Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1918-07-20


in circles and turn ID in confessed sort of
way and after n lot of crazy flying. again
picked u who now headed for home.
Everybody wondered what was wrong
When they all landed imagine 1t
astonishment To learn that u Hun had been
on his tail and had been chased away by
- hadn't known thing about IT
went up to our major and soleInnly
requested him To warn us that there were
Huns hereabouts. had also been on
this formation, and he laughed at until
his mechnnician came up and reported
bullet hole IN his plane and hadn
even known that he was being shot al
We were ow placed ON an equal
status with the other squadron each
squadron dividing the duties equaily
There are only two more duties ] haven
mentioned One is the alert, where u
flight stays i'll their flying clothes with
helmets on near their machines, waiting
for phone messages To tome IN, reporting
Huns over the lines They get IN their
machines and IT Is only matter oil MN
ute after the message Is received before
he last plane has left the ground his
is good work No time Is wasted trying 10
find them as We usually have to do. and
best of all, we get them ON onr own slde
III the hines, WHITE " ~ ptii MY ~
when hc IS brought down and generally
We have superiority of numbers and can
gang them
\ LITTLE HAD LtEK
once had Il time Of bad luck with such
call He was reported travelling south n
5 600 meters over and alone ted
two others We headed to the lines 20 get
our altitude and cut him of By great
Il | hpr
black and white markings signalled fnf
attack and opened up with both guns
saw the tracer apparently heading true
The German never budged, just headed
south and went calmly on stopped
suppose he were an ally lie must hc
Probably a night bomber They we're
marked black end whit \ cold per
spiration crrpt ont N TIA the ght that |
had rohahlv killc he observer Of a
British bomber 80 cesel arolla hub
cd y and Inonkcved round L + =
Fundamental rule never flV steaiy nv
st nj cn IN flight y ah down.
81 ewave curve and slip NcYtf still !
came over INN u saw hat tho pht WIS
4 large white clc : 4id til" others We
started home with heavy hearts There
We learned that il really Wns German
Win Il we had calmly conveyed boyend
orr anti-aIrcraft hatterle fortunately
they thought tha tur mae N guns Ind
mined as ~ frequently do Tins : Il
new Rumplcr marking like tins a disk
with slightly proJcctln wings At
distance If looks like n circle
We felt like 10 Is until W. learn that
once Iufb rry had dlved on fellow and
then suddenly vcpTc,l oif The 81 81 his
patrol thought 81 II ma therefore hc
an all and waited up high atctng iitif-
berry. who was living about the machine
I.ufhcrr $ aycd down. 81 they thought u
must hc a machine 10 be conveyed and
50 took up tn proper POSITIONS Tor con
VOW g. Aft time ltlibcrry lett tue
no and climbed up 70 tn III and waved
his arm while he pointed 1T the machine
This satisfied them they were dong cor
rcctlv. 50 they didn't follow Lntberry
when nc dove on the machne At last
the lines were reached The machine
started dive for Germany horrible
fear srnotc the atrol Th divcd too,
hut it was too late and they only came
down close enough 10 see the above mark
lnc distinctly. Lufberrv had had jam
in his gun and his arm waving and div
ING had been an attempt 10 get his patrol
to 90 down close They said they never
saw maddcr officer nor were ever called
such names
The other duty is contact patrol work.
Il means low flying, at not over lt0 10 ztlO
meters with great danger from machine
gun and rifle fire beside the usual archy
and enemy planes | have not done this.
Il is only To encourage the infantry and
get enemy infantry reports Our sector
had only needed it once or twice. Pretty
soon though we may be moved to the blg
sector.
HUNTING TROUBLE.
Another feature is the voluntary pa
troll work. A couple of fellows IN a bad
temper decide to 20 across hunting trouble
They notify the operations officer and de
part. They generally get it II YOU go IN
far enough they will fight, all right No
towards In the German aviation. The last
machine shot, the bus vas on its back,
gong down In flames and the gunner WAS
still firing at and his patrol In an
other case. the German gunner ran out OF
ammunition Our pilot tried to get hun
10 surrender and to fly to our side He re-
fused The German gunner stood with
his arms folded looking up at our pilot
Cur pilot tried dozen tlIncs 10y diving
and painting To get the German Ia sur
render Nothing doing. SO he went back
and shot the machine into flames A
British gunner in similar circumstances
tried to break his enemy s propeller by
throwing empty machine gun magazines
al him | read the original report oi this.
II was the same pilot that got hlt BY the
archy
Ii was on voluntary patrol that | had
nv first combat led me across | SAW
two orange blplanes first, and what With
irving to get Ms attention lost hlm com
pletely and suddenly found myself right
over the biplanes and 50 near that heard
| their machine guns remembered t0
vank about IN the air like 4 woodeock and
! diving down, took a few wild shots and
| as they turned To come towards me again
| turned tail and beat 1t for the lines Il
! seemed terribly long before | saw our bal
| looms / remember huddllng my head
! down in order not 10 catch the wind, AZ
nv motor at full speed Numbered out II
/ front They followed me only to tht
/ lines WAS So nervous when | lande
/ that ! couldn write my report tor hall 81
! hour, and when called up to ask what att
j tld and time the combat occurred
/ couldn't remember 1t was a wonder
+ didn't crash the machine They are haze
/ enough Heaven knows Ia land liver
/ now when there is no wind, We have n
many as four or five MINOR crashes day
/ When there is no wind the speed is lowered
in relation 10 the earth These mnoI
crashes mean only busted wires OF land
ing gear The machine does not turn over
The other day however We had 4 rea
fight We we're to meet three SalmSon,
heavy French boml ersl over l. about
/ 1 .f...-,t.-., I..,,uI fia tift4s lFtf8 'pr=