Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-03-30


; of Dame Fortune. In both cases
! success usually crowns the efforts
! of the fellow who can see about
5 ten moves ahead of his rival.
3------.-----~------------------
Georgetown and Maryland State are
the only local schools which play ball
games today. The former meets the
Walter Reed Hospital nine on the Hill
Washington, while the latter goes to
Baltimore for its annual meeting with
Hopkins The Blue and Gray probably
will win by about as big score as 1t
pleases. while the Marylanders are ao-
solutely an unknown proposition.
Georgetown's contest Is not one OF
its regular schedule, that not being
booked to start until next week. The
Hilltoppers have adopted the policy OF
playing all the teams they can schedule
from military camps, in order to ac-
commodate the soldiers with games.
Maryland States contest with Hopkins
is its most important of the year, but
il Hopkins Is anywhere near as strong
as usual State stands not much chance
to win.
A day or two ago there was published
In this column an account of the personal
experiences Of a former college athlete on
the occasion of night fight in an aero
plane in learning to be an aviator. the
Introductory paragraph OF that account
told about something that was real sport.
that time, relating experiences encountered
in battle with German plane. After
you read the following you probably Will
cease to wonder why aviation. as the most
intense and exacting game. with the high
est stakes ever played. is attracting thou
sands Of American athletes
Sometimes he Cthe German aviator)
would go way back in his own territory
49, Itvroa
saw me all the time, but 1 guess he
thought he could do what he wanted and
get out before could climb up and catch
him. All the time he was maneuvering to
where he could not see me, and doing it
WELL for in order to stay behind him had
to fly farther than he did and. accordingly.
did not catcff him I did get up to his
back for his own lines 1 got directly be-
hind his tail and put after him as fast
as my bus would travel. When got
within 100 yards tried to lay my sights
back draught from his propeller made my
machine unsteady, so that accurate shoot
ing would have been impossible. l dove
down ten meters SO as to get out OF this
most carefully. All the time the boche
had not fired a shot, and from the way
he acted think he must have lost track
of me behind his tail.
Anyhow, L turned DOCn OF my ma
chine guns loose and thought I saw my
bullets about going right. My left gun
only fired about a dozen shots and then
broke: the boche at the same time CIV
ing twist to the right to get me out
from under his tail. I kept on plugging
the place where the pilot sits. and
again 1 thought I saw the bullets go
ing into the right spot.
After possibly thirty shots, however,
my right gun also broke and left me
with nothing, and at the same time the
firing perhaps twenty shots. By this
time we were. I suppose. about fifty or
sixty meters apart and 1 got under his
tail quickly, to get out Of the way, so
shooting, but am sure he came no.
where near me.
There never was a truer saying than
that there is nothing which upsets a
mans accuracy SO much as having the
other fellow putting them very close to
him. At all events, with two broken
guns. close proximity to Hun is not a
healthy locality. so turned on my nose
and dove behind my friend, at the same
time watching him over my shoulder
to try to keep myself protected by his
tail As I watched him he started div
ing until he was in the vertical, and !
could see the silver color of the under
sides of his wings. with the black
maltese crosses on them.
when he got in a vertical nose dive.
instead of going straight down, he kept
on turning until, instead of flying
toward his own lines right side up, he
was flying into ours upside down and
diving slowly in this position. This is.
Of course. sign that all is not well on
board and usually means that the pilot
has fallen forward over his control
stick, thus forcing the machine into a
nose dive, and then on its back. Flying
upside down Is not what it is cracked
up to be.
when saw my friend the Hun fly
ing into our lines with his wheels in
the air 1 thought he must be pretty
sick, but was expecting every minute
to see him come to and fly home. while
] watched him, helpless, with two guns
that would not work. I accordingly
dove after him, holding my controls,
first with one hand and then the other,
and working with first the right and
then the left gun, and trying each in
the hope of getting one of them going.
The boche machine evidently was
completely uncontrolled. 1 chased him
down almost 1000 meters, faster than
l have ever come down before: so fast
that when we reached 1000 meters he
was not more than 400 meters ahead of
me. A quick change of altitude like
this is most unpleasant. as your ears
get all stopped up. and gives you a
headache, but in fight you do not no.
a
ious to see just where the boche fell,
so as to get him confirmed if he did 20
down.
"At 1000 meters. however, 1 had to
pull up and use my hand pump, for all
the pressure had run out of NV gas
tank, due to the unusually long dive
with the motor shut down. I lost sight
OF the boche and did not see him hit
the ground, but after my motor was
running nicely again 1 flew on down to
zoo meters over the battlefield and
searched for him. for he had fallen
several kilometers within our lines 81
that 1t was possible to go down low
and have look.
Pretty soon l spotted him living or
his back in the mud. His top plane was
| mashed into the soft ground. but the
rest CT the machine apparently was
remarka bly, intact considerinb the heirht
! from which he had fallen. Probably the
machine Hoped over on it's back. or
right side up, just before striking. and
In this way the force of the fall was
| broken. Shortly after got back to our
field. the official confirmation came in
from the lines. SO the Hun did not get
away, after all.
1.-The pilot and observer. of course
were both dead. l think the pilot was
killed by one of my shots or at least
completely knocked out, for there was
nothing seriously the matter with his
| machine and it only fell because it was
not controlled. The machine gunner
however. was alive, for 1 heard him
shooting after had 6pjcba5