Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-10-23

| NOT long after they entereu -
clouds our leader must have ueciueu
that the danger from above was over,
Tor he started to do some shootin5 5abt
on his own account. we were Iisa
| between the two villages at the ,a t.s'
some three miles in the Boone nnys, NE
1 guess when the game of follow the
leader became a little more colP
cated-and interesting. for suuuetn,s
ne dove at steep angle, ana l pe,5
right on his tail followed suit. oloi
see what we were shooting at until
we had fallen some 500 meters anu III
then l saw we were headed lol q
small clump of forest in which WIZ
numerous barracks. 1 had no nol :
than seen the manner of target we
were going to use than the lieuteilatic
opened fire. ] could see his traCea
bullets going into the buildings as ne
swept down behind his trail or bullets.
and then he pulled up and 1t was my
turn. Unfortunately, | was uslns an
other plane with only one. gun, as
mine was undergoing repairs TO
broken Becky" How ] did Wish for for
my old warhorse and especially Ior
its balloon gun. With it's flaming pul-
let's I surely would have set some,
thing afire. / had no fault to nha
with the gun / had however, LOT II
and l sprayed those barracks quite
thoroughly. So thoroughly that
awoke an angry retort from ma
chine gun and being less than nun
uTeu meleFS nlSH Wheh P"iAS
of the dive.
Now For the Gas
I didn't have any trouble seems IN
those smoking bullets going past me
for they were using tracers-l sven
thought / heard one rip through
wing, but this must have been INA 81
nation for on landing 1 could hnu no
holes. incidentally, we must nave
gotten the owner of that machlne gun;
| for when we came around the seco.i1s, :,
! lit In ar II.
And that second time gave me soihe
| uneasiness, because as we sWuhS
around into the Boche lines again l
noted that the French had let ioose
an enormous quantities OF gas; oio5 md
| of it streamed all along the line' aha
/ what was more to the point some o5
! 1T was rising-and we were heaueo
| that way. Remember, we were tnen
| flying at an altitude of 300 meters,
mighty risky height to fly at any
where with "chasse" plane, let alone
over a smoking battlefield; HaVlng
gauged the height of that white clouq
| of vapor with ours very CLOSELY,
heaved a sigh of relief for we Woulo
pass over it. IL we continued at the
same height we were travelling.
say I felt relieved because Knowing
| nothing whatever about gas, L natuI-
ally have a healthy fear of 1t. But we
for the lieutenant seemed to think
| that bunch of forest and barracks
needed spraying again-and the gas
| cloud was between us ana IL. But
there was the lieutenant going down,
| and orders We're orders, and they were
to follow. That we would pass
through that cloud there would be no
doubt, seeing that there was not any
| question as to whether | wanted 10 go
| or not | decided to hold my breath as
l swept thru the cloud: but got so
| interested shooting at those buildings
| that I forgot to hold my breath; IN
| fact, | never even noticed the clouo'
wether l went thru it too fast to no
| tice, for / was making some time, or
whether it was only the smoke OF
| battle l don't know.
Banging the RattIers
| Anyway, I'm still able to breath
quite freely and remember in all as
mighty interesting flIght-Oh no,
again, only this time the Lieutenant
used bunch of cars for a target.
| There were quite string or them
on a track, altho ] did not see them
| until l saw where the Lieutenant
| bullets We're going. We sprayed
| them pretty thoroughly also, but IN
my opinion 1t seemed waste of bull
| let's, for when l got down close TO
them it looked as if the bigger guns
| had been using them somewhat
roughly also, for there were numer-
Gus big holes in the roofs, and some
were not all there. Still one never
| can tell. They might have been IN
| habited. It's a cinch If any of the
| inhabited ants were home they Will
stay home, for l sprinkled liberal
supply of lead thereabouts. These
| cars happened to be rather close Tor
| an aviator to the barracks we had
been shooting up-and the Lieutenant
had no more than pulled out of his
dive than he turned and dove again.
| at the barracks-inhabited forest, the
others and 1 after him.
Got Scare of His Life
This time / went down closer than
| I had before trying to pick out some
| thing living to shoot at, especially
one of those guns who had tried to
| get me with a machine gun, but no
| such luck. Either my eyes were bad
or there were no Boche around, for
all / could see were barracks. which
| I pulled out of that dive, was pretty
close to the ground, and right there
1 got the scare of my young life, for
as 1 pulled on the gas and the
my future home-I hope-I looked
! down one wing to see what was go
| ing on below Something was and |
didn't look for it long either Golly!
| one of those big guns went off right
under me. and what concerned me
more-right at me. Holy smokes!
From the size, 1t must have been one
of those they were shooting at Paris
with, for q spout of fire and smoke
shot out as big round as a bushel.
| Never did I think that some day /
| would look into the mouth of a can
non and live to tell the tale. But
| here l am, and if that wasn't a can
| non 1 would like to know what it was.
True, 1 did not actually see the gun,
| but / did see what happened when
it went off and man! thinks I at
the time" 1 sure-hope you don't come
my way! Why 1 was not carried
back to France aboard big Bertha"
will always remain mystery to me,
| for altho 1t all happened in an in
stant 1 fully expected at the time to
| be blown to bits. Wasn't looking
straight into the flaming discharge?
And yet the next instant was climb
| ing serenely after my leader won
| dering what in Sam Hill I had seen,
and What it was blew up under me-
| Judging from the bumps l was get
| ting they were still blowing up under
me- above and on both sides, for
| "archie" had opened up again, and
from the feel of some of those bumps
| they were not made by nature.
Watch Your Step!
| And thus passed two of the most
interesting hours / have ever spent
| except perhaps several times when |
watched the moon come up. But
there! l must not begin mixing girls
and war, for their destinations are
entirely different.
That evening 1 started out on an
other expedition Of the same kind.
pleased at the praise of my leader
for following him so faithfully, and
looking forward to repeating the per-
formance. but my motor thought
Otherwise was flying my own two
gun plane-and refused to work, so I
| had to come back. They changed all
the spark plugs and still she wouldn't
[ work. She worked this morning tho.
/ h,,t nofhinp of innOrtance haDDened