The Oskaloosa herald. (Oskaloosa, Mahaska County, Iowa) 1885-1919, 1918-10-24
LUCKY HE|N|ES
ESCAPE SAFELY
CLOSE VICTORY FOR AMERICAN
AvlAToRs SLIPS AWAY -.
TOUGH LUCK IS NOW BALANCED
commander.in-Chief Commends Excel
lent Work of Commander and Per-
sonnet Of Fighting Air Forces
For Effective Work.
(RY Frank ]. Taylor)

(By Frank ]. Taylor
With American Armies in France,
Sept. 15.-By Mail.-There is pathos
in the brief reports that airmen some
times turn in regarding battles above
the clouds. The best words Of great
writer would hardly be mare viva
than the following three reports with
all their military brevity as they were
turned in to the fight commander.
Capt. B reports: Combat 1920 to
9:40 region of Sampigny -GironVllle-
Etang de Girondel. Combat began 55O0
meters. Fired 200 rounds from $50 to
| 40 yards range. Put the observers gun
out of action, then both my guns rail-
| ed. Lieuts. L and S also attacked.
Both Lieut.. ELS guns failed and Lieut..
s. had motor trouble. After my guns
damned / Unanswered the enemy
: plane, biplane Rumpler, TO WITHIN
so meters of the ground in the region
of Etang Neuf Held him there Tor D
minutes without being able to tire
shot and trying to bluE him into land
ing. Was several times IN perfect po-
sition at 20 yards range. Finally the
pilot realized | could not shoot, the
enemy plane flew straight for its own
, lines. followed to the region of Loue-
mont at 800 meters altitude. When l
! turned to come home the enemy plane
followed me back to our own lines,
the pilot firing about so rounds from
the forward gun without result. The
Rumpler was camoufiaged in green
and black diamonds with white tail,
the cross on tail, on upper and lower
/ wings, number 8 in white on each side
of fuselage. During latter part OF COM
bat the observer stood up facing me
and as | Unanswered, he would turn
and point to his pilot the direction in
which TO turn"
Lieut.. E reports: Saw enemy air
craft east of Bey at 1000 meters. Saw
one enemy aircraft north of Pont-a-
Mousson at $500 meters. Over Sam
pigny saw bplane Rumpler. Climbed
to $500 meters and headed enemy air
craft off his lines. He turned east over
Foret dApremont. Capt. B got under
his tail while pilot was maneuvering
and an opportunity came to dive I'M
der him and attack from below, which
did firing 40 shots from 30 meters.
Both guns damned, and T-'.....0 tearing
Jams lost sight of fight in clouds. Capt.
B and Lieut.. S were still after enemy
aircraft when | left at 1000 meters.
Rumpler had white tail, green camou-
flage and No. s was painted on both
sides of fuselage in white paint"
Lieut. S. reports At $40 engaged
an enemy two scatter over Commercy
at 1900 meters. Fired some $50 shots
al range of from 100 to 40 meters. The
enemy plane went into dive and |
followed pulling up at 800 meters to
fix machine gun jam. At this point of
the combat my pressure system went
bad, my motor stopping dead, so |
was forced to land near Gironville.
The enemy artillery opened fire on
my machine Is minutes after | had
landed and up to the time / left had
not secured a direct hit, although the
plane undoubtedly is badly damaged
from shrapnel and shell fragments"
Victory Slipped Away.
The Boche airmen who figured in
this fight are slangily regarded as
meal and also lucky Heinies' by
the airnien of the escadrille. 1t is sell
dom that victory is so close and slips
away so easily through airmen's luck.
Tough Luck Balanced.
An official army report which caused
far more satisfaction about hcadquar-
tiers today than the three just quoted
is the following:
The commander in chief has learn
ed with great satisfaction of the ex-
cellent work of the First pursuit group
of the air service and desires to COM
mend it especially for its praiseworthy
record. The handicaps under which
this initial pursuit unit of the Ameri-
can Expeditionary Forces has been Or
| ganized and begun the discharge of
| its duty are well known and recog.
nized. With fine spirit and determine
ton it has overcome obstaces and al
| ready achieved an enviable record
The commander and personnel are
| congratulated for their effective and
| daring work"
The commentator from Cine"
! more than balances the though luck"
l