Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-05-22

MA 7 II, lSlo.
little more translation and then "this
lieutenant thinks he's the prince
cheese here a little more and again
"Those virages were mighty well
done-this lieutenant is afraid to dc
them"
A Handy Trade
And all the time the lieutenant
was standing right beside us, Put
man seriously explaining what the
lieutenantwanted to tell me, and ir-
revelantly making this own observa-
tions, while 1 sat in the Zing try
ing hard to.keep straight face. fol
it sure struck me funny. This
knowing two languages is certainly
a wonderful possession and do you
see, comes in very handy at times
1t is not necessary to talk behind
any ones back-if he don't under
stand you.
And now I'll tell you about ar
American whose escadrille used tc
reside here. They were changed tc
a combat escadrille and is in the
Somme Sector now.
He is an enormously tall Ameri.
can, and / still wonder what he
does with all his legs and feet in
one of these small "chausee" planes
He jokingly remarked to me one
day that he warmed his chin be.
| tween his knees when he flew an6
1 can well believe it. He flies a
Spad now, and. along with several
others they were sent out one day
when the clouds were very low, tC
shoot up, infantry, cavalry or any.
thing else they could see along the
roads back OF the German lines
They soon were over the BochC
lines, and coming down as low a.
| so metres above road full of Bocht
infantry and cavalry, they knocked
them over like ninepins with theil
! machine guns. For miles the!
| followed this road at that low heigh
! every Boche who could loosen hi'
rifle, letting fly at them.
A Bit of Hard Luck
Unfortunately, this American sale
| his gun would not work at this timt
| but soon after he spied a bunch o
| cavalry sittingin the center of
woods, eating dinner. 1t may havt
been that he was hungry that HI
forgot his GOOD manner, for al
| though he had not been invited III
rudely dropped in for lunch, bring
ing his share with him. Only tn
Boche had not eaten enough to neeC
any pills, especially the kind he wa
spraying at them and they spread
for cover like a flock of quail.
He was in too big hurry to TAX
any of the lunch, he had won, but al
he wrote to Putnam, he never haC
! so much fun since he came tt
! France, which gives you an idea tn,
day an American looks at titus
a big game with lots of sport for ;
sensation seeker. OF course, ther,
! is the tragic side, and many flight
! don't end as happily or amusingly a
the one l related in the last letter
! but aviators choose to disregard tina
part and I am no exception. Sine,
/ was always tlippant at home, VIII,
should l change now; besides tell
ing you tragic instances would fright
en- you sure.
One American who went to schoo
with me, had fight with a Boch
which lasted 20 minutes which il
an exceptionally long time believ,
me Most of them last about 80 sec
onds. L never heard any detail
! about this prolonged combat. excep
|
can went out together. A Boch,
came up under the Frenchman
shooting as he came, and down wen
the Frenchman, in flames, the Anne
rican diving on the Boche imine
diately. l guess they called il draw
after. 20 minutes for neither tn
Boche nor American was hurt.
Hoping For Luck
My friend Stuckney, who droppe
in on us the other day, told me mos
of these incidents. He told me an
other one of Cook, who, having 60
in a scrap with q Boche with II
harm done on either side, remarke,
I that the Boche just put his fnge
on the trigger and kept flying arount
hoping he (Cook) would run int
some of the bullets Most of us hav
been under fire at least once, 81
| Stickney expressed no opinion of u
all when he daily remarked that h
couldn't see how the Boche missed
us. What with confetti" Grace
| bullets) going past one on eithe
side, between the wings, above anC
below. "Why, all he'd have to d.
would be to kick the rudder, ant
he'd have you," he summed up.
/ gu SGB IIl6 bOCHe nave IHelF gum
mounted the same way we have-in
| fixed position, so the machine mus
! be sighted by using the controls.
The clouds just cleared off about al
hour ago, letting a little blu
through here and there. No soone
had this occurred than over came
| Boche, high in the air, with
trail of shrapnel streaming behinC
him, none of which were very close
| Anyway, It didnot faze him any, 20
| he kept EI;ht on coming and turn
/ ing, flew over Chalons. So 1 expec
we can expect a raid tonight In
cidentally, two French planes Sc
out in hot pursuit soon after we saw
him, but with the start he had fea
| they did not get him.
| Just asked the Captain to q
hunting" this evening with ;
| F'renchman, he gave me permis
sion, but told me to be careful
Hope I see something.
WALTER