The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1918-07-26
1918. by Pat Alva O'Brien)

7 sisting of six men each-got ready to
go out again. AS started to put on
my tunic 1 noticed that I was not
marked up for duty as usual.
I 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,
I knew that if I did not go, someone
else from another flight" would have
to take my place, and l insisted upon
going 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 it was we had only five machines
for this patrol, anyway, because as we
crossed the lines one of them had to
drop out on account Of motor trouble.
Our patrol was up at p. m. and up
to within ten minutes of that hour 1t
had been entirely uneventful.
At 1850 p. M, however, while we
were flying at height of $4,000 feet,
we observed three other English ma
chimes which were about 5000 feet
below us pick a fight with nine Hun
machines.
I knew right then that we were in
for 1t, because could see over toward
the ocean a whole flock Of Hun ma
chimes which evidently had escaped
the attention of our scrappy country
men 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 l
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 was
just twenty of them to our eight!
Four of them singled me out. l was
diving, and they dived right down after
me, shooting as they came. Their
tracer bullets were coming closer to
me every moment. These tracer bull
lets are balls of fire which enable the
shooter to follow the course his bull
lets are taking and to correct his aim
accordingly. They do no more harm
to pilot if he is hit than an ordinary
bullet, but if they hit the petrol tank,
good night! When a machine catches
fire in flight there is no way Of put
ting it out 1t takes less than a min
ute for the fabric to burn off the wings
and then the machine drops like an
arrow, leaving a trail Of smoke like a
comet.
AS their tracer bullets came closer
and closer to me 1 realized that my
chances of escape were nil. Their very
next shot, felt, must hit me.
Once, some days before, when was
flying over the line, had watched
fight above me. A German machine
was set on fire, and dived down
through our formation in flames on its
way to the ground. The Hun was div
ing at such a sharp angle that both
his wings came off, and as he passed
within a few hundred feet of me saw
the look Of horror on his face.
Now, when I 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 making an Immelman turn. This
maneuver was invented by German
one of the greatest who ever flew and
who was killed in action some time be-
fore. This turn, which 1 made success
fully, brought one Of their machines
right in front Of me, and as he sailed
along barely ten yards away, "had
the drop" on him, and he knew it.
His white face and startled eyes I
can still see. He knew beyond ques-
ton that MS last moment had come,
because his position prevented his TAX
ing aim at me, while my gun pointed
straight at him. My first tracer bullet
passed within a yard of his head, the
second looked as if it hit his shoulder,
the third struck him in the neck, and
then let him have the whole works,
and he went down in a spinning nose
dive.
All this time the three other Hun
machines were shooting away at me.
I could hear the bullets striking my
machine one after another. 1 hadn't
the slightest idea that 7 could ever