot stuck
he nose Of his machine straight
lown.
But they were too late to escape me.
was diving toward them at n speed
It probably two hundred miles IN
lour, shooting all the time as fast as
possible. Their only chance lay in Y
he possibility that the force Of my
lrive might break my wings. knew
ny danger In that direction, but as
Don as I came out of my dive the
duns would have their chance to get
ne, and knew l had to get them first
nd take chance on my wings hold
ng out.
Fortunately some of my first bullets
ound their mark, and / was able to