Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-24
Flying With ShaHer
HIT BY AN "ARCHIE"


on the ground looking for all the
world like an old cow. Carrying some
pretty strong medicine as was, l
decided to see if several elections
would wake her up. With this end in
view, I popped out of cloud and
came down on that lazy-lolling "sau-
sage" But l only got a few shots
when my guns jammed, and being
400 meters from the ground with all
the guns in the vicinity opening up
full blast. l pulled on the motor and
began making a ziggag course for
the friendly clouds and our lines,
trying to fix my guns on the way.
The while "archie" kept barking
away far too frequent for comfort.
One broke right under my tail one
time and i got a prodigious bounce,
as Well as a chunk, of archie" in
the fusillade. But since my controls
were still working the damage did
not worry me any, SO while l lodged
and turned and twisted-to give the
ka1sers pigs better training-I took
good look at the scenery below. In
particular, l was curious to see the
source of those flaming Onions" for
this was the same balloon l had at
tackled several days ago, and those
same guns had performed then. /
soon found them when a dozen "on-
ions" came sizzling upwards, missing
me by so much it brought a grim
smile. It's a wonder never saw them
before, because they were right out
in an open field. l could even see the
gun crew half dozen of them,
standing around watching that
French bird tearing towards cloudy
home with their 'onions" and
ARCHES" puff balls helping him
along.
Wished For a Bomb
TO see them standing thus, coolly
chucking balls of fire at me, created
a desire for nice big bomb, weight
about 400 pounds, with which to blow
up the whole Kultured pack. l could
see that doggoned balloon still lolling
lazily on the ground and it made me
feel pretty small, for its intactness
registered my second failure. The
fact was sure calling. But 1 could do
nothing without gun, so for a
change flew in a straight line while
1 fixed the guns. BY the time 1
reached the lines and the clouds my
guns were fixed. Being in the clouds
l thought surely Archie" would stop
talking, but no such luck.
Even if he could not see me, he
continued to explode where he
thought L might be. Though 1 was
never there it was mighty unpleasant
because one is blind in a cloud and
only my ears could tell me how close
they were coming, which was pretty
close at times, for 1 have been shot
at enough times to tell by the sound
how far away they are. Believe me,
when 1 unconsciously duck, they are
pretty close, and 1 ducked several
times in those clouds.
Archie however, soon tired of
wasting ammunition tl.is way and
went on my way unmolested.
Coming to Rheims l saw a whole
line of Boche balloons up nearly to
the height of the clouds they were,
which pleased me nightly. Surely"
thinks l, Il can sneak up on one and
puncture him." / didn't know how
many bullets i had shot at the other
balloons, but that 1 had a few left
in the special gun was sure, so pro-
ceeded to do the Apache act.
Archie soon found me, but
seemed to be somewhat tired, as he
only chucked a couple balls and
then quit, while l mounted higher in
the clouds and steering by compass.
flew steadily towards that balloon,
If the balloon was still up. 1t was,
and dropping out of black cloud L
started down straight for the balloon
holding my fire until / judged was
close enough for my bullets to take
effect. l had always thought a Spad
was fast before. But right then the