The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1918-07-31


Rene Fonck, the young ace of aces
who recently won his forty-ninth Off.
cially recorded victory, may best: be de.
scribed as the man with perfect nerve
but no trace Of nerves. Those who
have had the opportunity to. study him
closely believe this superb poise, lis the
secret Of his success.
To show how free he is from foibles:
Most famous aviators become at.
tached, to a favorite machine. When
they have won a few victories In II
they regard it with affection, even
with superstition 1t is lucky.
BY contrast, Fonck has habit of
giving his machine to any. youngster
who has just won his pilots commits
sion and who has caught the great
aces fancy.
'Try this one, lad" he will say. at
seems to be all right" and thus passes
title to plane in which he has downed
two or three Germans.
Then he takes the next machine sent
to the camp from the factory.
Built Like q Boxer.
Fonck Is of medium height and
weight and has the walk and carriage
Of skillful boxer. Men of scientific
bent say his reflexes are perfect
incredibly swift and accurate. Besides
this he has extraordinary vision. 1t
has happened more than once when he
has led a squadron that he has sig
nailed to the other pilots the approach
Of German plane, its exact location,
the angle from which it should be at
tackled and its speed. all this before
any of the others had seer 1t at all.
1t need hardly be added that he is a
remarkably accurate shot, another
proof of his superb vision and perfect
nerve control.
Like all the great fliers, he Is a ia
matte on the subject. When he talks
it is of nothing but motors, new mod
els of planes, aerial tactics and ma
chine guns. But more often he sits
through dinner with his friends with
out uttering a syllable.
Speaking of tactics. he has none, or
at least no set method. He improvises
as he goes along. Like the other pu-
pills of that great instructor of fliers,
Commandant Brocard, he is full of in
genious surprises. Incidentally, Bro.
card believed in him from the first. A
year ago Georges Prade, a journalist
Of note, was talking to the master, ex-
pressing his fears for the future of
the combat squadrons with Dorme, Ma
varre, ROchefort, LenOir gone, and
Guynemer and Nungesser fighting on
by sheer will power and determination
despite wounds which would have
crippled the ordinary man. Brocard
replied simply:
Had a Card Up His Sleeve.
"But we have Fonck. Do you know
Fonck? He is unique"
FOnck was all but unknown.
But he could not remain long in OBJ
scurity-not a young man who kept
putting down plane after plane (his
score now is over sixty. eleven having
fallen out of sight of official observers)
and always without scratch to him
SELF or his machine. For FOnck never
has been wounded. Many of his vic
tories were won before the German
adversary had chance to fire a shot.
Incidentally he is said to know more
about German aviation than any other
man among the allies.
Brocard taught him to fly anything
and everything, including the first ar
tillery observation machine with two
motors. Fonck himself says he liked
every machine he ever tried except the
one he attempted to make out Of his
mothers buffet when he was ten years
old. He spoiled the buffet, he says.
and the results were painfully unsatis-
factory.
Finally. he is modest; he keeps say
ing he Is lazy. and very likely he really
means 1t, because he keeps comparing
himself to Guynemer. Guynemer was
always In the air; he was untiring, at
work hour after hour. FOnck by COM
parisOn flies seldom. He never goes up
unless he feels just like 1t. He cannot
conquer this reluctance to systematic
daily work, he says. Which seems to
show that, after ALL he Is human and
has a falling.