Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1918-09-29
ALLIED MACHINES FASTER
THAN. PLANES OF GERMANS
Are Also Better Handled and Climb
Easier and Cleaner Than
Encmy's.
AIR STORIES FROM FRANCE
Dog Fights" Have Been Numerous
of Latc-Everything Gets All
Mixed Up in swirling Chaos.
Safest Job on Front.
lIH STORIES FROM FRANCE
Especial CorrcnponJencc.)


BIN HlOnlnS III lue air OH inc western
front. The answer Is: We have better
machines than the Germans That's a
comfort. we have better pilots man
tor man That's undoubtcd. Our whole
Air force ia more adaptable to the CON
stantiy changing conditions. That's
obvious
Our machines are faster; they are
better maneuvercd; they all climb
and Italians. TOO. The seventy niles
an hour machines are mt there any
longer. They are now practice buses
,r OH the slrapheuds Of old England.
lone are the machines that climbed
lr crawled 400 feet In ten minutes
our faster scouts are doing $50 miles
miles easily; and the latest types top
200 feet a minute.
It's the speed OF things in the air
note. Twenty minutes from London to
brighton, or over thcz cross OF ST.
iaurs Cathedral ins3zsteen seconds!
Imagine it,. thinks the landlubber.
But airmen just now. in nocks be-
tween DlXmude and Amiens. and from
Amiens 10 Noyon, are not thinking OF
those things at all. Height, speed,
danger. stunts are ne I'm our yocabu-
.ary. Those are incidcntals. It's wits
against wits in the air-climb, ncxi-
o;lity, maneuvers, shooting, vision
range of action. and the human factor
all concentrated over the shelves OF
the battle To sweep tho Germans to
Garth. 1t has not quite happened yet
Let that be said.
Spectacular wonders. thrilling and
Inspiring, before aud .enccs of hundreds
Of thousands. have almost tired vision
by their frequency-the central figures
oeing the boys Of england who in
the majority were at school when - c
war began.
What's it likef It's all right Como
line of your life. Tl.,a's absoluteiy
no waiting for work now in the air.
And the jobs tough one" is what
come from squadrons which in a few
weeks include two ID. =. O.s, two bars
and lot moro loot-In the Gazette.
My samples purposciy unit our massed
attacks during the German advance.
tor one one can keep accurate account
Of the dozens Of Things ono does then
~ Is the individual occurrences that
stick clcarest.
There's. my young friend. Lieutenant
T. lie flew over The Channel with
twenty-seven others a month ago The
drst morning OF the German rush be.
Eond Canbrai ! saw him climb 5000
feet. At once. down shot n German ma
chine from the cloucs and missed him.
ne divcd at ninety miles" put her
Town at ITO, and pulled her up i'm a
pcriect ioop, IN which he woDbled beau
,duiiy In his own .'spit-stroam." He
mans tank through. The riun fell in
flaming rags.
Ny young pal stalled vertically. with
kicked his right rudder hard pulled
ms stick right back TO his elbow, into
a LETT hand, nattcned out at 500 feet,
came down, received congratulutions
blushed and vanished
That was his first time of tackling
"a German. and we have lots like him.
ALLIES LEARNED THIS TRICK
FROM GERMAN AVIATORs
Three days after the push" began
| saw nice looking boy OF another
SHuadron do "a.couple OF hmm elmann's"
air men. The prince of German air.
men taught Us the trick You stall,
saek fun on y9vf s, rich, ruddsr. anu right
result is the quickest turn in the air
you can achieve. 1t was done splen
d diaiy by d La fresh from the aero;
fire. poured ten shots on TO one scat
terlns fugitive and drove her down
out OF control
most numerous during the past three
weeks In one case fifteen of our ma
e S;ern9s n out M, twenty OF the
then--octween them and their happy
homes Then came the dog fight" in
in " sMir HiHery cbans E Tbs l miyed
lhclr teeth. Seven were crashed and
the other thirteen scuttlcd ing!oriousiy
10 cover. Below WAS mass OF wreck
And. as Sir Douglas Haig says. "None
OF our machines was missing" after
that.
II amounts to this. and we are all
convinced it is an accurate deduction
M dy or, Germ nan Ca, can w, but they can
quickly trained. All Of ours are are slow
growths. Never has the superiority
or Britisa method been moe mark ell
than i, has been In the air these last
Two fellows of a ,neighboring SQUAD
ron brought in beautiful new "Gotha"
n h.T NkF,.r
Strafe' began. They had taken off,
about half-past five on long rcconnais-
sance duty-double-s caker tighter pilot
wss sooG pilot; sdo The The
passed 5000 feet above the enemy's
lines. pressed on five miles and had
done some useful looking down." when
up came solitary German machine
lying $500 feet below. In moment
The British bus dived at it, got under
its tail and fred. Down went the boche
lattcned out apd landed in Il lonely
field. Our mem ncircled him above
The morning was quiet and fine. Not
a soul was in sight. The German ma
chine was still. NO pilot was seen TO
move. Our MEN landed with their ma
chine guns trained" One had a re-
volver. They advanced: Nothing hap
through the neck. The. Gotha was in
tact. In jumped the observer, They
came across the lines: but the "observ-
or" had devil of time putting his
-.
rcction--it was not a Gothn. But we
have it,
BLAZING HODY DRopPED
DOWN THROUGH CLOUDS
OF all the dangcrs--if dangers there
be-the worst and most dreadful is to
take fire after being crippled at. say.
5000 feet. Only n fortnight ago my
first instructor. Captain C. one OF
the finest, coolest and most able men
among us, was shot down in flames.
That's the sort Of thing that makes a
big impression. He had Unanswered
Fokkor, and another, IL German BIZ
plane. when up came third enemy
machine, pierced his petrol tank. and
his burning machine gliding down un-
der prrfcct control, his observer
jumped. He stuck 10 the hopeless task
the floor burnt through and his blaZ-
ing body dropped through the fusclage
Our men avenged him. That Fokker
was spotted. Four lighting machines
went to the same spot early next morn
ing. Three climbed high. One lay low
at 1000 feet. That Isol,ker spotted him.
The Brtisher came under the fire of
the German "Archies:" He acted the
goat" stalled and circlcd as If Grip
pied. Down swooped the Fokker. The
other three then came on at a ,remen-
In fra haf or