The Tacoma times. [volume] (Tacoma, Wash.) 1903-1949, 1918-01-01
HEAVENS OARKENEO BY PLANES
As HUMOROUS BATTLE RACES
BY X. w. PAYNE


IN THE FIELD. FRANCE BY
mail. THE scene is near Ypres.
Every road, village, field and rail
way line is in turmoil of mill
tary activity.
Yet the activity in the skies Is
far more absorbing than that on
earth. The whole trench line with
all its curves is there charted out
by line of great golden-brown
sausage balloons extending both
north and south out of hight into
the haze.
British planes are necessarily
droning up and down among the
balloons.
Suddenly this dreamy aerial
peace is interrupted by an I'M
earthly uproar.
Out of sunny -cloudbank a
number of slow British airplanes
come winging their way home
ward rather low. Black she'll
bursts from German anti-aircraft
guns are blossom!ng out under
them.
Becomes Air Riot.
High up behind them, apparent
ly in pursuit and as yet mere
glistening silver specks, a host of
Germany's fast fighting planes are
coming over. Their part of the
sky is Enthusiastically busted with
the white puffs from British shells.
1t is the crash of these rival
Archie shells which first makes
the heavens reverberate.
But machine gun fighting soon
breaks out also, and the chase
rapidly becomes a regular riot.
It's like huge aerial dog fight
with new participants continually
showing up from nobody knows
where. This is no private scrap.
Anybody can get into it and every
body within earshot tries to.
From up and down the line and
from each side of it new planes
continually put in an appearance,
spelling for a fight.
Daredevil Comes Close.
The British airmen violently re-
sent the Huns check in actually
daring to come over their lines,
something they have long since
forbidden him to do.
The sky Is now cracking with
machine gun interchanges, and
thunderous with the echoing ex-
ploaions of the Archie shells. We
suddenly become aware of a dozen
Boche planes right over head, so
high up as to be hardly visible
flashes of silver. Nobody knows
how they got there.
Off to the north two or three
more are lowering, and one lone
daredevil is actually closing in on
us far below the usual German
safety altitude.
To the south another fight Is
heading in toward us. The heav-
ems seem suddenly to have be-
come positively stiff with German
fighters, flying generally higher
than the British and outnumber-
ing them.
A Rougli-and- Tumble.
Successive groups of British
Arches close behind us open
on the invading Hun
planes overhead, which are
promptly pillowed in cloud of
feathery shell-puffs.
BY this time the battle has be-
come a full-fledged riot and the
innocent bystander on earth can t
make head or tail of the rumpus.
Despite the confusion of friend
and foe In one vast rough-and-
uproar, certain features of |
the melee remain clear. The fast,
fighting Boche planes are still
closing in from. above on the
slower British planes.
Suddcnly we hear low down
close behind the thunder of
powerful engines. A big fight
of fast British fighters has
been tuned up at a neighbOr-
ing airtirOme. It Is rising
now to the fray. In perfect
Formation evidently on busi-
ness bent, this air squadron
climbs.
And the Hun planes have seen
what's coming. No sooner are the
British fighters we'll off the earth
and headed into the heart of the
scrap, than the Germans turn tail,
every last one of them, and beat
1t for safety. The whole hue and
cry then goes veering off east
ward after them.
Flock after flock disappears
into the clouds where the row
started. The machine gun fight
ing grows fainter and fainter and
fades away.