The St. Charles herald., 1918-12-21

servers or the BRUSH piaueS Tedu
more like pages from Jules Verne than everyday
exploits on a fighting front. The presence OF
Hun observation balloon in the air is now very
uncommon sight, for the instant the sausage ap-
pears the royal air force "cookS" climb into the
cockplts of their machines and are in the air.
each striving to be the first to account for the In
terloper.
One British pilot scouting behind the enemys
lines pounced on two of these balloons In swift
succession and succeeded In setting fire to ana
destroying BOTH His petrol was beginning 10
run low at the time, so he returned 10 ms air
drome to refill. But his appetite for German
sausage" was apparently unslaked, for ne SET
out Immediately upon second quest slsnleu
two more balloons, and, taking advantage OF
friendly clouds carefully stalked them "hen
within short distance of his prey cloud cover
failed him and he was perceived. The Huns
rushed to the winches and endeavored TO maui
down both balloons. Putting down the nose VI
his machine, the British pilot sped eartn"aru
after the swaying Of fabric and almost oe-
fore the German mechanics had their WITCHES
working the hunter had secured his first quarry
which fell 0 blazing mass upon the Huns be-
meath The other balloon was rather fartner
away and the Germans, stimulated to frantic Ell
forts by the fate Of the first, hauled desperately
and succeeded In getting it down almost TO tne
ground before the British pilot arrived above. MOI
10 be balked of his prey and in spite of the furi-
pump burst of incendiary bullets, and had the
satisfaction of increasing his bag for the day to
four enemy balloons totally destroyed.
During their present retirement the Germans
have made desperate efforts to remove as mucn
ammunition as possible. British pilot spotted
train Of wagons engaged on this work and de-
scended to 30 feet to make quite sure OF
his aim Getting well into position, he opened fire
on the rear wagon, knocking out two men on the
box Deprived of their drivers and terrified by
the winged assailant the horses bolted and, col
Hiding with a tree, upset the wagon.
An extremely heavy fire by this time being
directed upon the airman, and had already
wounded him in the knee and severed the pres
sure feed pipe of his machine. He would not
leave his job half DONE however, and again
maneuvering into position put In another burst
which resulted in the overturnng of two more
and the stampeding Of the remaining wagons.
On the same day British machine working in
conjunction with the infantry was attacked by
four German scouts. This being about the odds
which German airmen now demand, they doubt
less thought they had found easy prey. 1t is
of course true that the British contact machine
ts not primarily designed for fighting purposes
but its pilot this OCCASION, always was ready
70 give good account of himself, and did so to
such purpose that of the attackers was speed
ily sent down out of control. During the fight
the petrol tank of the British machine was
pierced being instant menace of its destruction
by fire. Thereupon the English observer prompt
" climbed out on the lower plane and successfully
Dlugged the hole with his handkerchief remain
ing on the plane until his pilot succeeded in
throwing off his pursuers and landing his machine
safely behind the British lines.
Two British officers were at work in "sau-