Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-02-11

After we came pack. | discovered
I | had passed over Rheims" and
been flying along the front for half
any striking thing about it, because
l was too busy playing tag with the
leader, to notice much else.
Up Again.
This morning we went out again.
Four of us were supposed to go, but
one fellow went on 'ponne' near the
field and another couldn't start at
all on account of engine trouble.
SO the two OF us started. l being
the near man, taking my place be-
hind and above, still without map.
compass, or anything else. 1t was
rather misty, with here and there
thick, fieecy clouds. which made it
necessary to fly close or we would
lose each other soon. So l stuck
pretty close, for the country was
still new to me, the only things l had
noticed on the first trip being n big
forest and two rivers with canals
paralleling them, which is not a
whole lot However, this bird kept
going until we got near Rheims and
then turned to the right and went
across the lines.
Naturally 1 followed not knowing
where 1 was, but quite interested
nevertheless. 1 had Just noticed a
large space of ground beneath me
which was clear of snow and looked
as if it had had a bad case of small
poX, for it sure was pock marked.
We'll! thinks l, this must be the
Front" l was not left in doubt
long, for Zowie went something
with loud bang nearby, and l took
look in the looking glass-yes we
have t-i0ht in, Of 70
II our goggles are on straight
which gives me a clear view behind.
but no German was in sight, so
concluded ii wasn't a German try
ing to "pockmark" me-and then an
other one went off, with a little
louder bang. Still l did not know
what was up but my leader did. and
he was heading into cloud with all
the motor at his command. Yes
m-a-a-m, 1 was right behind him,
not because l was particularly scared
of the shots.
was curious about them. and was
wondering what they were, but was
afraid of losing that Frenchman.. for
without him l was lost. And that's
just what l did do, altho l stuck so
close to him in the cloud, 1 nearly
ran over him, but lose him ! did
incidentally, coming out of the cloud
standing one one wing. Fortunately
soon noticed my partner made
haste to catch him, which was quite
easy, since l had a much better
motor than his. In fact, it was so
good that l could not throttle it
down as low as his, and this made
following him very difficult, since l
was always overrunning him and to
prevent this had to make figure SIS
all the time to keep behind him.
Shelled BY Shrapnel.
He did not try any more daring
sortics over the lines and we got
home without further adventure.
where 1 was told that we had been
shelled by shrapnel. This afternoon
we went out again, only I knew
something of the country this time,
for had a map. OF course, every
patrol is made up of different pilots
each time, with an "old" flyer to
lead 1t, for we are not fighting as
yet, altho we go armed, being still in
training. I'll say the leader we had
this afternoon was some flyer, for he
sure could handle a plant. Flew
along at a low altitude for some
time (about 1000 meters) and then
all of a sudden he stood his plane
right on its tail and began climbing.
Well" thinks 1, 'if you can do
- 81 Neil ~ ~ UP L 6oGS dIltI
and for a greenhorn l don't think
l did so badly, for he didn't beat me
by much. We nearly lost the other
Frenchman tho, he either didn't
want to or couldn't climb that steep,
for it takes a good motor to climb
that way, l began to notice things
this time, looking down curiously
at the sausage balloons" and zigZag-
ing trenches, which made me think
of bunch of kids playing in the
sand, but seeing shrapnel bursting
some distance ahead of us and shells
throwing spurts of dirt in the air be-
low removed the idea of Atlantic
City very quickly. We were near
ing Rheims at the time and l was
wondering whether my guide was
going to run into the puff balls.
which denoted shrapnel ahead of us.
when he suddenly shook his wings
up and down like a duck shaking
water off his back "a signal that he
had seen Boche) and doing a YER
teal virage, doubled back on his
tracks. l did not get around as
quick as he but l beat the French
man anyway. l thought we lost him.
Not knowing whether he had seen
a Boche or not, l decided it wouldn't
be bad idea to load my gun. This
was a matter of a few seconds but
required steering with my left hand
a rather hard feat for me, as my
left hand knoweth not what my
right hand doeth. Naturally the
plane performed some queer gyra-
tions during the loading process.
The fact that / was armed and ready
didn't give me the confidence YOU
might imagine because l doubt if /
could hit the side of barn, anyway.
Fortunately, for me no Boche ap-
peared and we landed again with
yours truly" a little wiser. One
never hears the word airplane here,
the French having two nick names
for a plane. One is "Zang" and the
other "cookcoo," the latter probably
because the wires sing when one
goes too fast. | never have dis
covered the origin of the word
"Zang" unless it's for the same sing
ing reason, for those wires sure do
sing sometimes.
Maybe l didn't get the merry Ha!
Ha! the other day when I insisted on
flying when no others would, and
broke the Becky" while making a
bad landing. That is another nick
name given the skid on the tail.
probably because she proves so un-
faithful at times. She sure let me
down hard. oh no, the. weather had
nothing to do with il, altho the
clouds were as low as so meters 1t
was merely a bum landing and
taught me a number of things. To-
day l got all my instruments. alti-
meter, compass, map and watch. the
latter being a young alarm clock,
also some paper gloves, which sure