East Oregonian : E.O. (Pendleton, OR) 1888-current, 1918-03-23
BY HENRY WOOD
nited Press Correspondent0

Omitted Press Correspondent.1
WITH THE FRENCH ARMIES,
Feb. IA (By MaiD-These are the two
greatest stories in the history of
French aviation.
Both took place in the early years
of the war but have never before
been told.
Competent authorities in French
aviation circles declare that in the
whole brilliant era of military avia-
ton that has followed with all of its
startling development and achieve
ments of aces there are not two sim
gle exploits that equal these. They
are as follows:
story Number One.
Lieutenant d'Amecourt. who had al
ready made a reputation for himself
by taking photographs of the German
trenches and Qualifications from
very low altitude, and Machinegunner
Weller who had become equally fam
Gus as a machinegun sharpshooter,
went up together in the early part of
october, 1915 to take photos and make
a reconnaissance of the Champagne
battlefield.
Hardly were they over the German
lines when their machine. one of the
early French types that was slow and
cumbersome, was attacked by Ger
man Fokker. The latter was one of
the newest and fastest types with
motor that made some $50 revolutions
to the minute. The victory for the
German promised to be an easy one,
and the two Frenchmen knew 1t as
well as did the Gerdman.
hn a.
chine the German rapidly secured the
ascendancy necessary for an attack
and rained in a hail of machinegun
fire on the French machine. With
everything his own way in the matter
of speed, manouvere and control he
then came down to a level to see how
much damage he had done.
He found the French machine. al
though plainly riddled with bullets
stin fighting and flying. With ges-
ture to the two F'renchmen that meant
"I1l get you this time, he again
quickly upward secured the
and rained in another
hail of bullets.
Again he descended to a level of the |
French machine to see if the latter
was out of business, and again he
found it still further damaged but |
with both d'Amecourt and Weller
fighting. Another gesture
from the Boche aviator. another climb
upwards, another hail of fire, and
another descent to ascertain the dam
age he had inflicted.
The performance was repeated time
after time, Weller feeding his machine
gun constantly and d'Amecourt man.
0uvering the "old bus" the best he
could do in the fall of the speedy
Tokker.
With every vollew from the Boche
plane the French machine became
more and more riddled until finally
all of the supports of the machinegun
we're shot away and the latter fell
into the bottom of the gun compart-
ment Almost simultaneously, the
German aviator made another descent
to see if the French machine had
enough.
Equally simultaneously Weller dis
covered that he had only four cart
ridges left in his machinegun.
Without an instant's hesitation he
the latter up from the body
Of the car and in the absence of
tripod or any other support clapped
it into the shoulders of q 'Amecourt
who was at the, pilots seat.
sit tight" he yelled, 'and steer
straight into the Boche. I've only got
four cartridges left and I'll save them
for a sure hit
The German came down to the level
Of the French plane to look it over.
D'Amecourt drove straight for him,
and when at a close distance, WeileT
with the sureness of Workmanship
for which he was famous, opened fire
with his last four cartridges.
Before the fourth cartridge was fired
the German aviator was pierced by
one of them and his machine careen
ed to the ground.
Story Number Two
A doubled-motored biplane of