Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1918-09-06


own account by standing on my tail
just as he passed overhead. such
| action. l well knew might send me
| "off on a wing" but there was sew
eral miles of space under me. so
what was the odds, besides the
situation demanded quick action, and
l might hit the Hun.
Nearer and nearer came the Hun
/ plane with yours truly still climbing
/ to the limit and feeling around for
his two triggers. with no other
| thought in his mind but to plug that
| Hun. On came the Hun. never vary
ing an inch as he sped for home. and
l could see the small black cross on
his lower wing. not really a cross,
but merely two black strokes like
plus mark or postal kiss.
Tail Spin Costly
| So Interested and anxious was I to
! get as close under that Hum as pos
sible that l did not notice that my
plane was nearly on the point of
| stalling so hard was 1 endeavorinS
| to climb. Therefore, when the mo-
ment came to fire as the Hun was
nearly over me. and 1 pulled on the
| stick to get in my coveted shots, in
stead of lowering on my tail for the
| several seconds necessary to aim and
shoot, the plane promptly slid off on
! a wing and started whirling down
ward in a ''vrille" (tail spin), with
me losing religion with every whirl,
| for ] knew what had happened and
why and sure was sore. because
with every whirl of the plane I was
! losing height that l had striven so
! hard to attain.
To make matters worse, I was try
| ing to shut the engine off with the
| wrong lever-there are two on
| Spad. big one to pull the power on
and off and a small one to regulate
the air as one climbs higher.
| On some machines these levers
work in opposite directions. on others
| both work the same. My machine
| still awaiting repairs I was flying an
other pilots Spad whose levers work
! opposite. thus before I had found
| the big lever and slammed it swiftly
shut, the plane had made six turns.
Going at the terrific speed I was
and turning at the same time, it was
surely lucky thing 1 was in a Spad.
Any other plane would have broken
under the strain. Even now 1 don't
| see how the Spad stood UP under it
without losing a wing.
/ But one faces facts when in the
air and since I came out of the
| "vrille' finally with both wings still
on. and saw the Hun just ahead div
! ing for home like all possessed,
| promptly pulled the motor wide open
again and started after.
Opens Fire
| I was catching him too. but like a
big chump, I didn't hold my fire until
close enough to see the whites of
their eyes, as the Bunker Hill saying
goes, getting a bead squarely on him
and opening fire at some $50 meters.
| Maybe ii was less and maybe more.
| for distances are hard to gauge in
the air. but if I had known how those
two guns were going to act there
would have been no long range fir
ing 1 assure you. One would not
work at all. the delicate trigger me-
! chanism connected with the motor
having broken. The other gun fired
several times and jammed.
Mikes Fine Music
Fixing that it shot few more
tines2-and jammed tgain. once more
| I fixed it and that time a steady
stream of lead poured out of that gun
| several seconds. 1t was the best
music I ever heard and just as I was
beginning to enjoy the tune and get
line on where my shots were go
ing that doggone gun jammed like
| its mate, and there I was, right be-
hind Hun and catching him at that
with two useless guns, 500 cartridges
and no way to shoot them.
| Wouldn't it give you a pain in.
| deed?
There was nothing more I could
do there, but seeing another Spad
attacking l stuck around for moral
support. and had the satisfaction of
| seeing the Hun go down in a big
spiral, none the worse for wear
| presume. But at least, we had the
satisfaction of knowing that the Hun
! did not perform the mission he was
sent on. for we chased him back as
soon as he came over and if he took
any pictures fear his speed in get
ting back home blurred them some
| what.
French Not in Fight
When we four finally all landed it
turned out that only we two Ameri-
! cans had actually fired any shots.
one Frenchman not having seen the
Hun at all. while the other said he
could not catch him. AS for the
''vrille" 1 tumbled into. was so close
! to the Hun when it happened that
my American comrade thought 1 was
| surely hit, for a plane out of con-
troll always falls into a "vrille."
Strange to say. one of the Frenchmen
saw my vrille, but not the Hun, and
yet the Hun was right over me.
Incidentally. during that combat
I acquired a mighty good opinion of
the French gunners handling that
white shrapnel. Archie" you know.
generally stops talking when friends
and foe get all mixed up-even the
Hun hold their fire then-but this
was not one of the times, for when I
came out of that "vrille" and headed
| into position on the Huns tail they
were still blazing away at that bird
of Kaiser Bills, and I'll hand it to
them, they were coming mighty close
| too.
Fine Shooting
They had his height nearly to a
meter and his speed to hair That
was ali very we'll in it's way, but you
want to remember little Walter was
right behind said Hun and those big
pear-shaped "Archies" were breaking
just about as unhealthy close to me
as the fleeing Hun. Not that it
bothered me a lot. for was so inter-
ested in getting a bead on the Hun
and fixing my fractions gun that 1
only gave 1t a passing thought.
/ Yes Dad, I agree with you that the
| guardian angel you spoke of has GER
| tainly taken good care of me so far,
| but doggone it, I wish he. she or 1t
would steer one of my bullets into a
| Hun, for I sure am anxious to see
| something tumble when I shoot.