Perth Amboy evening news., 1918-08-14
In Air Matter
of Quick and Keen Thought

Copyright, 1918, by United Press)
WITH THE AMERICAN AIRMEN
IN FRANCE. July 10 (By mail):-
How do you feel up there in the air
when you're jockeying with a Hun
for a chance to bring him down be-
fore he gets your" was the question
put to Eddie Ri~ckenbacker, Ameri-
can ace and former auto racer.
Rickenbacker reflected a moment
and then said, You don't feel very
much, because you are too busy
watching the Heinie's machine. But
you think of 1t as a machine and not
as a man. / never think Of the a
in the boche plane, but regard a fight
as q sport, in which we both take
chances, and If he is better than me
and uses better judgment he will get
me. but II / am the better sportsman,
lT1l get him first.
Fighting in the air. in the chasse
work at any rate, is more a question
of keen thinking and good judgment
out-guess your opponent and hen
try to get position on him. Attack
ing is q question of knowing when to
pioue on him and when not to. OF
lcourse, q good flyer has to have his
NERVE with him and we all fear the
mistake of not attacking when we
Ishould more than we fear being
lSnOI uOW1l. n nAiSOahC laC NAA&Ns ~
allowing your nerve to fail you just
once, would weaken q man a lot, and
we know IL. However, we also know
we can't be foolhardy and reckless.
Doug Campbell, our other all
American ace, has worked out some
Unusual tactics regarding fighting
Iboches which have succeeded re-
markably. Doug is of a studious turn
of mind, and he figures out what the
methodical German mind would ex-
pect him to do at a certain tina or
in a certain situation. Then Doug
does Just the opposite.
For example, he has piqued on
| Boches In certain positions when
were thought to mean sure death. But
he did 1t suddenly and unexpectedly,
and before the German mind had con-
ceived of the situation Doug had let
him have 1t and Owed out of position
again. He's landed several Bochea
that way.
"You have to make some quick de-
cisions VI there in the blue sky some.
times, and they're pretty important
for you. too. But that Is the impor-
tant part Of the game, and a fascinat-
ing part. It has been one of the
phases where the American flyers
have been most successful. Their
Judgment has TO be made In q light
. ming way. But most of the boys are
we'll educated men and quick think
ers.
AFTER you fly a while Q get g
sense Of feeling that is new You sort
of feel a Boche around and feel the
direction, too, since it is hard to see
him. OF course you are always look
ing around, because a couple of min
utes without care would enable a Ger
man to dive on you unexpectedly. and
1t might near flowers.
Most people who have never flown
imagine running the plane is a ques-
ton OF concentrated attention on the
mechanics Of it. That is not go. Once
you get up. you a fly along for o
long time without bothering about the
moor. You don't need to steer be-
cause there Is nothing to hit. and
your only concern is not getting too
far into Germany. Since there are
no ruts in the air or trees to hit and
since the air is a big space. your d.
rection makes little difference. You
can't bump INTO anything.
The thing you watch most Is the
huge space all aroun you and you
keep your eyes open for more planes,
Once you see one, you Immediately
work for position until you learn
whether ii Is a friend or q Boche.
takes long to make up your mind
what TO do.
Clouds are risky things. They look
bright and heecy when you are away
from them. When you dive into them
you feel no sensation and hit nothing.
Everything seems like a fog. II they
are large. they are dangerous. for you
lose our sense OF direction often when
in them. Sense OF direction is more
important than a compass which often
doesn't work when you are diving
around. Clouds can also hide Boches."