Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-05-08
DARING Jimmy HALL
IS AMONG MISSING
Last Seen in Spiral Dive Near
Earth After Engaging
German.
FOES BEST FLIERS ATTACK

By the Associated Press.
WITH THE AMERICAN ARMY IN
FRANCE, Tuesday. May Jimmy
Hall is gone and the whole American
air service is mourning his loss. All
are wondering whether he was killed
or was able to bring his machine salely
to earth after his battle in the air over
IPagny-Sur-Moselle. Capt. Hall was
ipopuIar throughout the Army and had
won admiration by his daring. cool
ness and skill in handling his machine.
The captains flying companions are
all certain he would have knocked out
his opponent had it not been Tor
Imaneuver unheard of SO far as Amerl-
can and French pilots in this sectioh
of France are concerned. 1t has beeh
lconsidered dangerous to the last degree
to bring I'D a machine sharply from a
downward plunge because the strain Is
almost certain to cause the collapse Oh
some vital part. The German aI1ator
whom Capt. Hall was PURSUING peli.s
hard pressed, adopted tn,s ,,.nn
eXpedient to escape death ana won.
He was thus enabled to pour stIeaiii
of bullets into the bottom OF Han
machine. g.
! The captains companions waited Tor
several hours after the fight Tor MN
to return before giving him up for
lost They felt certain that unless some
serious accident had occurred ne Woulu
return, notwithstanding the 1act Ulat
he was seen to plunge toward tne
earth. The aviators all have the great
est confidence in him and express the
conviction that if he landed safely and
was captured he will escape eventually.
After thrilling battle with enemy
airplanes ten miles north of Pont-a-
Mousson. Capt. James Norman Hall,
one of the leading American aviators.
made spiral dive for the earth. and
was last seen close to the ground APP
parently trying to land.
Capt. Hall. with two others. was pa
trolling this morning between st. Mi
hiel and Pont-aMousson. When they
were over Pagny- Sur-Mosel!e four
enemy albatroSs airp1anes, painted with
black and white stripes. were seen.
The Americans attacked, Capt. Hall
singing out one of the enemy and
driving him downward while firing with
his machine gun. The pair made a
spiral dive from 5000 meters to 1000.
when the German suddenly reversed
his machine and started to rise. In a
|quick turn he poured deadly stream
of machine gun bullets into the bottom
of Halls machine. Capt. Hall promptly
came out of the spiral and made dive
for the earth He was last seen at
tempting to complete this maneuver.
In the meantime the enemy machines
that the other Americans had engaged
dropped toward the ground. 1t is un-
known what happened to them, but two
of them apparently were in distress.
No credit for victory is given the
American because official verification of
the destruction of the enemy was i'm
possible.
First Displayed "Hat in the Ring"
Capt. Halls machine had painted on
its side the first American airplane in
sigma to appear on the battle line. 1t
was in the form Of hat in the ring
| sign, showing a starry striped hat, usu-
ally pictured on Uncle Sam, surrounded
by a golden ring.
Despite the bad weather German ma
chimes were out in force. Alarm after
alarm was answered by the Americans.
Lieut.. Cunningham engaged one
machine when five more of the enemy
Joined in. The lieutenant kept up the
fight until his machine gun damned.
when he returned to the American lines
with ten bullet holes in his plane.
The usual German game was to have
a small number of planes appear near
the American lines while reserve Of
four or five machines remained out Of
sight until the Americans came into
action. The reserves would then swoop
down in an attempt to wipe out the
Americans. The American aviators
met this by answering alarms with
twice the number of machines it was
reported the Germans had.
Two Others in Fight. =.
American aviators used Newport pur-
suit machines as their fighting weapons
The Americans engaged in photography
rff yafy lat ircr ynrfr n1c bod
to fight. Two Americans protecting
| firing machine were attacked by two
Germans. The fight lasted for half an
| hour and ended when one German went
wabbling to the ground about three
kilometers within the German lines
| The fight took place about two kilo-
| meters behind the German positions
AS a result Of today's activity it is
believed the Germans sent some Of their
best f1iers to this sector to attempt to
annihilate the American flying force.
Late today. in response to an alarm
that three German machines were trav-
cling down the line about kilometer
inside the American front, three Amer
| open the attack when four additional
| planes, with decorations indicating they
belonged to flying circus" appeal red
from the German side of the line
| BY noon there had been several ex-
| amples Of this new German trick, and
Americans answering later alarms went
out in twice the number of German ma
chimes reported.
Author of "Kitchener's Mob"
James Norman Hall Joined the British
army in London in August, 1914. After
! q year and a, half in the service he OBJ
| tanned his discharge and returned to
the United States on private business
Later he returned to France and there
enlisted in the Lafayette Escadrille. 1t
| was shortly after this that his book
i "Kitchencr's Mob" was published.