The Madison daily leader. [volume] (Madison, S.D.) 1890-current, 1918-10-23

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Up and Notable Victories Won by
Individual American Flyers - In
Pairs, sinoIy and In Groups They
Fought and vanquished German
Formations of From Nine to TWEEN.
ty-Threc Planes.
Low-flying %airplanes have been used
by the. Americans in the advance now
In progress to cover the forward move
ment of the infantry by laying down
what amounted to a barrage. Often
the ~ayiators have flown as low as $50
feet.
There has been some notable air
fighting. with numbers of victories
scored by the Americans. Among these
may be mentioned one by Lieutenant.
Hoover, who brought down a mono
plane lear Sivry, while Lieutenant
White attacked two Fokkers In quick
succession, bringing down one at
Montfaucon and the other to the east
of that place.
Lieutenant Buckley and Lieutenant
Curtis got q Rumpler biplane near
Brieulles, and L~ieutenants Buckley
and Butt and Houston Woodward of
Philadelphia drove down another
Rumpler out of control near Fleville.
A total of seven tons Of bombs was
dropped upon Longuyon, Audun,
Trieux. Gonraincourt and Stenay by
French and Italian aviators, while the
British bombed Audun, Metz-Sablons,
Mezieres, AIRS, Thionville and Frescaty,
American ayiators dropped a quantity
OF bombs on Etain. A%%
Airmen Attack at Might.
In no previous engagement have the
pursuit machines displayed greater sin-
difference to weather conditions.
Night flying has become common, the
airmen starting Off In the darkness and
landing by the light of flares. Their
course Is determined by flash signals.
Raids by the airmen heretofore
have been confined almost wholly tn
the daylight hours In operations of this
character, but the Germans have been
forced In this engagement to combat
swift attacks upon their balloons by
airplanes appearing out of the dark
ness and clouds and opening on their
troops with machine-gun fire while
the men were trying to get q period OF
rest.
American pursuit aviators have
played their part fully In the offensive,
and. despite greater activity than us
ual, have come through as undisputed
masters of the air In this region. They
went out In pairs, singly, and In small
groups. They fought and v~anquished
enemy formations ranging from seven
and nine to twenty-three machines and
rendered great aid In the advance.
Aerial patrols left their airdromes
Thursday before dawn and were ovel
the sector Of attack by sunrise. They
began their operations by launching q
successful raid against the German bal
looms. six Of which were brought down
during the day. Other aviators direct,
cd a continuous barrage throughout
the day all the way from Chatillon'
sous-les-Cotes to lie Manesel at an al
tltude never exceeding 1000 yards
Flying at this low height, these patrols
We're able to protect the observation
airplanes which were doing work fol
the infantry.
One pursuit group engaged In q
combats with enemy airmen. destroy
Ing two enemy machines and bringing
down out of controla number of 9th
ers. Other Americans few over thu
German lines as far as the Moselle
southwest Of Metz. They found few
German machines, but drove back al
they CHANGED to find. The work of tn,
observation airplanes was virtually un
disturbed by the enemy machines.
A series of deep raids into enemy ter
ritory was made during the day. TIL.
first Of these resulted In ID combats, II
which ten German airplanes were de
stroyed. The second was made at
low altitude to bomb concentrations o
enemy troops and conveys.
Three German airplqnes were en-
gagged and one was probably destroyed
A third raid was made In commune
ton with a bombing group against tn
railroad junction at Etain, and re
suited In the successful bombardmen
OF the objective.
The Americans met German fier
during the bombing operation and ar
believed to have destroyed three o
them.
Long-dlstance accommodating fight
also were carried out and valuable In
formation concerning German troo
movements was obtained.
Observation Machines eusy.
American observation aviator
played their customary important
though little spectacular. part n tn
advance of General Pershing's forces
They carried out rs missions on Thurs
day, starting from their bases befor
daylight and working until long afte
dark. They came In contact with Gel
mar infantry on 80 occasions.
The avIators were divided int
groups. The first section was assigne
to an infantry unit to reDOrt its prOf