Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-07-20
Escadrille Spad 3S.
Secteur Postal IL,
.June &. 1918.

OhhO o. 4oAos
Dear Mother:
Flew again to-day after my mo-
tor had been in the repair shop a
day and a half. Now it's busted
again but may be ready tomorrow.
! However, we started out tonight
merous clouds and kept climbing,
clim bing until over Rheims we were
nearly 5000 meters high. Owing to
difficulty in starting my motor 1
was last off the "piste," and having
such a start on me 1 never did ac-
tually catch the patrol until we saw
three Huns.
A lieutenant was leader and I
waited to see what he would do, for
only the leader has a right to at
tack, and the way he went about it
| made me sick, flying around them
several times and then coming down
behind them in a series of SIS. Even
when he did shoot he was so far
away l don't see how he hit any
thing. Yet he came home claiming
: having knocked one down, and was
sore. indeed, when I admitted not
| 1e1N ing oGSil IL ldll- L
| think he was mistaken and mistook
'vrille" for a tight spiral, for I
shot at the same Boche after the
| lieutenant did, and he was already
in spiral then. My shots were
coming close, too, some even hit
| ting him, but my motor was not
working we'll, and having no conf
! dence in it I did not get closer than
zoo meters. Even It that one gun
! jammed in such a way il was i'm
possible to fix it in the air, and then
when pulling out of the dive my mo-
tor nearly stopped dead. Golly! I
nearly had heart failure! And it con-
tinued to do that, suddenly stopping
and starting again, thus alternately
| drowning and reviving my hopes of
| getting back over the lines. or falling
among those three Huns. Neither
was pleasant to think about, but I
! preferred the former even if 1t
meant gliding back with a dead stick
(stopped propeller). Fortunately, the
motor got me home, and the trouble
was discovered in the carbubetor.
The sky was full of clouds, the
| big, white billowy kind, and being
at G,000 meters we were naturally
way above them, only keeping our
direction by getting quick glimpses
through the holes. Even at that, l
had one eye on the compass and an
other on the sun, not wishing to get
lost again. for one never can tell
when one of these doggone motors
will go Zen panne" and then If you
don't know which direction the home
roost is, you're "outa luck" to say
the least.
Up Early
This morning my motor repaired,
n IN OF ~ fn1A
quite misty near the ground, but
after we had risen to some 5000
meters one could see pretty clearly,
for it being so early in the morning.
not cloud was in the sky. My mo-
tor seemed to be working smoothly
enough. but somehow or other, was
not giving the power, for I could not
climb up to my leader and he had a
lower horsepowered motor than
mine. Anyway, kept plugging along
behind doing my best to keep up
with the procession and not succeed
ing very well. Five of us had started,
but by the time we had been up an
hour only three were left, the others
having dropped out on account of
motor trouble.
We were around $500 meters
then, with me still trying to climb
up tc the leader, when l saw a little
black speck way down below on the
German side of the line.
Watching it intently for several
seconds 1 decided it was a balloon,
as it seemed to be stationary, so I
did not call my leaders attention to
it by shaking my wings. But its
size and shape persisted in my mind,
seeming too small for a balloon, so
when we had gone a little further
/ I ha anlad xxrir,e nd Innlrad
for the miniature speck again. There
it was again, and any doubt as to
what it was now was instantly re-
moved, for it had moved much
nearer the lines and was undoubted-
| ly "biplane" Boche (two-man ma
| chine).
A Shot at the Hun
Giving up hope of climbing up to
my leader. I stuck the Zing into level
! fight and started toward him with