The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-07-04
BATTLE IN THE AIR

good firing position, short distance below and behind your adversary, while avoiding the wind from his propeller.
 ITO accomplish this, each pilot uses his individual methods, which vary in each particular case. One of the conn mon maneuvers consists in diving from sufficient distance to about 300 feet behind the adversary, dropping about N feet lower and coming into position Tor firing by an upward dash.
 If the enemy has suspected nothing it is assassination If he has seen you he either fees or accepts combat. If he flees, fire after him. If he accepts
 battle, each adversary maneuvers a
 keep the upper position in the air Tn order to be able to drop suddenly behind and below the other. It is a question of skill and quickness of eye. After few
 passes, one of the two gets the upper hand. When the boche feels himself
 beaten, he usually tries to escape by
 diving. If he dives in straight line.
 keep firing at him as at a target. If he
 zigzags, you must keep close behind him, tacking every time he does. Hi5N
 only salvation then lies in the tail-spI,
 or in turning over on the wing
 .Often the single-seaters prefer to q crate in pairs. Tn this case they eitf
 both attack at the same time, in orf to divide the attention of the Germ
 or one attacks above, while the ot. guards the rear of the attacking n N chine. Ml ''2. Aattack on two-seater by sing seater--To effect surprise is alwayS- first consideration. The importance the attacking position is greatly h%y creasd by the presence, on the hosti.eN plane of a machine gun operated by the
 Before all, one must never get into thaI three quarters position-rear, below. nor especially above--for he would certainly receive some bullets. The best position is either in front and little below, or | under the tail. If he is coming from l three-quarters front, on the same level. he opens fire at about 90 feet. and if the| boche vcers to give the field to his ob- server, he takes advantage of this move {, to get under his tail
 1 8. Attack on a hostile group by aI 1 single seater-The object of the first
 maneuver is to isolate one of the air planes so as to attack it separately He I drops into the midst of the group Whtld keeping little above, and firing at. al l his adversarIes, so as to force them t maneuver It is seldom that one or th1 | enemy in Ifs excitement does not detac1 l himself by turning to the right whsl
 the others turn to the left. It is upon
 the former that our fighter precipitate
 himself.
 A. Battle of group of single-seater against a hostile groupThe group, con ! sisting of four or five machines. hold itself at a high altitude. The fornld i tion of flying is adopted. The leade 1 flies at the point of the ", the othe1 | being terraced behind him. The plane leave about 450 feet between them. l terraces. the leader being the loves l The Germans fly likewise in V formatld , or singls file, in steps; but, with then i the last plane is the lowest, the lead I being the highest.
 This results in the following form l attack: The French leader announc l that he is about to attack. by balancir twice, and dives at the last Germs plane which is the lowest. The otn 1 boches make half-turn and fall up 1 him. The remaining Frenchmeu tn 1 attack them, with all the trumps in thu own hands the one uppermost in l air having the initial advantage.