Iron County news. [volume] (Hurley, Wis.) 1913-1950, 1918-06-29

often happened, there were no witnesses and moth
ing to confirm his success from an official point of
view In the afternoon he went up again, and,
by no means discouraged with his mornings ex-
perience he went to look for the enemy In the
neighborhOod Of the reservoir.
He was not long In appearing. Soulier soon saw
In his path an albatross bipane with three mi
trailleuses Following his usual tactics, Souher
dropped from the altitude in which he was n.y.
ing always very high, and swiftly pursued the
enemy The albatross sought to escape from at
tack, but overtaken by light charge, ana
FELL spreading itself out on the earth and taking
fire. The deed done, but again the pilot look
ed about him for spectators who might supply the
confirmation necessary to his official recognition.
Unfortunately again there was no one VINO hao
seen his triumph.
Souer however, hardly had time to indulge
in bitter reflections before a new danger and
new opportunity presented itself.
Some kilometers further on he perceived mag
nlhcent observation balloon, lighted by the rays
of the setting sun.
Where the Drachens are there are also the
bursts of shrapne and toward the middle of these
clouds Of black smoke SOulier guided his machine,
carving 1t through the marvellous evolutiOns Of
which he Is master. Again fate was against him,
for as he fired his twentieth cartridge his mi
trailleuse stopped, and there was nothing for the
pilot to do but to return to his camp.
Turning with the object of making for home
quarters, Soulier saw himself beset by new enc
mics.
Two thousand meters above his head four en-
envy airplanes circled.
One Of them came on at full speed and at 200
meters opened fire on him.
1t is at such moments as these that the aero
banc flyer finds himself at the height of his glory.
With every nerve taut, with every bit of skill
IN play, he turns, twists and circles his
Of c1rph mia hn
comes through them successfully tastes for a
moment a glory almost unknown to other men.
A slide down the wing, loop, then all the ga
nut of beautifully executed maneuvers-whose
most valuable quality is their faculty of keeping
the enemy guessing where the machine will be In
the next secondhand Souer had succeeded In
showing his heels to the enemy. Then, guiding
himself with hand and repairing his mitrail-
leuse with the other while at the same time he
continued his series of acrobatcs Soullier winged
his way to the French lines, succeeding in throw
ing off the first one and then another of his adj
yersares.
To complete his mischance his motor weakened.
He had only one resOurce--to do the death drop.
He let himself fall in spirals and the Bosches,
believing that he had been sent down, beat their
wings as If in dance of Joy.
Then suddenly the dead" French aviator right
ed himself began to arm anew his mitrailleuse,
and with a last shot at his enemy, regained his
lines, able at last to say "alone"
The tolls and dangers of this terrible day had
counted for nothing, however, on the official rec
ord Of the young aviator, but the following day,
although his activities were by means so con-
tnuous, was to bring him the substantial recogni-
ton that every aviator longs for.
BY the same bright star as that of the day be-
fore he started a morning flight. passing rapid
~ over the enemy trenches. Presently perceiving
a D. #. w. scout machine, he attacked it vigor-
ousy.
In these single Combats In which only two ma
chimes take part the fight is usually very soon
over. In three minutes the enemy had been beat
en-, the machine fell in flames and the two avia-
tors were crushed on the ground. On this occa-
sion observers in balloon and some infantry
troops had been able to follow the duel and re.
ported official confirmation so eagerly desired.
That very night at the Bonne-Maiscn farm in a
friendly ceremony the new ace was baptized In
champagne.