Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1905-1919, 1918-03-31

Cf'uus IN the shy MVtSh offered good
cover for the German airplanes.
one OF the twelve officers who
were compelled TO reach terra firma
! by the parachute route told the story
of his trip We were perched at
| $500 feet" he said. "and had been
up only half an hour when column
Of smoke two miles southwark at
] tracted our notice There goes Mum
/ her sixteen, said my observer. aud
We brought our glasses TO bear on
the scene
Two white flecks floating earth
ward told us that the two passen-
gers Of the balloon had got clear In
time. Just then two similar rpccks
appeared suddenly from under an
ether balloon, warning Us that the
boChe was out FOR "A Wholesale Kill
ing this time. II seemed like fun
minute before we saw thin black
streak curl up from this second bal
loon. and the volume of smoke in
creased as the balloon sank, with
ever-gatherlng momentum, down to
earth Six more white specks now
appeared, and since II waH evident
thGt the entire line was being at
tackled, gave the order to haul
down
AT 1000 feet I ordered the winch
stopped No more balloons had been
attaCKed, aud although ours was now
the Cnly one up. | could see British
fighting planes ascending from IN"
aCrdrtiNca behind us to chase away
the cuemy So | decided to Ncutui
up again We ascended to 5000 feet
thus time, and soon were at work
again,
"Th,n something happened 1t
hNupcued swiftly As In dream We
didn't even see the German Alba
troSs approaching, but our ground
officer and his scouts gave us the
alarm Just u second or two before
IN, hawk was on us heard my OBJ
server, at the telephone. say sudden
| ly what's that stand by Good
| Heavens" Then he turned calmly To
me and said with smile. sorry old
man. We must get out at once. lie
helped me over the side first, and !
| had "A confused notion that some
where or other, near at hand, a ma
chine gun WIS banging away briskly
IL dropped. and heard "A 'wumph
as the patachute left it's case This
was the last sensation | attempted to
analyze AS fell like a stone for 800
feet saw the balloon shoot Nio-
lently upwards, and then my view
was blolted out by a large white UNI
hrella which suddenly appeared
above my head. and I realized that
the parachute had openeed. ! didn't
look down as felt my body swaying
easily in the breeze The roar above
| told me that the Albatross had done
| It's work and the balloon was afire
at ~ a
parachute, and there is always the
| possibility OF the burning balloon
| overtaking you and burning your
only means OF escape,
But before | reached the ground
| saw, far In front. the Alhatruss
| crashing to earth, minus "A wing She
aircraft shells
THE next thing knew was that
! was lying In the middle OF a
ploughed field, w,.le a short dis
tance off I saw my observer coming
acress toward me"
All twelve OF the officers OF the
wrecked balloons escaped safely on
| this occasion. Theye ate not always
no fortunate, At this same station a
few days before an officer was shot
and killed while dropping in his par
Rchute. His balloon had been set
afire by a German airplane, and as
usual he and his companion took TO
their pnrachutes. They had hardly
got clear OF the balloon whe1 4he at
lacking airplane swooped down on
them. its machine gun In full play.
one Of the officers was killed. und
although the other escaped, his par
schute was torn by a bullet and sew.
eral OF It's cords were cut. Few men
have been nearer death and lived
to tell the tale.
Tho balloon commander told the
story of an officer who had gone up
alone, and whose balloon was Ahelled
when flying ut 1000 feet on these
occasions IL is dangerous to haul
down, for the position OF the winch
is thereby given away To the enemy
gunners, Al last, however after "A
cloud OF shrapnel smoke had ap-
peared almost under the basket. and
no response came down the telephone
wire to inquiries as TO whether every
thing was all right. the ground off
Ger gave the order TO haul down. Ten
minutes later the car touched the
around and the observer was found
lying at the bottom Of the basket
unconscious but unhurt II was a
bad case OF shell-shock from which
the offbfr was several months in
recovering
a few days ago at nearby sta
tion. balloon suddenly caught fire.
for no apparent reason. The two OBJ
servers tried TO escape In their para
chutes. but the blazing balloon over
took them, and they were killed
Theories as to tho cause OF the dis
aster were numerous, but the one
most generally accepted was that the
balloon had been fired by an elec.
trio spark from a thunder cloud. The
fact that the wire cable had parted
near thu balloon was said to give
support 10 this theory II was the
parting OF this cable which was gen
orally responsible for the death Of
Mo observers, because II made i'm
possible tho towing OF the burning
balloon clear OF the Aarachutcs.
one OF the officers at this station
was up In a balloon a few days ago
when IL was shelled and the cable
severed, The balloon started ut rs
miles an hour for the German lines.
The officer had not much time to
think, but ne threw all hts maps and
documents overheard and pulled the
rip cord. lie and the balloon fell
about 1000 yards from the German
lines. %