Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1918-08-09

Machine o'Bricn Was Driving When
He Was Overcome and Captured by
the Huns.
these balloons. It was considered a
very important part Of our work to
keep them out Of the sky.
There are two ways of going after a
balloon In q mnchine. One of them is
TO cross the lines at a low altitude, fly
ing so near the ground that the man
with the antiarcraft gun can't bother
you. You fly along until you get to. the
level Of the balloon and If, in the
meantime, they have not drawn the
balloon down, you open fire on it and
the bullets you use will set it on fire
If they land.
The other way is to fly over where
sou know the balloons to be. put your
machine in a 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 few
hundred feet.
This is one Of the hardest jobs in
the service There is less danger in
attacking an enemy's aircraft.
Nevertheless. 1 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
I had n chance at them.
When our two hours duty was up,
therefore. dropped out of the forma-
tion as we crossed the lines and turned
back again.
was at height of $4,000 feet, con-
siderubly higher than the balloons
Shutting my motor Off, dropped down
through the clouds, thinking to find
the balloons ut about five or six miles
behind the German lines.
Just as | came out of the cloud
banks i saw below me, about n thou
sand feet, two-seater hostile ma
chine doing artillery observation ant
directing the German guns. This was
Mt a point about four miles behind tn,
German lines.
Evidently the German artillery saw
me and put out ground signals to at
tract the Hun machines attention, 70
/ saw the observer quit his work an,
grab his gun. while their pilot stucl
the nose Of his machine straigh
down.
But they were too ate to escape me
was diving toward them at n spec
OF probably two hundred miles a
hour, shooting ali the time as fast q
possible. Their only chance lay i
the possibility that the force Of m
drive might break my wings. kne'
my danger In that direction, but 0
soon as I came out Of my dive II
Huns would have their chance to &,
me. and knew had to get them fir
and take chance on my wings hol,
ing out.
Fortunately some OF my first bulle
found their mark. and was able
come out of my dive at about fol
thousand feet. They never came o.
Of theirs
But right then came the hottest s.
uation in the air l had ever expel
enced up to that time. The depth
my dive had brought me within rea,
of the machine guns from the groun
and they also put barrage around I
of shrapnel from antlaircraft gu
and 1 had an opportunity to ride t
barrager as they call it In the X. f.
To make the situation more intere
ing. they began shooting flaming c
ions" at rae. FLAMING onions" n
rockets shot from rocket gun. TIL
are used 10 hit q machine when 1t
flying low, and they are effective
TO about five thousand feet. Son
times they are shot up one after ,
other in strings of about eight, a
they are one Of the hardest things
go througha If they hit the machi
1t is bound to catch fire and then
jig is up.
All the time, too, was being
tackled by "Archie"-the antiaircr
gun. 1 escaped the machine guns q
the Flaming onions" but "Archie,"
antialrcraft fire, got me four or
times. Every time a bullet plug
me, or rather my machine, 1t mad
loud bang, on account Of the tens
on the material covering the wings
None of their shots hurt me u
l was about a mile from our lines,
then they hit my motor. Fortunat
st,!l had altitude enough to drift